I Know, Therefore, I Trust?

Abstract

Internet voting is widely adopted in Estonia, yet psychological factors influencing its acceptance remain underexplored. The increasing complexity of digital voting systems raises concerns about whether voters rely on institutional trust or personal confidence driven by knowledge. This study applies Simmel’s concept of trust, bridging ignorance and certainty, and Giddens’ differentiation between trust and confidence. These frameworks help understand how different knowledge levels influence the mechanisms voters use to decide whether to use Internet voting or not.

Using post-election survey data from the 2021 local and 2023 parliamentary elections in Estonia (N = 1,153, N = 1,001), this study examines how technical knowledge moderates the relationship between trust in institutions and confidence in one’s own knowledge when it relates to Internet voting. The key independent variables include technical knowledge, confidence in the system, and trust in political institutions; the dependent variable is binary Internet voting usage. Logistic regressions are employed to assess the effects of the variables, including the set of standard socio-economic controls.

Results show that confidence is the decisive factor for individuals with high levels of technical knowledge, significantly increasing their likelihood of voting online. Trust in government does not exert a consistent effect overall, with significance emerging only among respondents with high knowledge. By contrast, both trust in system performance and trust in Internet voting show robust positive main effects across the electorate, without evidence that their influence differs by knowledge level. These findings enrich the literature by influencing how knowledge conditions the role of confidence, while trust complements adoption more broadly.