Modern communication technologies as a factor of the formation of institutional trust among students

Bondarenko Vladimir Viktorovich Doctor of Economics Professor of the Department «Management, computer science and general humanities», director of the Penza branch of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation 440052, Russia, Penza region, Penza, Chkalova str., 33B bond40@bk.ru Leskina Ol'ga Nikolaevna PhD in Economics Associated professor of the Department of «Economics and Finances», Penza branch of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation 440052, Russia, Penza region, Penza, Chkalova str., 33B spring-ol@rambler.ru Filippova Elizaveta Sergeevna Student of the Penza branch of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation 440052, Russia, Penza region, Penza, Chkalova str., 33B esfilippova@fa.ru

Aksenov Vladislav Vladimirovich Student of the Penza branch of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation 440052, Russia, Penza region, Penza, Chkalova str., 33B aksel-2005@yandex.ru

Introduction

Student youth, represents a part of the younger generation of society. This category includes, as a rule, young people aged 15 to 25 years, who are students who master the educational programs of secondary vocational education in colleges and technical schools, as well as those studying at universities in bachelor's, specialty or master's degree programs.

Socio-economic progress and successful development of the nation in the future depend on the level of education of students, their tolerance in society, and their focus on active labor creative activity. The institutional trust of young people is the most important condition for the formation of a stable trajectory of development of society.

The term "institutional trust" refers to the public's trust in various social institutions. The list of such institutions is diverse and quite wide. Speaking about the institutional trust of students, we mean:

-                   Organizations and their representatives exercising political power in the country, as well as in individual subjects of the Russian Federation (the President, the State Duma, the Government, political parties, Parliament and other bodies);

-                   Organizations responsible for security and law enforcement in the country (courts, prosecutor's office, police, armed forces and others);

-                   Organizations responsible for the well-being of citizens (organizations of the education system, health care, social security, and others);

-                   Business organizations that work with the support of the state, including trade union organizations attached to them;

-                   Organizations that carry out informational and ideological functions in society (mass media, religious organizations, etc.);

- Educational institutions of secondary and higher professional education;

- Various types of youth sports, cultural, public, volunteer and other organizations and associations.

In scientific research, institutional "trust is considered as a certain level of expectation of conscientious behavior that meets the norms, rules and restrictions regulated by formal and informal institutions" ^{[1, p. 23]}. According to researchers A.S. Reva, A.D. Tur, G.V. Yaroshenko, the problem of trust is one of the most relevant topics of modern social development, since it acts as a base for the manifestation of political leaders and the formation of differentiated social institutions. Institutional trust should also be taken into account as a mechanism for ensuring the integration of citizens into modern political processes ^{[2, p. 248]}.

Issues of trust in the existing institutions and authorities are under the close attention of the public ^[3]. As evidenced by periodically conducted polls and monitoring of public opinion by such organizations as: the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM); the Public Opinion Foundation; the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences; the private research holding Romir; the analytical center "Levada Center" (ANO) – a non-governmental research organization, which is currently submitted by the Ministry of Justice to the register of non-profit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent.

Speaking about the formation of institutional trust in authorities on the part of students, it is necessary to take into account the values, aspirations, priorities and needs of modern youth and be in constant dialogue with them in a language understandable to young people.

According to international statistics, young people are most actively using network communication technologies and the global Internet space. Thus, on average, more than half of all Internet users (56.6%) are between the ages of 18 and 34 ^[4].

In Russia, the age group from 12 to 24 years is the largest in terms of coverage of Internet users – 97.1% ^[5]. According to a Mediascope study, Russians spend an average of 3 hours and 40 minutes on the Internet every day. More than half of this time is distributed among 3 key positions: social networks (21%), video services (18%) and messengers (15%) ^[6]. Daily use of the Internet and social networks is important for an average of 8% of Russians. However, among people aged 18-24, 19% of young people could not do without a daily "ritual" of using the Internet in 2022 ^[7]. The prevailing number of Internet access occurs via mobile devices ^[8].

Instagram Facebook audience decreased by 5 times, Facebook audience decreased by 3.5 times, against the background of blocking of these services by Roskomnadzor, during the period of the spread of sanctions by unfriendly countries towards Russia from March 2022 to March 2023, according to a Mediascope study. In turn, the average daily coverage of the Russian Telegram messenger in February 2023 increased by almost 1.8 times compared to the same month of the previous year – from 23% to 41%. In popular domestic social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, this indicator increased by 1.15 times or up to 44% of users and by 1.12 times – up to 18% of users, respectively ^[9].

The data presented above indicate that the Internet, social networks, messengers are an integral part of the life of the younger generation and the main source of information received. With the introduction of sanctions by Western countries and the blocking of a number of resources by Roskomnadzor, the preferences of young people are shifting towards the use of domestic information products and network communication services.

In order to increase institutional trust in authorities, prevent destructive behavior and atomization of youth, there is a need to develop mechanisms for interaction between state institutions and student youth based on modern digital communication technologies.

Research methodology

The theoretical basis of the research was the scientific works of domestic and foreign authors, educational publications, empirical research data on the study of institutional trust in society as a whole and among students, in particular, as well as information sources and communication channels on the basis of which institutional trust is formed.

The empirical research conducted by the authors of the work is based on the data of an electronic questionnaire survey of students of universities and colleges in 41 subjects of the Russian Federation. The survey was attended by 1,560 people (780 university students and 780 college students), including 786 girls (50.38%) and 774 boys (49.62%) enrolled in programs of higher and secondary vocational education from 1st to 6th courses. The survey was conducted in 2023 in an online format in the form of a questionnaire on the Google Forms platform.

Research results

Students of Russian colleges and universities participating in the survey were asked to assess their level of trust in state and political institutions operating in the country. The results of this survey are presented in table 1.

Table 1

The results of a survey of students about their level of trust in state and political institutions, % by line

It follows from the table data that Russian students expressed the highest level of confidence in the institution of the presidency; the judicial system; federal and regional law enforcement agencies and the Russian education system (more than 80% of university respondents and more than 80% of college respondents of the Russian Federation who chose the answers "Quite trust" and "Rather trust").

From 70% to 79% of student youth respondents answered that they "Fully trust" and "Rather trust" the legislative and executive authorities at the federal and regional levels, the highest official heading the system of executive bodies of state power in the region, the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs and the regional department (committee) for Youth Affairs (youth politics).

At the same time, the proportion of university and college students who found it difficult to answer the question about the level of trust in regional legislative authorities (12.1% and 15.5%, respectively); the federal Agency for Youth Affairs (13.7% and 11.9%, respectively); the regional department (committee) for youth affairs (youth policy) (10% and 11.8%, respectively); municipal authorities (9.4% and 7.6%, respectively), which indicates a lack of awareness among students about the activities of these authorities and the availability of reserves in the field of increasing the level of trust.

The highest percentage of respondents recorded as choosing the answer "I do not trust at all" is noted in relation to such institutions as: the highest official heading the system of executive bodies of state power in the region (governor, head, etc.) – 6.7% of university students and 6.9% of college students; municipal authorities (6.9% of university students and 7% of college students); regional executive authorities (6.9% of university students and 6.7% of college students), as well as the State Duma of the Russian Federation (6.7% of university students and 6.9% of college students), which may be explained by insufficient information policy on the part of these institutions in relation to the social group of students.

It should be noted that according to the results of the survey, there were no significant differences in the responses of students from universities and colleges in Russia.

The survey data also showed that the level of trust in state institutions and authorities among students is at a higher level than the similar indicator typical for society as a whole.  For example, according to VTSIOM data presented on July 28, 2023 (our survey was conducted at about the same time), the level of trust in the President of the Russian Federation in society as a whole was 73.2%, the level of positive assessment of the work of the Prime Minister and the Government of the Russian Federation was 51.4% and 48.5%, respectively ^[10]. At the same time, among the student youth, the Institute of the presidency expressed the highest level of trust – more than 80% of students of universities and colleges of the Russian Federation, who chose the answers "Quite trust" and "Rather trust", 75.6% of university students and 77.8% of students studying in colleges of the Russian Federation expressed the highest level of trust in the Institute of the Government of the Russian Federation.

It should be noted that the presented results of the survey of Russian students correlate with the data of mass surveys of the country's population conducted somewhat later – in September 2023. The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) and the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM).

Students of Russian universities and colleges explain the insufficient level of trust in the authorities, if any, mainly by the fact that they know little about their activities (see Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Distribution of respondents' answers to the question "If you assess your level of trust in the authorities as low, then why?" (%, more than one answer was allowed)

From the distribution of answers to the question "If you assess your level of trust in the authorities as low, then why?" it also follows that 26.92% believe that some authorities have an insufficient level of professionalism; 26.28% trust only well-known people (relatives and friends); 23.08% believe that the authorities are slow they respond to appeals, requests of the population and enterprises; 22.44% associate a low level of trust with the presence of a large number of socio-economic problems in the city/ locality. Among the answers to this question, 14.17% of students also chose the option "Failure to fulfill previously given guarantees and promises". 8.97% of students believe that the authorities tend to "Ignore complaints, requests and needs of society." In general, the discrepancy in the responses of university and college students on this issue is no more than 2%.

Thus, a significant part of young people are not fully aware of the activities of various state, regional and municipal authorities, which determines the relevance of a more open information and communication policy on the part of the authorities.

In the conducted survey of Russian students, respondents were asked to choose the most frequently used channels for obtaining information (Fig. 2).

Figure 2. Distribution of respondents' answers to the question "What channels of information do you use?" (%, more than one answer was allowed)

 The vast majority of young people surveyed (over 95%) most often use the following channels for obtaining information: from classmates, friends; through communication in various messenger chats; through social networks; as well as from parents. 70.73% of students indicated that they receive a significant part of the important information from the teachers of their educational institution. More than 30% of respondents use news portals on the Internet, official websites of state and municipal authorities and regional digital Internet communities to obtain information. Consequently, in order to increase the institutional trust of the student youth, awareness of the activities of the authorities, it is necessary to use social networks, digital information spaces, modern communication channels in order to involve young people in a dialogue with government representatives and interaction of power structures with young people. It is also necessary to involve educational institutions more widely in this process.

Representatives of the student youth were also asked to assess the level of their trust in various sources of information received. The results of this survey are presented in table 2.

Table 2

The level of confidence of Russian students in various sources of information (% per line)

A large proportion of the surveyed students noted that they "fully trust" or "rather trust" those sources of information that they most often use. Namely: parents, classmates, friends, instant messenger chats, contacts on social networks, teachers of their educational institution. Consequently, the greatest level of trust among young people is enjoyed by those sources of information that suggest the possibility of personal interaction or personal-digital.

An interesting phenomenon of modern reality is that students largely trust information from social networks, despite the fact that it can be distributed by subjects with whom students of universities and colleges are not personally familiar. At the same time, people and various organizations, including state and municipal authorities, youth structures, create accounts on social networks, post detailed information about themselves, their lives, their field of activity on them, reflect their personal attitude to various events. This information openness about the life, activities of a person or organization creates a "trust capital" on the part of users, which eventually transforms into a high level of trust in the subject in the network information and communication space.

Taking into account the analysis of the survey results, the authorities need to use the reserves to increase the institutional trust of students by expanding interaction with them and posting comprehensive, interesting, relevant and accessible information about their activities in social networks and messengers, for example, in Telegram.

It is also necessary to use the existing potential of educational institutions in order to increase institutional trust in authorities, involvement in all-Russian and regional projects for the benefit of the Motherland, the formation of positive civic activity of students through joint events (forums, meetings, seminars, open discourses, "boiling points", hackathons, etc.) in person, online or offline formats.

The authors of this study, having studied the diversity of modern communication technologies and the possibilities of their practical application for state institutions and organizations, have developed a system of methodological recommendations for improving the use of communication technologies regarding the work of state institutions with student youth, highlighting the following areas (see Figure 3):

1. Expanding the range of technologies used to stimulate the formation of institutional trust among students.
2. The use of new technical means of communication for the operational and qualitative interaction of state institutions and students.
3. The use of modern tools for creating an information environment that forms the institutional trust of students in accordance with the global cultural and digital transformations of society.
4. Involvement of students in decision-making processes of state significance, participation in the activities of state institutions and authorities, following the basics of regulatory legislation in this area.

Figure 3. Improving the use of modern communication technologies as a factor of institutional trust in authorities on the part of students

Let's consider the directions highlighted in the figure for improving the use of modern communication technologies in more detail.

1. Expanding the range of technologies applicable to stimulate the formation of institutional trust among students is possible:

1) By sources of trust formation:

• Within the framework of the work of educational institutions of secondary vocational education, higher education, as well as youth sports, cultural, public, volunteer and other organizations.
• Based on the statements and behavior of opinion leaders, to whom young people have a high degree of trust.

2) By type of trust:

• Personalized trust.
• Generalized trust.
• Trust in the institutional order.

3) On differentiation of approaches to different groups of students:

• Taking into account regional specifics, the type of settlement, the level of material security and other features.
• Taking into account the professionally-oriented interests of young people through the organization of professional communities, youth associations, associations, specialized forums.

2. The use of new technical means of communication for the operational and qualitative interaction of state institutions and students.

In this part, we note that according to the forms of technical implementation of the process of interaction with young people, it is possible to organize this process through:

• Official websites of state institutions and authorities of federal and regional significance.
• Specialized federal and regional Internet portals.
• Official groups in social networks – state-owned  VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and other social networks.
• Youth media.
• Messengers, Telegram channels, informational chatbots.
• Dialog platforms of domestic production.
• Blogs of opinion leaders (influencers).
• Streaming platforms.
• Mobile applications for information exchange.
• Users' email address.

3. The use of modern tools for creating an information environment that forms the institutional trust of students in accordance with the conditions of global cultural and digital transformations of society is possible through:

1) Regularly bringing useful and topical information of the federal and local agenda to the youth, informing students about their rights, benefits, support opportunities through state and public resources.

2) Adaptation of national news for local communities, as well as emerging information pretexts for the interests of students in a particular region.

3) Involving young people in the exchange of experience, creative ideas, advice and other positive information.

4) The use of interactive formats in conducting various actions (quests, flash mobs, hackathons, challenges, surveys, tests, contests, voting, forums, etc.).

5) Constant work with comments, providing prompt responses to the reactions of users of state-owned websites, official websites of organizations.

6) The formation of a technical opportunity for users of websites of state institutions and state-owned websites to express a positive opinion on the work of individual officials, representatives of state institutions and departments.

7) Conducting scheduled offline meetings and live videoconferencing, online broadcasts on social networks with individual government officials, specialists of state institutions.

8) The formation of posts according to certain principles developed for state organizations with a well-thought-out frequency of posting information.

9) Drawing up a content plan for the state-owned website and using a media plan that determines the strategy for the development of the state-owned website in the long term.

10) High-quality design and attractive design of the Internet resources of the authorities, with an easy search for the necessary information and intuitive navigation. 

11) Correct display of information both on the computer screen and on the screens of mobile devices.

12) Determining the rules used to access the resources of state-owned websites and websites of state institutions, operational moderation of statements to exclude spam, insults, unreliable and prohibited information.

13) Passing the verification procedure by state institutions and organizations and receiving the "State Organization" label on the network.

14) The use of tools to promote state-owned websites, websites of state institutions and the dissemination of information about their activities.

15) The use of other auxiliary tools that stimulate the processes of formation of institutional trust of student youth to the authorities.

4. The involvement of students in the decision-making processes of state significance, participation in the activities of state institutions and authorities, following the regulatory legislation in this area is possible through:

1) Participation in the activities of advisory, advisory and other bodies formed by federal state authorities, authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation, local self-government bodies, as well as international associations and organizations.

2) Participation in international, federal, regional youth forums, actions and other events in the field of youth policy.

3) Attracting young people to scientific and analytical research in the field of studying the interests and values of student youth and the implementation of certain areas of youth policy.

4) Formation and implementation of youth initiatives aimed at improving the socio-economic, cultural, environmental and other spheres of life of the society by creating youth public associations, youth self-government bodies under the state authorities of the Russian Federation, local self-government bodies and educational organizations in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation of the Russian Federation and the constituent documents of the relevant organizations.

As ways of interaction between students and authorities on various issues (raising awareness of current events and tasks of specific public authorities, changes in the regulatory framework, innovations regarding the stimulation and support of students, and others), involving prompt feedback, in the global information space of the Internet can be:

- Official websites of various levels of authorities and state institutions on the Internet.

- Gosweb is a unified information and service digital platform in the form of an ecosystem of official Internet portals, websites, mobile and Internet applications created and used by government authorities to accelerate the communication processes of citizens and the state.

- State–owned websites are official pages and communities in social networks of state bodies, local self-government bodies, as well as subordinate organizations and budgetary institutions formed in accordance with current legislation (see Federal Law "On Ensuring Access to Information on the Activities of State Bodies and Local Self-Government Bodies" dated 09.02.2009 N 8-FZ).

- Digital government is an automated system of public decision–making based on big data technology, which makes it possible to remove the subjective approach and dependence on the opinions of individual government officials, reduce the corruption component, create transparency in the management activities of public authorities and local self-government bodies, establish a controlled process of prompt responses to diverse requests of citizens.

Discussion of the results of the study

The issues of studying the political environment, socio-economic conditions that contribute to the formation of institutional trust in society are in the focus of close attention of domestic and foreign scientists.

The analysis of the works of foreign authors allows us to conclude that institutional trust is formed under the influence of two groups of factors – internal and external. Internal is a set of individual characteristics and values acquired in childhood and adolescence ^[11-13]. External factors are caused by constantly changing conditions of the external environment of human activity in the world of global cultural and digital transformations ^[14-16].

Researchers have found that citizens will trust more those institutions that demonstrate good results in meeting their social needs ^{[17, 18]}. The level of trust in political and social institutions in society will depend directly on the level of satisfaction of the population with the socio-economic conditions of life in a particular country and region ^{[19, 20]}.

Russian scientists also pay considerable attention to the issues of increasing public confidence in political and social institutions in the country ^{[21, pp. 50-52]}. Domestic researchers seek to identify the factors influencing the formation and growth of the level of public confidence in various authorities and public administration in Russia, and on this basis – to form mechanisms for building relations between the government and the population based on trust ^{[22, 23]}.

Russian scientists identify the following as the basic system-forming factors for building trusting relations between the country 's population and political and social institutions:

- positive assessment by the population of government institutions and social institutions as effective in terms of solving political, economic, social and other problems of citizens;

- formation of a favorable image on the part of state authorities on the basis of stability, reliability and information openness towards the population;

- development of mechanisms for involving the population in decision-making by authorities and evaluating the effectiveness of their activities, including using digital network information and communication forms of interaction ^{[24, 25]}.

The relevance of the issues of information openness ^[26], the involvement of citizens in decision-making at the state, regional and local levels of government, the creation of digital network information and communication platforms is also emphasized in foreign studies ^{[27, 28]}. Interaction with government representatives through digital services, Internet platforms, social networks contributes to the formation of trusting relationships, increasing their reputational capital ^{[29, p. 892]}.

In our opinion, modern information technologies and digital communication channels play an important role in improving the quality of interaction between the institutions of society with the student youth – the part of the country's population that actively uses advanced communication technologies and information acquisition. However, despite the research of the problems of institutional trust in society as a whole, the issues of the formation of institutional trust among students, as well as the factors contributing to its formation, remain poorly studied.

Conclusions and further directions of research

The study revealed a fairly high level of institutional trust of student youth representatives in political personalities at the federal level, especially the institute of the presidency; the judicial system; federal and regional law enforcement agencies, the Russian education system and a significantly lower level of trust in regional authorities and management, due to low awareness of the activities of these institutions and weak involvement in the processes of regional socio-economic development and the activities of specialized All-Russian and regional youth organizations, which is confirmed by the data (46.22%) of respondents' responses.

The students expressed the highest level of trust in digital network information sources, contacts in social networks and socio-personal communications with close relatives and friends, as well as with subjects of the educational community, which determines the relevance of using these sources of information to young people in the processes of forming and strengthening institutional trust, as a complex characteristic of a positive functional system of relations with state institutions.

The recommendations formulated in the work on expanding the ways of interaction between the authorities and citizens are designed to help solve such problems as: reducing time spent when contacting government representatives to receive public services; resolving possible problematic and conflict situations in society in the shortest possible time.

The recommendations developed and proposed by the authors on improving the use of communication technologies in working with students are designed to assist in the formation of:

- greater information openness and transparency of the activities of the authorities;

- effective youth policy in the country and in its individual regions;

- positive experience of interaction with authorities and state institutions among students, the ability of students to influence decision-making by authorities;

- a higher level of social security and protection of the younger generation;

- a favorable socio-psychological climate and a stable political environment based on institutional trust, building a human-centered state;

- a unified information space under the conditions of the negative impact of international sanctions in the socio-economic, scientific and educational spheres.

When implementing measures in terms of expanding institutional trust, it is necessary to take into account the previous experience of interaction between representatives of student youth with authorities, especially its positive part regarding interaction with certain state structures, institutions or individual government representatives and the fact of subjective perception of institutions by young people and the allocation of well-intentioned, effective and sensitive among them (most promptly responding to problems people) ^[30]. It is possible to determine the degree of confidence of young people in the institutions of state power based on the use of methods for identifying public opinion, such as: polls, analysis, interviews, observation, rating and others.

Thus, the formation of institutional trust among the social group of students implies the use of diverse online and offline technologies and a variety of tools, and as a basis for its emergence involves the expansion of interpersonal personalized and generalized trust, which is subsequently projected onto government institutions.

On the basis of methodological recommendations developed for state institutions and authorities on improving the use of communication technologies in working with students, a model of institutional trust in the authorities in the system of social governance of the state and in the structure of socio-pedagogical technologies for educating Russian students as a state-oriented group of the younger generation can be formed.

Taking into account the above, the use of the proposed system of technologies and communication tools will be a factor stimulating the formation of institutional trust in authorities on the part of students both in the digital space and the Internet, and in the real socio-political space.

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