Wrapped in a veil: how social media and risk perception shape political trust in emergency organizations in Anhui, China

While there is a large literature on the determinants of political trust in government organizations, little attention has been paid to the emergency organizations, neither has explored the role of social media and risk perception in shaping political trust in emergency organizations. This article investigates how social media and risk perception shape political trust in emergency organizations. Using data from a questionnaire survey after the severe flooding disaster in Anhui, China, in July 2020 (N = 745), it found that people with disaster awareness and upholding reliability for official media have more trust in emergency organizations. Besides, official media could be an important mediator, through which it significantly increases the strength of the causal relationship between disaster awareness and political trust in emergency organizations. These findings have broad implications on emergency management, functions of social media are attainable within the political trust of emergency organizations and could sustain a positive outlook in risk governance.