Supplementary Material for "Structural analysis of public trust and the mediating role of government image in disaster response"

Recent reports modeled the quality of government disaster response services via service quality, public trust, perceived justice, and government image in disaster situations. This study explored the mediating role of government image on the paths from service quality and perceived justice to the public trust construct and filled the gap in these unknown interactions with these complex relationships. Using a cross-sectional survey, 860 valid responses were analyzed to uncover the hypothesized general structures and mediating effects in the case of typhoon Rai (Odette), which hit the Philippines in December 2021. Results from Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling generate insights from the proposed model’s five hypothesized paths and two mediation effects. We uncover salient results as inputs to disaster risk reduction and management. All of the main hypothesized structural paths are statistically supported except for service quality to public trust, whose significance was changed after the Gaussian copula analysis was performed to remove possible endogeneity problems. Thus, public trust is developed when there is a quality of information and fairness in the delivery of services. The government image fully mediates the overall variations of the path from service quality and public trust, while a partial mediating effect was found between perceived justice and public trust. The paper discussed insights in light of findings and systematically connected the results to the emerging discussions in this field.