This paper aims to assess whether government transparency about strategic communication (SC) policies affects citizens’ trust in government and their perceived “say” in public matters.
Using a cross-national sample (N = 28), the author estimate ordinary least squares (OLS) models and bootstrap confidence intervals. The author also perform principal component analysis (PCA) and k-means cluster analysis on six standardized indicators: SC transparency (dummy), gross domestic product per capita, good governance, social policy effectiveness, communication coherency (all Sustainable Governance Indicators expert scores), plus Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development measures of trust and “say”. The goal is to obtain ceteris paribus estimates of the association between SC transparency and the two outcome variables (Trust Score and Say Score), and to explore country groupings with similar trait profiles.
OLS models show no statistically significant predictors of Trust Score or Say Score, with one borderline exception: a one-point increase in the Coherency score is associated with a 14.38-point increase in Say Score. The two-cluster solution clearly separates countries: Cluster 1 scores higher on all analyzed indicators than Cluster 2 (all mean differences are statistically significant and effect sizes are large). Transparency differs sharply across clusters: in Cluster 2, 13 of 17 countries (76%) are non-transparent, whereas in Cluster 1 only 4 of 11 (36%) lack transparency.
The study directly addresses whether transparency about strategic communication “matters”. While OLS suggests no robust standalone effect, the cluster analysis indicates that SC transparency co-occurs with higher institutional quality and citizen attitudes.
