We examine the cultural context for individual's trust in public institutions. To shed some light on possible cultural explanations from a more comparative perspective and cover a wider set of cultural aspects, we use indicators of cultural dimensions by Kaasa et al. (2014) based on Hofstede's (1980) approach. Multilevel regression analysis is conducted with individual-level data from two waves of the European Social Survey (2008, 2010) and regional-level data from multiple sources. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to construct the indicators of social and institutional trust and corruption. Our results suggest that individuals tend to trust institutions less in regions with large power distance. Hence, an important key for governments being more successful in achieving their aims seems to be related to improving the sense of participation and civic responsibility.

中文翻译：

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制度信任的决定因素：文化背景的作用

我们考察了个人对公共机构信任的文化背景。为了从更比较的角度阐明可能的文化解释并涵盖更广泛的文化方面，我们使用 Kaasa 的文化维度指标等人. (2014) 基于 Hofstede (1980) 的方法。多层次回归分析是使用来自欧洲社会调查（2008 年、2010 年）的两波个人层次数据和来自多个来源的区域层次数据进行的。验证性因素分析用于构建社会和制度信任和腐败的指标。我们的研究结果表明，在权力距离较大的地区，个人倾向于较少信任机构。因此，政府更成功地实现其目标的一个重要关键似乎与提高参与意识和公民责任感有关。