Trust and Distrust in e-Democracy

What is it about?

In the digital government research literature, the concept of trust is typically used as a precondition for the adoption of digital technology in the public sector or an outcome of a roadmap leading up to such adoption. The concept plays a central role in many decisions linked to the planning, adoption and management of the public sector technology. In contrast, the concept of distrust is almost neglected in such literature but, when approached, it appears as the opposite logical side of the trust-distrust dichotomy. However, we conjecture that the path to building trust is different than the path to building distrust and both concepts should be regarded as different theoretical constructs.

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Why is it important?

The workshop aims to prove this conjecture drawing on the insights from the field of e-democracy including internet voting. Given its technical breadth, political and societal implications, and layers of complexity, e-democracy is a good benchmark for exploring this topic. The workshop will confront the main conjecture using examples, research and experiences contributed by participants, conceptual and methodological tools introduced by the organizers, and a discussion shared by everybody. The outcome – elements that help build trust or distrust in various forms of e-democracy – will have practical and theoretical implications, aiming at further research by the participants and collective publication of the results in a special issue in a top ranked journal, preferably Government Information Quarterly.