A Cross-National Comparative Study of Trust in Nonprofit Organizations

The emergence of nonprofit sector has been shown in many countries since 1990s (Salamon & Anheier, 1994). InIn addition, trust and nonprofit organizations can be considered basic elements of the so-called social capital which Putnam (1993) discussed. So, examining the cross-national comparison of trust in nonprofit organizations is significant in the present social situation. Nonprofit organization, however, is ambiguous and diverse. Its concept cannot only include volunteer organizations but also trade unions and religious organizations. And its definition is never common in all countries. Thus this study aims to examine not only the simple comparison but also the measurability and comparability of that.

This presentation mainly uses the results of some questions concerning “trust in nonprofit organizations” in the Asia-Pacific Values Survey (APVS, 2010-ongoing) and Public Opinion Survey on Political Participation and Social Contribution (Civil Society Survey, CSS, 2007-2009). The former survey was conducted in Japan and USA in 2010, and China in 2011, and the latter in Japan, USA, and South Korea. This study focuses on the rate of the item nonresponses, “Don’t’ Know,” the degrees of trust in their organizations, and correlation structures of them. For the analysis of the correlation structure, multivariate analysis was used.

Therefore, the study shows that different expression of even the similar words changes the rates of the item nonresponses and questions using abbreviations and non-familiar words may increase item nonresponses. On the other hand, it doesn’t find the strong associations between demographics (sex and age) and trust in nonprofit organizations except religious ones. From the results of multivariate analysis, it found a kind of gap in pattern structure of trust between religious organizations and voluntary organizations (volunteer and civil activities organizations). These findings are found commonly in each country. It implies measurability and comparability of trust in nonprofit organizations.