CSR - Awesome Research Data on the Issue of Corporate Trust

I think this has to be the best dataset I’ve come across so far for colleagues and students researching the key issues in corporate social responsibility. The Edelman Trust Barometer has been going for over ten years, and the latest 2011 report provides some gold-standard data evidence for the A* AQA BUSS4 student essay…

Edelman’s 2011 Trust Barometer®, the firm’s 11th annual survey, gauges attitudes about the state of trust in business, government, NGOs and media across 23 countries. There is a detailed, but superbly presented pdf presentation here with the key findings. Well worth a brief scan. Why not show it to your students and ask them to identify any parts of the analysis which they consider are particularly relevant for the research task.

I have picked out three slides which I think are especially useful. I’ve screen-grabbed them below and added a brief note on each.

Trust in companies to “do the right think” varies widely by industry. We generally trust the motor manufacturers and technology firms to look after things properly; but the financial services industries are right down at the bottom of the pile!

For firms to build their corporate reputation, high quality and transparency count much higher than financial returns.

The vast majority of UK citizens believe that companies should align their business objectives with those of society and that government should play an active role in making sure that businesses operate in society’s interests.