The article provides an analysis of the so-called performance theory, directly connecting trust in government authorities and the quality of government electronic services according to the scheme: “improving the quality of government services through the use of information technology - increase of citizen satisfaction with the quality of services - increase of trust in government authorities.” It was demonstrated that this theory does not have empirical confirmation, both due to difficulties with the operationalization of the “trust in government” concept and because of the so-called “attribution errors”. The difference of the methods used to assess the quality of e-services and determining the level of trust in government authorities, further compounds matters. The empirical results look unclear and controversial: trust is both the cause and the consequence of satisfaction with the control quality. However, performance theory is supported by a coalition of technocrat experts interested in promoting it as a tool to the rationale for the very costly processes of the digital transformation of government control.
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