Political Trust in East and Southeast Asia: The Joint Effects of Education, Corruption Perception, and Urbanization

Abstract This article examines how education, corruption perception, and urbanization jointly influence political trust in Asia. Previous literature proposes a “performance-based evaluation” thesis whereby corruption perception is associated with political trust. We hypothesized this association could be moderated by individual educational attainment and socioeconomic statuses. Applying multilevel models to the Asian Barometer Survey (2001–2016) data, we found interaction effects of education, the urban–rural divide, and corruption perceptions in shaping political trust in 14 East and Southeast Asia societies. For rural Asians, education does not affect political trust when they perceive low corruption; it leads to lower trust when they perceive high corruption. For urban Asians, such an interaction does not exist, and education monotonically erodes political trust no matter how they perceive the severity of corruption.