Past studies have attempted to identify the correlates of citizen response to proposals for governmental integration. The inconsistency of the findings of such research indicates the need to formulate a general conceptual model in order to assess the interrelationships among the variables previously considered and to estimate the adequacy of current efforts in order to explain response to governmental integration proposals. Such a general model is formulated and tested using survey data. The inadequacy of the general model used in explaining citizen responses to a proposed type of governmental integration, city‐county consolidation, by respondents living in unincorporated areas adjacent to the City of Atlanta, suggests the need for development and inclusion of explanatory variables designed to represent contextual variations specific to a particular metropolitan settin