This study has identified a group of survey questions developed from the Public Service Act values and OECD trust framework that together form a reliable predictor of trust in the Public Service.
The OECD multinational trust survey is expected to run biennially and measures some of the same concepts, and thus there could be ongoing visibility of New Zealand’s international ranking through that initiative. The new questions explored in this paper have been implemented in the regular quarterly survey for Kiwis Count starting in the September 2023 quarter. This work helps the Commission to monitor progress on improving services to New Zealanders. They also help to identify issues and intervene, thereby improving the responsiveness and reliability of services.
In both the OECD survey and in this study, a low scoring item was on changing services in response to feedback from the public. This question was the main way that responsiveness was measured by the OECD. In the Kiwis Count new questions, there are two further questions on the responsiveness of services, including “understand my needs” and “treat people with respect”, both of which had higher scores. These were expected to be important factors based on comments in Kiwis Count and including these items increased the reliability of the scale.
Further research
Since implementing these questions in the September quarter, we conducted the same regression analysis again with the new dataset, which was completed with a new group of online participants. We found the same pattern of predictive ability in this second sample, increasing confidence in the reliability of the measure.
Exploring how this new scale relates to other measures of trust would help to understand the validity of the measure and how it relates to other constructs.
Limitations
It was out of scope of this study to explore any potential bias inherent in the use of an online panel to measure trust. We also acknowledge that there are people without access to technology (and therefore online panels where participants from Kiwis Count are drawn from) who also need effective public services, and that not including them in the study limits understanding of the issues.