The existing literature on institutional trust leads us to expect that institutional trust is determined by institutional performance. In the context of three South Asian countries (Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka), we find the opposite – that despite poor performance of the civil service, there is high institutional trust. In this study we examine whether such mismatch can be explained by an authoritarian cultural orientation, which generates unquestioning obedience and loyalty and may contribute to inflated institutional trust in the civil service of these countries.
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