Gatehouse Blog
Sobering findings from latest Edelman Trust Barometer
The annual Edelman Trust Barometer report always makes enlightening – and sometimes rather depressing – bedtime reading.
The last set of findings, delivered back in January 2009, were particularly sobering and found that 62% of 25-to-64-year-olds surveyed across 20 countries said they trusted corporations less than a year ago. The scale of the decline year-on-year was worrying. Trust in US-based business– down from 58% to 38% over the period — was the lowest in the Barometer’s tracking history — even lower than in the wake of Enron and the dot-com bust. Dark days indeed.
So I was particularly interested to read the findings of a new one-off interim study which looks at how trust has fared over the last six months or so, as the world has continued to experience turbulence.
The headlines:
- 49% think the UK is heading in the wrong direction
- 44% don’t expect economic recovery to happen before 2011 at the earliest; 50% think it will take until 2011 or later for business to be trusted again
- Trust in business is on the way back, but it’s country-specific – led by the US and France. Not so in the UK, where it is flat at 44%
- Trust in business dropped 14pts among 25-34 year olds since January 2008 – down from 56% to 42%
- Britons believe that a CEO’s business decisions should consider the interests of employees, customers and communities before those of shareholders or government
- Only 11% believe that global business has a good reputation
Not surprisingly, the MPs expenses scandal has taken its toll on the Government:
- 71% don’t trust Gordon Brown and 65% trust him less than six months ago
- 69% trust Government less than six months ago
- There is a strong link between trust/distrust in Government, Gordon Brown and MPs in general
- Three quarters don’t trust financial institutions who have taken bail-out money to use tax-payers’ money responsibly
Check out the full report and accompanying video for the detail.
