Building Generalized Trust in Thailand

This paper presents new evidence linking community characteristics and generalized trust, based on the most up to date national-level data from the Quality of Life Under the Sufficiency Economy Survey 2018 conducted by the National Statistical Office of Thailand. We measure generalized trust using the expectation approach based on the difference hypothesis situation questions, including whether a lost wallet or other possessions are likely to be returned, and whether items will be stolen if people leave their house's door unlocked. Our results suggest that the level of trust depends on how close people in communities feel towards each other and whether a member of family takes part in civic engagement. Also, we find that participation in knowledge sharing ideas activity such as community meetings or any type of sharing ideas activity can positively impact trust.