Perceived Government Transparency and Covid-19 Conspiracy Beliefs
The Mediating Role of Conspiracy Mentality
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13668383 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tomasz Besta (0000-0001-6209-3677, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland, corresponding author), Julia Nęcka (University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland), Michał Jaśkiewicz (0000-0003-4358-1071, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 128 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 938-950 |
| Publication date | 2023-03-08 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Psychological Reports (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-2941 • E-ISSN: 1558-691X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00332941231161789 |
| PMID | 36891636 |
| OpenAlex | W4323652452 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 26 |
As transparency is believed to be a key factor linked to trust in the government, we explore the link between the perceived lack of transparency and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. Two studies were conducted ( N 1 = 264 and N 2 = 113) using both correlational (Study 1) and experimental (Study 2) designs. The results show a positive relationship between the perception of a lack of transparencies in the context of pandemic policies (Study 1), general lack of transparency in the decision-making process (Study 2), and belief in conspiracy theories about the emergence of the COVID-19 virus and vaccines' related fake news. This effect was mediated by a general conspiracy mentality. That is, people who evaluated policies as non-transparent presented a higher conspiracy mentality, and this, in turn, was related to belief in specific COVID-19 conspiracy theories
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Context (archaeology · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Government (linguistics · Infectious disease (medical specialty · Pandemic · Perception · Political science · Transparency (behavior · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Law · Medicine · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology
Varieties of Transparency
Determining Power and Sample Size for Simple and Complex Mediation Models
Contesting epistemic authority
The dangers of blind trust
Associations between conspiracism and the rejection of scientific innovations
Knowledge, (mis-)conceptions, risk perception, and behavior change during pandemics
The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories
A Bioweapon or a Hoax? The Link Between Distinct Conspiracy Beliefs About the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Outbreak and Pandemic Behavior
Measuring Individual Differences in Generic Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories Across Cultures
Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Conspiracy Thinking in a Polish Sample
Publishing public performance results on the Internet
How paranoid are conspiracy believers? Toward a more fine‐grained understanding of the connect and disconnect between paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories
Developing and Testing a Theoretical Framework for Computer‐Mediated Transparency of Local Governments
Linking transparency, knowledge and citizen trust in government
Organizational barriers to transparency
An existential function of enemyship
What Is Transparency
Conspiracy theories as part of history
Conspiracist ideation in Britain and Austria
Conspiracy mentality and political orientation across 26 countries
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |