Political Trust in Italy: How Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors Shape Confidence in Parties

The current study addresses political party trust and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principle application in Italian regions. Trust in political parties is a principal driving force in governance performance, compliance with policies, and citizen trust in institution-made choices. With political and economic diversity in its regions, Italian regions present a case study for testing whether political institution trust increased creates increased ESG use and whether ESG policies have an impact in shaping political trust in reciprocity. Empirical evidence confirms that in high political trust regions, ESG programs have a high opportunity for effective implementation, particularly in social welfare and conservation of environment. In contrast, political institution trust weakness is accompanied with poor ESG pledges, an expression of inefficient governance and reduced accountability in companies. ESG policies actually have an impact on political trust—effective and transparent ESG actions establish institution trust, but shallow and political ESG actions produce mistrust. The observations have a function of projecting the contribution towards balancing institution trust with sustainability through governance quality. Policymakers can contribute towards leveraging political stability in driving ESG integration in a manner that keeps such programs effective and credible for long-term development in regions and for democratic legitimacy.