Purpose - This study seeks to provide further testing of access in the context of government - community relations within the political context of the Republic of North Macedonia. The study analyses relationship cultivation strategy of access and explains how it contributes to achieving trust and relationship satisfaction in government-community relations. This paper also provides insights into the importance of access to achieving positive government-community relations based on mutual trust and satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach - For this research, a qualitative inquiry was conducted, and qualitative in-depth interviewing was used as the main research method. In total, 39 interviews were conducted: 12 interviews with Macedonian civil servants, eight interviews with Albanian civil servants and 19 interviews with Albanians. Findings - The findings of this study showed citizens not to have enough access to government and its institutions. Besides, the results showed access to be crucial to building positive government-community relations based on mutual trust and satisfaction. In particular, discrimination and social distance were crucial in building trust between government and citizens. Originality/value - The study provided evidence on the importance and contribution of the cultivation strategy of access to government-community relationships in general and to the relational outcomes of trust and satisfaction in particular. The findings supported the initial assumptions that access constitutes an important factor in predicting the government-community relationship quality.
展开▼
