Roles of Attribution and Government Intervention in the Trust Repair Process During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study, bases on both the attribution theory and trust repair theory, and explores the effects of attribution and government intervention in the trust repair process, willingness to reconcile and one’s intention to share during the COVID-19 pandemic. Questionnaires are distributed online, and 799 responses are collected, as based on convenience sampling. Partial least squares structural equation modeling is used to conduct analysis. Results show that controllability, stability, affective repair, functional repair, and informational repair have a positive and significant effect on individuals’ willingness to reconcile, but the locus of causality does not have a significant effect. Willingness to reconcile has a positive effect on individuals’ intention to share. Based on these findings, it is recommended that governments develop appropriate strategies to repair peoples’ levels of trust and eliminate the chance of any major crisis event recurrence. Moreover, the findings further confirm that governments and public sector organizations can use the attribution theory and trust repair strategies to affect positive change.