Who do people trust in an era of unprecedented distrust of authorities and skepticism of information in the media? It is this aspect of society that is being explored by the independent firm Edelman. For almost 20 years now, it has been the Trust Barometer - a barometer of trust in various public institutions.
Public Confidence Rating Methodology
The confidence barometer was compiled through an online survey in which 1,150 respondents from each of 27 countries took part.
This year, the survey focused on the relationship between employer and employee, so 55% of the total sample of the population worldwide were full-time or part-time workers.
I do not believe anyone except the employer
The latest Edelman Trust Barometer survey in 2019 shows that people's trust has shifted to relationships that can be more or less controlled, especially employee-employer relationships.
Around the world, “their employer” is trusted much more (75 percent) than public organizations (57 percent), business (56 percent), government (48 percent) and the media (47 percent).
David Bersoff
Research Director Edelman Trust Barometer
“When you are in an alarming situation, or have lost faith in the system, or you have a desire to change, but there is no way to achieve this, the relationship between the employer and the employee is an“ island in a storm ”. This is the only trusting, personal and local relationship that, in the opinion of the employees, they can influence, and this is the relationship with the organization in which they can do something. "
This shift to localized trust is taking place against the backdrop of the largest ever gap in the Edelman Trust Barometer in trust between the informed public (65 percent) and the total population (49 percent). Under the informed layer, the compilers of the rating understand educated people who follow the latest news.
The separation is due to record high levels of trust among the informed public in developed markets, while the confidence of the general public remains relatively low.
The highest gap in trust is observed in developed countries
- Great Britain - 24 points;
- Canada - 20 points;
- France - 18 points;
- USA - 13 points.
However, he did not bypass the actively developing countries of the developing world:
- India - 17 points;
- China - 12 points.
The difference in trust is noticeable between men and women in different countries. For example, skepticism about whether institutions can be trusted to “do what is right,” as Edelman puts it, is much more pronounced among women in all areas.
This is a frightening future.
In developed countries, there is a growing sense of pessimism about the future, and only one in three Edelman respondents believes that his or her family will be better in the next five years. Only one in five believes that the system works for him, and 70 percent want change.
The possibility of job loss and too high a rate of innovation scares people.
These fears triggered a drive for change and triggered an unprecedented increase in media consumption and the exchange of news and information.
Confidence in traditional media (65 percent) and search engines (65 percent) is currently at the highest historical level, driven by significant growth in developed markets. But people have less trust in social networks (43 percent).
Trust in public institutions in Russia
Russians trust public institutions least of all in the world. And if the global confidence index worldwide has grown by three points (from 49 to 45) compared to 2018, then in Russia the level of trust in the authorities, the press, NGOs and business has fallen by 7 points, from 36 to 29.
- Business structures are trusted by 34% of Russians.
- Non-governmental organizations - 23%.
- Only 26% of respondents from the Russian Federation have confidence in the media.
- The UN believes a little more - 32%.
- Only 24% expressed confidence in the European Union.
- The inhabitants of the Russian Federation are skeptical about their government. Only 34% of respondents believe that the assurances of the current government can be trusted. This is 10 points lower compared to the previous year.
At the same time, 39% of respondents from Russia are sure that in five years their families will live better than at present. However, there are fewer optimists among the informed public - 38%.
But the level of confidence in employers, although it has decreased from 65% to 63% compared to last year, is still quite high.
General study results
A study of the level of trust in public institutions in 2019 proves that, although globally, the trust of citizens has grown by 3 points (up to 52 points) compared to last year, it is still difficult to talk about significant positive growth.
In 15 of 26 countries, the level of confidence still cannot exceed the 50-point limit. The least confidence is typical for Russia, which scored only 29 points. The Japanese (39 points) and the Spaniards (40 points) are also not very confident in their government, the media, NGOs and business. At the other end of the ranking are China (79 points), Indonesia (73) and India (72).
The Edelman survey also showed that employers working to build trust can rely on tangible benefits: workers who trust their employer show greater involvement (71 percent), loyalty (74 percent), support (78 percent) and commitment (83 percent) ) than employees who are skeptical of their employer.
