Strategies to improve public trust in governmental agencies

Trust is a vital factor for the success of individual, organization and community and is assessed as a main source of soft power and also effective for the penetration rate of hard power. Trust increased discipline, stability and predictability, and is a mechanism that maintains the integrity and unity of social relationships in the system. With the decline of public trust, public participation in political processes will be reduced. If the general public do not trust the government and its elected and appointed individuals, at the time of the implementation of difficult decisions, particularly in cases involving the sacrifice and dedication will not cooperate.
Reducing citizen's trust in government and governmental institutions is one of the crisis in the world today. One of the most fundamental challenges facing public administration is how to maintain and enhance public trust in the governmental agencies.
The present study aims to identify ways to enhance public trust in governmental agencies which is done by means of analytical method. The results show that the image of citizens from governmental agencies influences on public trust in governmental agencies. Citizen's perception of 1) general responsiveness, 2) the possibility of public participation in decisions, 3) service’s quality, 4) administrative health, 5) transparency, 6) ethics, 7) justice shapes the mental image of governmental organization.
Therefore, upgrading the seven mentioned above factors and thus improving the image of citizens lead to have more trust on their governmental agencies.