How business can close Britain’s trust deficit

Hope is a rare commodity in Britain this autumn. The Hope Index we published after the summer showed hope has dropped by 30% over the last year with concerns about the cost of living, energy security, and geopolitical insecurity being the peak of the public’s concerns.

While those surveyed believe that Government is the best equipped to tackle their social concerns, a staggering third of respondents believe the problems are of such a scale that they are insurmountable. However, dig deeper in the data and there is an opportunity for businesses to step into a leadership role and supply the reassurance [and growth] the country needs.

The research is clear: the public trusts business more than it trusts Government. Business can act to earn reputation just when the country needs direction.

What does ‘reputation’ mean? For us, it means your audiences believe your story and value it; your regulators believe you are an important partner with the permission to help shape public policy; your investors believe you are creating value and able to meet growing ESG requirements, and your employees believe you will provide the right employments and skills.

In order to help earn reputation, 5654 & Company’s simple model, backed by evidence, helps businesses focus on the stories that connect their commercial goals with their audiences’ expectations – to build trust for today and tomorrow.

First, businesses need to act on the core values the public expects them to demonstrate: Reliability, Fairness, Equality, Respect, and Hard Work.

Second, we drill down into the specific drivers of trust for each sector. These have to be woven into the heart of your story, to build trust and earn reputation with the public.

Complimenting two years of quantitative research and data modelling, the eye-opening comments from focus groups conducted at the end of August provide valuable context: Britain has a hope deficit and businesses can help close the gap.

Act To Earn Reputation

Context

Hope dropped by 30% in the last year driven by the cost of energy bills, energy security and geopolitical insecurity

Q We’d like you to think about how you feel, as we move towards autumn how hopeful are you about the year ahead?

*Quotes taken from a focus group conducted 25th and 31st August, 2022.

In this context, business is not believed to provide leadership on any issue. But dig deeper and there is an opportunity…

Q.. And who do you feel is best equipped to take the lead on these issues in the future? (Single option answer)

… there is greater trust in Business than Government. And overall levels of trust in business have been stable throughout the pandemic and the start of the cost-of-living crisis

Q.. Thinking about what you know and what you have experienced of businesses in the UK today on the whole, how trustworthy would you say they are? [0-10 scale, average]

While some sectors are trusted, others fall behind

Q.. Thinking about what you know and what you have experienced of businesses in the UK today on the whole, how trustworthy would you say they are?

Response

Our approach helps businesses act to earn reputation, build trust and lead

For more information and sector by sector insights, please get in touch with us at hello@5654.co.uk and we would be delighted to discuss in more detail.

Methodology

Poll: We interviewed 4,000 British adults online between 29 April - 31 May 2022. The data is representative of the British adult population.

Focus Groups: We conducted four focus groups between 25th and 31st August. Two groups were drawn from across England, but divided by income (one higher and one lower). One group was conducted across two marginal red wall seats with voters who voted Conservative in 2019 but were now undecided. A final group was conducted across two “blue wall” seats in Southern England with 2019 Conservative voters who are now undecided.

A note on our regression approach

All the above charts have narrowed down the statements we used in our regression analyses to those which were 'statistically significant' in driving hope or trust.

We have taken the "Relative Importance" score from the regression model, as this gives us each statement's contribution to r-square (which is the number that tells us how well the data fits to our regression model i.e. strength of relationship), in percentage form.

This score is more resilient to relationships between the statements themselves than regression coefficients.

It is also worth noting that each regression was run more than once, with the second (and third and fourth) iteration removing the small pool of respondents who were providing 'bad data' (i.e. an algorithm was used to spot any non-logical responses, that would suggest low integrity in the respondents answers).

This gives us greater confidence in the "Relative Importance" scores for our statements, as it lifted the R-square number and ensured the relationship between the statements and ‘trust' were even stronger.

Act to Earn Reputation 2022