We've followed the Edelman Trust Barometer research series for many years, and we consider it one of the most important studies we follow.
As we point out in the title, we also consider it one of the most depressing studies we follow.
The reason is the study chronicles the long-term global decline in people's Trust in society's institutions.
And the 2022 study, which is subtitled The Cycle of Distrust, continues to show this decline.
As the study chart below shows (click to enlarge), businesses are now the most trusted institution, with 61% of global respondents saying they are trusted.
The chart also points out that businesses got the top spot because their trust level fell less - down 4% points from 65% in 2020 - than governments' trust level over the past two years.
Two of the other top 10 findings caught our eye. Key quote from the report:
Distrust is now society's default emotion: Nearly 6 in 10 say their default tendency is to distrust something until they see evidence it is trustworthy. Another 64% say it's now to a point where people are incapable of having constructive and civil debates about issues they disagree on. When distrust is the default – we lack the ability to debate or collaborate.
There is a collapse of Trust in democracies: In many of the democracies studied, institutions are trusted by less than half of their people, including only 46 pts in Germany, 45 pts in Spain, 44 pts in the U.K., and 43 pts in the U.S. Moreover, no developed countries believe their families and themselves will be better in 5 years.
These are genuinely dismal findings.
The one bright is that the trust deficit provides an opportunity for businesses that can develop a trusted relationship with their customers. And it shows customers are willing to give businesses a chance to do so.
