This research analyzed the trust in sport policy empirically. For this study, the survey was conducted on the employees of local sport councils and the result was analyzed statistically to identify the factors. The survey data was collected from the 282 persons of 282 local sport councils, one person from each council, out of 333 local sport councils (including para-sport councils) in the nation's 243 local authorities. The collected data were analyzed for frequency analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis using SPSS. Based on the hypotheses of this research, the results are as follows.
First, the respondents' overall trust in sport policy appeared to be lower than neutral. They only showed neutral level of trust in policy contents. On the other hand, they showed low levels of trust in policy decision and the trust in policy implementation process. Thus, it is necessary to increase the level of policy trust.
Secondly, the level of trust in sport policy differed only by age and rank. The level of trust in the 20s and 30s was relatively low. By rank, the trust level was low overall, and it was particularly lower among the people with ranks higher than mid-level executives. This is problematic that those high position people, who actually have rights to make decisions, have low levels of policy trust. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the fundamental reasons of their low policy trust and to find a way to increase the level of trust.
Thirdly, the correlation analysis showed that the personal factors, such as efficacy, government support, and trust in others, had weak positive relation with policy trust. The organizational factors, such as perception of organizational leader, government policy satisfaction, and organizational influence, were also weakly and positively related to policy trust. On the other hand, the policy structure, such as policy contents, policy administrator, and policy process, showed relatively high positive relation with policy trust.
Fourthly, according to the hypothesis tests, the influence of personal factors on policy trust was found to be positive and significant with a standardized path coefficient of 0.292(C.R. 4.406, p<0.01). Therefore, the hypothesis 1: personal factors will have a positive influence on sport policy trust was supported.
The influence of organizational factors on policy trust was found to be positive but insignificant with a standardized path coefficient of 0.053(C.R. 0.888, p=0.375). Thus, the hypothesis 2: organizational factors will have a positive influence on sport policy trust was not supported.
The influence of policy factors on policy trust was found to be positive and significant with a standardized path coefficient of 0.417(C.R. 5.614, p<0.01). Therefore, the hypothesis 3: policy factors will have a positive influence on sport policy trust was supported.
As a result of examining the mediating effect of policy factors, policy factors were found to have a mediating effect on the relationship between personal factors and policy trust. Thus, the hypothesis 4-1: There will be a mediating effect of policy factors between personal factors and policy trust was supported. The analysis of personal factors' influence on policy trust showed the total effect of 0.480, the direct effect of 0.292, and the indirect effect through the mediating variable of 0.188(p=0.006).
Meanwhile, policy factors were also found to have a mediating effect on the relationship between organizational factors and policy trust. Therefore, the hypothesis 4-2: There will be a mediating effect of policy factors between organizational factors and policy trust was supported. The analysis of organizational factors' influence on policy trust showed the total effect of 0.176, the direct effect of 0.053, and the indirect effect through the mediating variable of 0.123(p=0.003).
Although the survey in this study was limitedly conducted on the employees of local sport councils, sport policies also have huge impact on general people, not only the local sport councils. Future research should include general people in the sample to comprehensively analyze the impact on sport policy trust.