Davos: Trust in business as agent of change plunges

A massive, global loss of faith in business. This is what is revealed by the 10th edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer, a survey of almost 4,500 “opinion forming elites” from 20 countries that measures the credibility of businesses, NGOs, governments and institutions and that will be presented at Davos’s first breakfast session on January 28.

According to the report, an astounding two thirds (62%) of the well-educated, highly paid and engaged 25-64 year olds polled by Edelman say they trusted companies less this year than last. What is more, in both the USA and Japan more than 75% said they lost faith in business over the course of the past 12 months and only 38% of American’s polled said they actually trusted business, 20% less than last year’s survey results. The situation is no better in Western Europe, where the UK, France and Germany saw trust in the banking sector drop from 41% to 27% in just one year. What this means is that the 2 thousand strong army of business leaders, politicians, campaigners and journalists meeting at the WEF, which “promises to be one of the most important events in the Forum’s history” will have a lot of answering to do.  

Nonetheless there are some encouraging signs. Especially for civil society, which has been highlighted by the Trust Barometer as being “the new influencer”. In the past only the hard core activists would actually boycott the products of a company it didn’t trust. Today 77% of those polled said they had “criticised the products and services of a business they did not trust to colleagues and friends”, according to the Financial Times. There is more good news from the UK, where last year’s polls revealed that trust in NGOs jumped from 41% to 53%: today NGOs are the most trusted institution globally with 54% of respondents saying they “trusted them to do what is right”.

How are leaders meeting in Davos to address the trust crisis? According to Richard Edelman, CEO of the PR firm that commissioned the poll, the key issues they will have to discuss include “mutual social responsibility”, “shared sacrifice” and “private sector diplomacy”. Mantras that social enterprises and NGOs will no doubt all be familiar with.