Determinants of Trust and Credibility of Industry, Government, and Citizen Groups in Japan

1
Determinants of Trust and Credibility of
Industry, Government, and Citizen Groups in Japan

• Yasunobu MAEDA and Makoto MIYAHARA
• Department of Systems Engineering,
• Shizuoka University, Japan
• SRA Annual Meeting 2000

2
Introduction

• Determinants of trust and credibility in regard
  to environmental risk communication of industry,
  government, and citizen groups in Japan were
  investigated.
• Comparative study with Peters, Covello, and
  McCallum (1997).
• Six hypotheses proposed by Peters et al. were
  tested in Japan.

3
Hypothesis

1. Trust and credibility are dependent on knowledge
   and expertise, openness and honesty, and concern
   and care.
2. Commitment is a display of concern.
3. Disclosure of risk management is related to trust
   and credibility of industry and government.

1. Trust and credibility is related to the amount of
   information received.
2. Peoples concern with risks is positively related
   to trust of citizen groups, and negatively
   related to trust of industry and government.
3. People who recently received risk information
   have lower trust of industry and government, and
   higher trust of citizen groups.

4
Method

• A questionnaire translated in Japanese from the
  form made by Peters et al. was used. Factors
  related to trust and credibility and hypothesized
  determinants were measured by using 4-point
  Likert-type scaling and nominal scaling.
• The questionnaire was sent out to 5 communities
  in which communication about environmental risks
  was needed. Number of respondents are 500 in
  total, 100 from each community.
• Multiple regression analysis for Hypothesis 1,
  Analysis of variance for the other hypotheses.

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Result (1)

• Table 1 Summary of the Hypothesis tests (N151)

The U.S. Japan
Hypothesis IND GOV C.G. IND GOV C.G.
1 (3 factors)
2 (Commitment)
3 (Disclosure) -
4 (Amount of info.) - -
5 (Peoples concern) - -
6 (Temporal effect) - - - -
supported, partially supported, - not
supported
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Result (2) Comments from the respondents

• Reasons to trust
• Environmental countermeasures were carried out.
  (industry)
• Investigation and inspection were carried out.
  (industry and government)
• They act for the community and residents.
  (citizen groups)
• They act on the resident's standpoint. (citizen
  groups)

• Reasons not to trust
• Their information has less credibility.
  (industry and government)
• Their consciousness of and countermeasures for
  harmful chemical materials are insufficient.
  (industry)
• Their countermeasures are late and inadequate.
  (government)
• They are not well established, and their
  existence is hardly noticed. (citizen groups)
• They are emotional. (citizen groups)

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Summary of the Results

• Perceptions of concern and care have an effect on
  perceptions of trust and credibility in the both
  countries.
• Strong correlation between perceptions of concern
  and care and perceptions of commitment is
  confirmed.
• However, it is suggested that disclosure of
  information is not related to trust and
  credibility in Japan.
• A determinant of trust and credibility may be
  related to social ranking of industry,
  government, and citizen groups.

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Why disclosure of information does not work as a
determinant?

• Cf Factors to promote pro-environmental behavior
  of Japanese people

In Japan, whether or not a Japanese had
environmental information is not strongly related
to his/her behavior (Aoyagi 1998, Ohe 1999).
9
Why disclosure of information does not work as a
determinant? (continued)

• Aoyagi (1998) Social efficacy
• If a Japanese feels his/her action is effective
  for conserving the environment, then he/she will
  take pro-environmental actions, otherwise he/she
  will not.
• Trust and credibility of a group may be depend on
  if the group is ready to respond to questions and
  comment from citizens.
• One-way disclosure of information is not
  sufficient.

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Conclusions

• Perceptions of commitment have an effect on
  perceptions of trust and credibility of industry
  and citizen groups perceptions of concern and
  care affect perceptions of trust and credibility
  of government.
• The hypotheses in regard to disclosure of
  information were not supported in Japan.
• It is suggested that there are other determinants
  of trust and credibility in the Japanese society.
  
• To investigate the other determinants, another
  survey is currently in progress.