Trust As a Predictor of Health-Related Conspiracy Theory Beliefs: The Case of Türkiye during the COVID-19 Pandemic
provided by legitimate authorities and become widespread in times of epistemic
uncertainty. While prior research has explained the belief in conspiracy theories
through information deficiency or the psychological and cognitive characteristics of
individuals, these explanations fall short in accounting for the sociological factors
that contribute to the proliferation of alternative truth discourses with eroding trust in
political and scientific authorities. This thesis aims for an expanded understanding of
conspiracy theory beliefs by incorporating trust as a sociological predictor in a global
health crisis context. It investigates how trust in political institutions, healthcare
services, scientists, and the news media is connected to belief in health-related
conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic, controlling for
sociodemographic factors such as class, religiosity, and political ideology. Research
data is obtained from the Turkey COVID-19 Values Study (TCVS) Survey, which
was conducted face-to-face with 1500 participants between April and May 2022.
According to the multiple regression analysis, people who distrust political
institutions, healthcare services, and scientists have significantly higher levels of
conspiracy theory belief. Moreover, lower class and greater religiosity predict lower
belief in conspiracy theories. The findings indicate that building trust during the
communication of health-related information and management of public health might
decrease belief in conspiracy theories in times of informational uncertainty.