Citizen Attitude and Trust in Government during COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh

The trust in government, sources of information, and government actions are key to successful pandemic management. This study explored the factors associated with these three phenomena during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. An online survey with a sample of size 885 from Bangladesh was conducted in June-July 2020. The primary distribution of three scales suggested that 75% of the sample had low trust in the government or have low confidence on the steps taken by them. Foreign mass media and academic journals were the most trusted sources of information, and trust in health ministry of Bangladesh was the lowest. Linear regression models showed that occupation, income, financial loss during the pandemic, and self-assessed knowledge on COVID-19 were associated with different trust scales. The findings suggest that for an efficient and citizen-supported COVID-19 response, government should have a wider information dissemination system through multifaceted channels and make citizens understand the rationality for each action.

Automated summary

This study explores the factors associated with trust in government, sources of information, and government actions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. Findings show that a majority of the sample had low trust in the government, with foreign mass media and academic journals being the most trusted sources of information. Trust in the health ministry of Bangladesh was the lowest. Occupation, income, financial loss during the pandemic, and self-assessed knowledge on COVID-19 were found to be associated with trust levels.