Discriminant validity: (HTMT) criterion.

Public participation has been widely acknowledged as a mechanism to enhance residents’ trust in governmental institutions. However, the specific pathways through which public participation influences trust via the perceived responsiveness of local government remain underexplored, particularly in post-war settings such as Mogadishu, Somalia. Hence, this study aimed to explore the impact of public participation on residents’ trust in local authorities in Mogadishu, Somalia, through the perceived responsiveness as a mediator in this relationship within the unique context of a post-war country. Data were collected between January 20 and April 30, 2024. This research employed a quantitative online survey to gather data from 446 inhabitants of Mogadishu City, Somalia. The subjects in the study were recruited using a convenient sampling technique. The proposed model was analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) in SmartPLS version 4 to examine the hypothesized relationships and mediating effects. The findings indicated that perceived public participation positively and significantly predicted both perceptions of responsiveness and residents’ trust in local authorities. The findings also revealed that perceptions of local government responsiveness were directly, positively, and significantly associated with residents’ trust in the city administration. The results ultimately indicated a positive partial mediation effect of perceived local government responsiveness on the association between public participation and residents’ trust in city administration. This study addresses a lacuna in the literature by exploring how perceived public participation influences residents’ trust in city authorities in a post-conflict setting, particularly in Somalia. This underscores the significance of perceived responsiveness as a mediator in enhancing residents’ trust, providing invaluable insights for policymakers and local government officials.公众参与已被学界广泛认可为提升居民对政府机构信任的有效机制。然而，公众参与通过地方政府感知响应性影响居民信任的具体路径仍未得到充分探索，尤其在索马里摩加迪沙这类战后地区。有鉴于此，本研究结合战后国家的独特语境，以感知响应性为中介变量，旨在探究公众参与对索马里摩加迪沙居民地方当局信任的影响。本研究于2024年1月20日至4月30日期间开展数据采集工作，采用定量线上调查法，从索马里摩加迪沙市的446名居民中收集数据，并通过便利抽样法招募研究对象。本研究借助SmartPLS 4.0软件中的基于协方差的结构方程模型（covariance-based structural equation modeling, CB-SEM）对所提出的模型进行分析，以检验假设的关系与中介效应。研究结果显示，感知到的公众参与对感知响应性与居民对地方当局的信任均具有显著正向预测作用；同时，地方政府感知响应性与居民对城市行政部门的信任呈显著直接正向关联。最终结果证实，感知到的地方政府响应性在公众参与与居民对城市行政部门信任的关系中发挥了显著的部分中介作用。本研究聚焦战后冲突背景（尤其是索马里）下感知公众参与对居民城市行政部门信任的影响机制，填补了相关文献的研究空白，同时凸显了感知响应性作为中介变量在提升居民信任中的重要价值，可为政策制定者与地方政府官员提供极具参考价值的实践启示。