Public trust and crisis governance: evidence from rural Thailand during COVID-19

This study reconceptualizes public satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic as a governance signal rather than a performance metric. Using household-level data from 2,135 rural households in three provinces of Thailand drawn from the TVSEP Covid-19 Special Survey 2020/21, the analysis examines satisfaction with the national government, provincial government, and overall life through a descriptive and associative approach within an interpretive, non-causal design. The findings show consistently higher reported satisfaction with provincial than national government, despite widespread income decline. Economic disruption is associated with satisfaction in ways that appear to depend on how governance is perceived and interpreted, rather than through material hardship alone. These findings underscore the importance of multi-level and place-based governance in shaping public evaluations during crises and position public satisfaction as an observable indicator through which broader judgements about trust and legitimacy may be interpreted, rather than as a simple measure of policy approval. The interpretive significance of multi-level governance lies in showing how national authority and provincial proximity jointly structure citizens’ evaluations of institutional responsiveness, trust, and legitimacy during crisis conditions.