Bastiaan Redert, Amber Riena M van Heerebeek, Libby Maman, Ixchel Pérez-Dúran. (2026). Being friends or being favored? The drivers of stakeholder trust in regulatory agencies. Journal of EuropeanPublic Policy. 99: 1 - 25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2026.2641682.
This article examines what determines stakeholder trust in regulators, comparing a relational approach (based on transparency, participation, and interaction) with an approach that focuses on self-interest and outcomes. Based on survey data, it demonstrates that both factors play a role: trust grows through both open and inclusive processes and when regulation and enforcement align with stakeholder interests, which can lead to unevenly distributed trust.
Koen Verhoest, Martino Maggetti, Bastiaan Redert, Dominika Latusek-Jurczak, Jacint Jordana.(2026). Strengthening trust by design: a QCA study of design choices in regulatory regimes. Regulation and Governance. 99: 1 - 16. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.70146.
This article examines how the design of regulatory regimes can strengthen trust in them, using sectors such as food safety, finance, and data protection as examples. It demonstrates that appropriate rules are a necessary condition for trust, and that particularly a combination of centralised powers and intensive information exchange – or in certain cases multiple independent bodies – contributes to building trust within the regime.
Nathan Herrebosch, Cassandra Willems, Patricia Popelier. (2026). Breaking open the dichotomy between goal-based and rule-based regulation: a discretion index for evaluating regulatee discretion. Theory and Practice of Legislation. 99: 1 - 31. https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2026.2622290.
This article examines how regulation can offer more flexibility through goal-based regulation, where regulated parties determine for themselves how to achieve goals, in contrast to detailed rule-based regulation. It develops a method - a “discretion index” - to measure the amount of policy space regulation allows, and demonstrates that most regimes are hybrid forms with varying degrees of discretionary space.
Ixchel Perez-Duran, Koen Verhoest. (2025). Trust in nursing home services within weak regulatory regimes: the role of information, control and participation. Public Management Review. 99. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2025.2509671.
This article examines which factors strengthen trust in care services with low transparency and vulnerable users, using nursing homes in Spain as an example. It demonstrates that clear information, government oversight, and active involvement of family members increase trust, with that involvement being perceived as constructive collaboration rather than control.
Jan Boon, Jan Wynen, Koen Verhoest, Walter Daelemans, Jens Lemmens. (2025). A reputational perspective on structural reforms: how media reputations are related to the structural reformlikelihood of public agencies. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 35: 58 - 72. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muae023.
This article examines how the tone (positive or negative) of media attention influences the likelihood of structural reforms at government agencies. It demonstrates that a more negative reputation initially increases the likelihood of reforms, but that this effect diminishes beyond a certain point, whereas positive or neutral reporting has little influence.
Koen Verhoest, Martino Maggetti, Edoardo Guaschino, Jan Wynen. (2025). How trust matters for theperformance and legitimacy of regulatory regimes: the differential impact of watchful trust and good‐faith trust. Regulation and Governance. 19: 3 - 20. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12596.
This article examines how combinations of trust and distrust between political, administrative, and regulatory actors influence the performance and legitimacy of regulatory regimes. It demonstrates that a “trust but verify” attitude promotes performance, while high levels of trust without distrust contribute primarily to the legitimacy of the regime.
Martino Maggetti, Koen Verhoest, Jarle Trondal, Dominika Proszowska, Rahel Schomaker. (2025). Trust in multilevel governance settings: examining the congruence hypothesis for actors in regulatory regimes. Journal of European Public Policy. 99. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2025.2517296.
This article examines how trust operates between national and EU institutions across various sectors and finds that trust in national authorities is positively correlated with trust in EU bodies. Additionally, this correlation appears stronger for central actors and older sectors, and weaker in newer domains such as data protection.
Koen Verhoest, Dominika Latusek, Frédérique Six, Libby Maman, Yannis Papadopoulos, Rahel M.Schomaker, Jarle Trondal. (2024). Trust and distrust in public governance settings: conceptualising and testing the link in regulatory relations. Journal of Trust Research. 14: 127 - 156. https://doi.org/10.1080/21515581.2024.2383918.
This article examines the relationship between trust and distrust in public administration and shows that they can coexist and have only a limited negative correlation. It concludes that trust and distrust should be viewed as separate concepts, and that further research is needed into distrust distinct from trust.
Verhoest K., Redert B., Maggetti, M., Jordana J., Levi-Faur D. (2025). Trust and Regulation. In: Six F.,Hamm J., Latusek D., van Zimmeren E., Verhoest K. (2025). The Edward Elgar Handbook in Trust inPublic Governance. (pp.260-280) Edward Elgar. https://hdl.handle.net/10067/2187460151162165141
This publication contains a chapter from the Edward Elgar Handbook on Trust in Public Governance.
Popelier, Patricia (2025). Wijze wetten: hoe betrouwbaar is ons parlement? : hoe betrouwbaar is ons parlement? In: Droit constitutionnel et démocratie : de la nation à l'Europe: dialogues avec Hugues Dumont/ El Berhoumi, M. [edit.]; et al. - ISBN 978-2-8079-4815-0 - Bruxelles, Larcier Intersentia - 2025, p.767-788. https://hdl.handle.net/10067/2195740151162165141
This chapter from the book 'Droit constitutionnel et démocratie' addresses the responsibility of parliament to create high-quality laws through the lens of trust. It discusses the lack of trust in parliament and asks what parliament can do about it, how the quality of legislation can contribute to this, and what role the judiciary can play in this.