Diminishing Obligations of Local Government: Effect on Accountability and Public Trust

Local government responsibilities are diminishing, in which the financial dependency of local government towards the national government and the lack of accountability in disseminating their local duties to the public worsen the situation. In return, public trust towards government also affected. This paper measures public trust towards local government and the instillation of ethical accountability within local government to improve trust. Statistical results confirm that ethical accountability has a positive influence on trust. The model contributes to a better understanding of accountability, in particular, ethical accountability as a significant mediator factor in order to attain public trust in local government.