- Publication
Building trust through messaging and new e-government services in Kenya
Nuole Chen, Salim Kombo, Nathaniel Rabb, Leonard Waweru, Alisa Zomer, Lily L. Tsai
- August 12, 2026
- 1:34 pm
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OVERVIEW
This peer-reviewed article, published in Government Information Quarterly, was co-authored by Busara Center researchers Salim Kombo and Leonard Waweru alongside researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The study examines whether partnerships between governments and trusted private-sector organizations can strengthen citizens’ trust in government and increase uptake of digital public services in Kenya, using an experimental evaluation of the My County Hub e-government platform. The findings offer important insights into the opportunities and limitations of public-private partnerships in advancing digital governance and citizen trust.
Research Questions
- Can trust in a highly trusted private company transfer to government through public-private partnerships delivering digital public services?
- How does communicating that an e-government platform is delivered by government, a private company, or both influence citizens’ trust in government?
- How do existing levels of trust in government shape citizens’ willingness to adopt new digital government services?
- What alternative mechanisms, beyond trust transfer, explain how digitization influences public trust?
Methods
Researchers conducted an endorsement-style randomized survey experiment involving 11,290 respondents in Kenya’s Nairobi Metropolitan Area. Participants were randomly assigned to learn that the My County Hub digital service portal was being introduced by either the county government, Safaricom, or a partnership between the two. The study measured changes in trust in county government, willingness to use the platform, and interest in learning more about the service, while also examining how baseline trust levels influenced responses.
THEMATIC AREAS
Key Findings
- The study did not find evidence that trust automatically transfers from a trusted private company to government simply because they collaborate on digital public services.
- Respondents informed that Safaricom was delivering the service were more willing to use the platform, but simultaneously expressed lower trust in county government, suggesting a substitution effect rather than trust transfer.
- Simply introducing a new digital government service increased trust in government across participants, regardless of who was presented as delivering it.
- The substitution effect was strongest among citizens who already had relatively low trust in government before the intervention.
- The findings suggest that public-private partnerships alone are insufficient to build trust in government, particularly where baseline trust is already weak.
Implications for Policy or Development
- Governments should not assume that partnering with trusted private-sector organizations will automatically improve citizens’ trust in public institutions.
- Digital public service initiatives should be accompanied by deliberate trust-building strategies that reinforce government competence, transparency, and accountability.
- Policymakers should recognize that citizens with low baseline trust may interpret private-sector involvement as evidence that government is unable to deliver services independently.
- Public-private partnerships remain valuable for expanding digital service delivery, but communication strategies should clearly position government as an effective and accountable service provider alongside private partners.
- As governments across Africa continue to digitize public services, understanding citizens’ perceptions of institutional roles will be critical for designing successful GovTech initiatives.