Online Trust in Kuzbass Governor as Part of National Public Authority

Trust in governmental institutions is a key factor of socio-political stability and effective governance. Regional authorities occupy an important intermediate position in the system of public administration as they exert influence on socio-political processes at the national, regional, and local levels. The governor is the main political actor in the region, and their image affects the perception of the entire regional authorities. Domestic scholars see public trust as a rational method of overcoming uncertainty. The growing role of internet communications determines the need to study online trust in government authorities among social media users. Using the case of the Kemerovo Region aka Kuzbass, the author identified the main factors of online trust in the local Governor and analyzed its impact on the general trust in the national government. The mass online survey involved 752 social media users residing in the Kemerovo Region and made it possible to measure the level of trust in various official authorities. The level of trust in the Governor correlated with the level of trust in other authorities and served as an integrational factor of legitimacy for the socio-political order in the region. The research also revealed a correlation between the declarative trust in the Governor and the latent factors of public trust. The image of reliability had motivational and instrumental aspects that are crucial for information campaigns aimed at shaping digital trust in the head of a regional government.