Exploring separable components of institutional confidence

Despite its contemporary and theoretical importance in numerous social scientific disciplines, institutional confidence research is limited by a lack of consensus regarding the distinctions and relationships among related constructs (e.g., trust, confidence, legitimacy, distrust, etc.). This study e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral sciences & the law 2011-01, Vol.29 (1), p.95-115
Main Authors: Hamm, Joseph A., PytlikZillig, Lisa M., Tomkins, Alan J., Herian, Mitchel N., Bornstein, Brian H., Neeley, Elizabeth M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic disciplines
Adolescent
Adult
Behavioral sciences
Confidence
Correlation analysis
Courts
Cross-Sectional Studies
Cynicism
Discriminant analysis
Distrust
Exploratory factor analysis
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Female
Humans
Jurisprudence
Law Enforcement
Male
Multivariate Analysis
Nebraska
Principal Component Analysis
Public Opinion
Regression analysis
Sons
Studies
Surveys and Questionnaires
Trust
United States
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Summary:Despite its contemporary and theoretical importance in numerous social scientific disciplines, institutional confidence research is limited by a lack of consensus regarding the distinctions and relationships among related constructs (e.g., trust, confidence, legitimacy, distrust, etc.). This study examined four confidence‐related constructs that have been used in studies of trust/confidence in the courts: dispositional trust, trust in institutions, obligation to obey the law, and cynicism. First, the separability of the four constructs was examined by exploratory factor analyses. Relationships among the constructs were also assessed. Next, multiple regression analyses were used to explore each construct's independent contribution to confidence in the courts. Finally, a second study replicated the first study and also examined the stability of the institutional confidence constructs over time. Results supported the hypothesized separability of, and correlations among, the four confidence‐related constructs. The extent to which the constructs independently explained the observed variance in confidence in the courts differed as a function of the specific operationalization of confidence in the courts and the individual predictor measures. Implications for measuring institutional confidence and future research directions are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:0735-3936
1099-0798
DOI:10.1002/bsl.965