TORONTO – The technology industry has been ranked the most trusted among 11 major industries, including automotive and financial sectors, according to the 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer.
According to the study, which evaluates trust in political figures, industries and institutions, 77 per cent of those surveyed say they trust technology companies. The tech industry was ranked at the top of the Trust Barometer in both developed and emerging markets.
The automotive industry was ranked as the second most trustworthy industry at 69 per cent.
The findings of the Trust Barometer, an annual study of 31,000 people in 26 countries, were released at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland this week.
According to the report, both industries may benefit from a “reputation halo” thanks to a constant new product flow and the perception of financial success for both sectors.
“Tech companies are very innovative and I think that tends to drive trust in a pretty significant way,” chair of Edelman’s global technology practice Pete Pedersen told Global News.
Pedersen noted that due to the nature in which technology companies need to work together to produce their products, consumers have built a sense of trust surrounding the transparency of major tech companies.
But, Pederson notes that a large factor in the tech industry’s rating comes from the fact that we really have no choice but to trust tech companies because of our daily reliance on their products.
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Pedersen said that because we store and share most of our data, whether it is memories, moments or physical information with these companies, people are forced to put trust in them.
Online media gains trust globally
Both traditional and online media sources, including social networking and blogging sites, also showed an increase in trust from previous years.
The Trust Barometer found that mainstream media was the most trusted in developed markets, emerging markets showed strong numbers in areas like online search engines and traditional media. The study also found that younger generations trust non-traditional media, including search engines, while older generations showed distrust for non-traditional media.
“Surprisingly we don’t see as big of a generation gap as you might think. But – we do see some variance country to country, region to region, in how people view traditional media to online media and social media,” said Pedersen.
But Pedersen pointed out that when respondents cite that they trust search engines , what they really mean is that they trust what the search engine is producing – usually results from trusted traditional media sources.
“I think it’s misleading when they say they trust the search engine they mean they trust what the media – both traditional and online – is reporting,” said Pedersen.
Where the tech industry needs to tread carefully
Though the technology industry has remained at the top of Edelman’s Trust Barometer for seven consecutive years, Pedersen warned that there is a large area of risk for technology companies when it comes to losing global trust.
“Industries like the automotive and financial sectors have had these catastrophic crashes to the bottom of the trust barometer – which leads me to wonder what could lead to the tech industries demise.”
Pedersen believes data privacy and protection are the biggest areas of concern for tech companies, especially as more prominent data breeches occur – such as the government losing a portable hard drive which contained personal information for 583,000 Canada Student Loan borrowers.
He believes that the industry could see a big crash if tech companies are not more careful with user data.
“More of our lives have turned into ones and zeros and all of that data is stored on servers that are owned by technology companies. As soon as company violates that convenience it starts to create mistrust over time and eventually the tech industry could start to get a black eye.”
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