Generation Z Youth’s Trust in the State and Institutions: The Case of Türkiye
Abstract views: 167
/ 
PDF downloads: 95
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13625434Keywords:
Generation Z, trust, institutional trust, governmentAbstract
Individuals born between 1995 and 2010 are defined as Generation Z. Living in the world of digital technologies and often in a virtual world, Generation Z’s intensive use of technology is an important part of their lives. The most important difference between this generation and other generations is that they were born and grew up within technology and the internet. This situation creates significant changes in their perception, thinking, learning and awareness, especially in their perspective on the world. When the proportion of Generation Z in the general population is taken into account, it becomes necessary for this age group to be examined and analyzed by the government. Trust is the belief that a person has that the person they are in social relations with will act in accordance with their interests. Trust in the state and institutions is an important factor that ensures that the legitimacy and effectiveness of the government can be realized and even sustained. In order for public policies to be implemented effectively, citizens’ trust and public support are needed. However, since the 1970s, there has been a serious decline in the level of trust that citizens have in the state and institutions in the world and in Turkey. As a matter of fact, this erosion of trust is undermining the legitimacy and stability of modern democratic systems.
The aim of the study was determined to examine the level of trust that Generation Z has in the state and institutions in Turkey. In addition, another issue addressed in the study is which factors affect the institutional trust level of Generation Z. In line with this purpose, a quantitative method was adopted in the study. The data subject to the study was obtained through a survey study. The survey study was conducted in 2023 in 23 provinces in the universe of Turkey with 2018 participants. The participants consist of young people between the ages of 18-25. According to the results of the survey study, it was determined that the level of trust that Generation Z individuals have in the state and institutions is low. In addition, it was found that the demographic characteristics of Generation Z, their level of religiosity, their satisfaction with life, their level of hope for the future and their ideological positioning affect the level of institutional trust.
References
Abayomi, K. Q. (2024). Public trust and state management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Frontiers in Political Science, 6(1334827), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2024.1334827
Akgün, B. (2001). Türkiye’de siyasal güven: Nedenleri ve sonuçları. Ankara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi Dergisi, 56(4), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1501/SBFder_0000001876
Akinola, O. A., Omar, B. & Mustapha, L. K. (2021). Salience in the media and political trust in Nigeria: The mediating role of political participation. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 29(4), 2153-2169. https://doi.org/10.47836/pjssh.29.4.03
Al Izzati, R., Dartanto, T., Suryadarma, D. & Suryahadi, A. (2024). Direct elections and trust in state and political institutions: Evidence from Indonesia’s election reform. European Journal of Political Economy, 85(102572), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2024.102572
Alsaid, A., Li, M., Chiou, E. K. & Lee, J. D. (2023). Measuring trust: a text analysis approach to compare, contrast, and select trust questionnaires. Frontiers in Psychology, 14(1192020), 1-18. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1192020
Anand, A. & Sossin, L. (2018). Guest editors’ introduction to the special issue on public sector ethics. Canadian Public Administration, 61(1), 4-14. https://doi.org/10.1111/capa.12269
Andrews, R. & Jilke, S. (2016). Welfare states and social cohesion in Europe: Does social service quality matter?. Journal of Social Policy, 45(1), 119-140. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279415000513
Ateş, H. (2004). Kamu yönetiminde güven problemi ve halkın devlete güveni. Çağdaş Kamu Yönetimi II, Ed. M. Acar & H. Özgür, Ankara: Nobel Yayınları.
Baker, S. & Chapin III, F. S. (2018). Going beyond “it depends”: The role of context in shaping participation in natural resource management. Ecology and Society, 23(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09868-230120
Boudon, R. (2001). The origin of values: Essays in the sociology and philosophy of beliefs. Transaction Publishers.
Castelfranchi, C. & Falcone, R. (2011). Socio-cognitive theory of trust. https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/266039117_Socio-Cognitive_Theory_of_Trust.
Cilliers, E. J. (2017). The challenge of teaching generation z people. International Journal of Social Sciences, 3(1), 188-198. http://doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2017.31.188198
Cluverius, J. & Banda, K. K. (2018). How trust attitudes promote grassroots lobbying in the American States. Social Science Quarterly, 99(3), 1006-1020. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12486
Dania, T., Chl´adkov´a, H., Duda, J., Koˇzíˇsek, R. & Hrdliˇckov´, A. (2023). The motivation of generation z: A prototype of the Mendel University student. The International Journal of Management Education, 21(100891), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2023.100891
Dolot, A. (2018). The characteristic of generation z. E-Mentor, 2(74), 44-50, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.15219/em74.13511
Douglas, N. (2024). The role of trust in Belarusian societal mobilization (2020–2021). International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 00(0), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/00207152241246746
Doyle, J. (2023). Fragile trust, stable mistrust: A theory of the formation and sustainability of social trust. Social Psychology Quarterly, 00(0), 1-24. http://doi.org/10.1177/01902725231204848
Emre, C. (2003). Yönetim Bilim Yazıları, Ankara: İmaj Yayıncılık.
Esmer, Y. (1999). Devrim, evrim, statüko; Türkiye’de sosyal, siyasal ve ekonomik değerler, Tesev Yayınları.
Gemar, A. (2024). Institutional trust, spirituality, and religious practice in the United States. Social Sciences, 13(67), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13010067
Görün, M., Erdem, N. & Kara, G. (2023). Z Kuşağının “siyaset” kavramına dair metaforik algılarının ölçülmesi. Uluslararası Yönetim Akademisi Dergisi, 6(1), 1-27.
Grow, J. M. & Yang, S. (2018). Generation-z enters the advertising workplace: Expectations through a gendered lens. Journal of Advertising Education, 22(1), 7–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 1098048218768595
Gümüş, B. (2024). Z Kuşağı gençliğinin kamu yönetiminde etik değer algısı üzerine bir alan araştırması, (Yayınlanmamış Doktora Tezi, Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi), Isparta.
Hardin R. (2002). Trust and trustworthiness. New York: Russell Sage Found.
Herreros, F. (2023). The state and trust. Annual Review of Political Science, 26, 117–34. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051921-102842
Islam, M. S. & Ahsan, A. H. M. (2023). Citizens’ satisfaction with local government service delivery performance in Bangladesh: Does citizens’ confidence matter?. Social Science Review, 38(2), 117-133. https://doi.org/10.3329/ssr.v38i2.64464
İnal, İ. H. (2023). Z Kuşağının sosyal medyanın siyasi etkisine yönelik algısının sosyal medyanın oy verme davranışı üzerindeki etkisine yönelik algısına etkisi ve sosyal medyada siyasi iletişim davranışının aracılık rolü. International Journal of Social and Humanities Sciences Research (JSHSR), 10(92), 378-394. http://doi.org/10.26450/jshsr.3505
Jensen, C. & Piatak, J. (2024). Public service motivation and trust in government: An examination across the federal, state, and local levels in the United States. American Review of Public Administration, 54(2), 107-118. https://doi.org/10.1177/02750740231200449
Kumagai, S. & Iorio, F. (2020). Building trust in government through citizen engagement. World Bank, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.1596/33346
Lee, S., Taylor, M. A., Ahmed, S. & Moon, W.-K. (2024). Going beyond political ideology: A computational analysis of civic trust in science. Public Understanding of Science, 0(0), 1-17. http://doi.org/10.1177/09636625241246076.
Mücevher, M. H. & Erdem, R. (2018). X kuşağı akademisyenler ile y kuşağı öğrencilerin birbirlerine karşı algıları. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Vizyoner Dergisi, 9(22), 60-74. https://doi.org/ 10.21076/vizyoner.391745
Örselli, E. & Bilici Z. (2019). Building trust in the state: What the declining trust tells. Contemporary Debates on Politics and Public Administration in the Postmodern Era, (Ed. Ö. Uğur ve K. C. Doğan), Berlin: Peter Lang.
Örselli, E. (2010). Türkiye’de toplumsal ve yönetsel etik değerler ile ikilemler: Uygulamalı bir araştırma. (Yayınlanmamış Doktora Tezi, Selçuk Üniversitesi), Konya.
Örselli, E. (2016). Türkiye’de yargıya güven. Çizgi Kitabevi.
Örselli, E., Taşpınar, Y. & Bayrakcı, E. (2022). Measuring the level of trust, legitimacy and civil awareness among Turkish citizens with an emphasis on legal procedures. Lex Humana, 14(2), 53-74.
Patton, E. B. (2017). A validation of voter’s political trust in mokokchung district (Nagaland). IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 22(06), 44-49. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-2206024449
Pedersen, M. J. & Nielsen, V. L. (2020). Bureaucratic decision‐making: A multi‐method study of gender similarity bias and gender stereotype beliefs. Public Administration, 98(2), 424-440.
Schultz, D. (2024). Generations, politics, and the practice of political science. Generational Politics in the United States From the Silents to Gen Z and Beyond, (Ed. S. Friedman & D. Schultz), USA: University of Michigan Press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11621506
Seemiller, C. & Grace, M. (2018). Generation z: A century in the making. Routledge.
Tranter, B., Lester, L., Foxwell-Norton, K. & Palmer, M. A. (2023). In science we trust? Public trust in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections and accepting anthropogenic climate change. Public Understanding of Science, 32(6), 691-708.
Tu, W. (2023). Trust and corruption: How different forms of trust interact with formal institutions. Global Public Policy and Governance, 3, 160-179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43508 023-00061-6
Türk Dil Kurumu (2024). Türkçe sözlük. https://sozluk.gov.tr/.
Wierzbicki, A. (2010). Theory of trust and fairness. ın: trust and fairness in open, distributed systems. Studies in Computational Intelligence, 298. Berlin: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13451-7_2
Yan Li, Y. & Shang, H. (2023). How does e-government use affect citizens’ trust in government? Empirical evidence from China. Information & Management, 60(103844), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2023.103844
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL HUMANITIES SCIENCES RESEARCH
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
