A causal analysis of the determinants of trust of the Forest Administration in the prefecture where the forest environmental tax was introduced

: This paper examines the determinants, and interrelationships, of trust of the Forest Administration by using structural equation modeling with questionnaire data from 1 500 residents in six prefectures. The proposed model demonstrates that value similarity, ability and intention are determinants of the trust of the Forest Administration. There is a causal relationship of intention to value similarity. Furthermore, multiple group analysis in the structural equation modeling showed that the group with high interest in local forest problems showed a relatively large influence of intention and value similarity, compared to the low interest group, where intention and ability had a relatively large influence.