This month, Edelman released their 22nd annual Trust Barometer, which is the compiled data of a worldwide distributed trust and credibility survey. The Trust Barometer encompasses over 36,000 respondents from 28 countries. It was conducted between November 1 and November 24, 2021. With the growing political tensions and partisan media outlets, the results have depicted a grim state of distrust for many of the institutions that impact our lives.
Since its debut on January 18, search terms “Edelman” and “Trust Barometer” have generated 4,270 mentions and reached 54.42 million users. Twitter dominates this conversation topic with over 3,091 mentions. The posts are almost split evenly between sentiments, with 47.48% being positive and 52.52% being negative.
Much of these conversations are centered around the report’s findings of trust. The survey focused on four main areas of influence: Government, Media, Businesses, and NGOs. Here are some of the highlights of the report:
Globally
Globally, you may be surprised to learn who were the winners and losers in the country Trust Index. The Trust Index is the average percent trust in all four categories within each country. As the report’s headline states, democratic countries saw the biggest drop in trust. The top losers in the Trust Index were Germany, Australia, The Netherlands, South Korea, and the United States. Those who saw the biggest gain in trust were China, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Thailand. Factors that may have impacted this trust increase could be Thailand and China’s response to COVID-19 and the economic gains that UAE has seen in the past years.
Government and Media
Government and Media were found to be the source of the most distrust amongst participants, with 48% of participants agreeing that they find their governments to be a dividing source of society and 46% agreeing that the Media is a dividing source of society. 76% of global participants agreed that they were worried that false information in Media was being used as a weapon. The most significant increase in this distrust came from Indonesia, with a 9-point increase from the previous year’s survey.
Businesses and NGOs
Perhaps one of the most significant findings is the shifted expectation of what entities are viewed as taking on a leadership role and achieving results. Notably, the Government category came in last for both of these measures, while Businesses category was ranked at the top.
Overall, the report demonstrates an increasing number of people who are expecting Businesses and NGOs to become involved in a more influential way. Respondents stated that they would like to see businesses addressing more of all the listed six categories: Climate Change, Economic Inequality, Workforce Reskilling, Access to Healthcare, Trustworthy Information, and Systemic Justice. Additionally, NGOs saw an increase of trust in 16 out of 27 countries, while Government fell comparatively in 17 out of 27 countries.
One of the biggest takeaways from this report is the emerging pressure that populations are placing on businesses to take the leading role in solving social problems. With 58% of respondents stating that they buy or advocate for brands based on their beliefs and values, it is clear that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives will continue to be a driving force of interest in the upcoming years. Furthermore, Government and Media entities will need to strive for long-term consistency in conveying fact-based information to their publics. Without this, we can expect to see a continued decline in trust amongst the institutions that we once relied on the most.
Author: Eden Wallace
