Building Public Trust and Cooperation through Investigator Effectiveness: The Mediating Role of Public Satisfaction and the Moderating Role of Accountability

Abstract

This study examines how investigator effectiveness shapes public trust and public cooperation by positioning public satisfaction as a mediating mechanism and investigator accountability as a moderating condition. The empirical setting is Konawe Regency, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the respondents were 263 community members who had interacted with investigators during investigative processes and were not suspects. Data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4. The measurement model demonstrated strong convergent validity and reliability, with AVE values ranging from 0.851 to 0.875 and composite reliability values from 0.953 to 0.965. Investigator effectiveness significantly increased public trust (β=0.359, p<0.001) and public satisfaction (β=0.836, p<0.001), but did not directly increase public cooperation (β=-0.056, p=0.591). Public satisfaction strengthened public trust (β=0.570, p<0.001) but did not directly predict cooperation (β=0.122, p=0.204). Public trust was a strong predictor of cooperation (β=0.535, p<0.001). Public satisfaction significantly mediated the effectiveness–trust relationship (β=0.477, p<0.001), whereas trust significantly mediated the effectiveness–cooperation relationship (β=0.192, p<0.001). Accountability did not significantly moderate the effectiveness–cooperation relationship (β=-0.002, p=0.965). The findings indicate that technical effectiveness is insufficient to generate citizen cooperation unless it is translated into relational confidence. The study contributes by distinguishing satisfaction from trust as two different post-service mechanisms and by showing that trust, rather than satisfaction or accountability as a boundary condition, is the more consequential pathway toward voluntary public cooperation.