The limits of ideological loyalty in citizens' evaluation of local administrative performance

Articles increasingly consider public opinion as essential information for assessing the actions of local administrations. Recent research has demonstrated the existence of an empirical link between the perceived quality of local services and favorable behavioral intentions towards the heads of local government. Given that the scientific literature is also accumulating evidence on the relationship between ideology and political preferences, the purpose of this article is to determine what role ideology plays in the impact of perceived quality on political preferences; specifically whether ideology annuls or moderates such an impact and to what degree. As concepts of "perceived quality" and "behavioral intention" are causally linked constructs, structural equation methodology (SEM) was required to perform the analysis. The analysis verifies the spurious and moderation hypotheses, but the data rejects both and points to an unexpected explanatory mechanism. A survey conducted in nine locations in Valencia (Spain) has revealed the surprising role that ideology is playing in shaping the political will of citizens through the evaluation of services. Adapted from the source document.