Confidence in managing directors is collapsing around the world, who on a global scale lose as much as 12 points compared to last year (10 in Italy). This is what emerges from the seventeenth edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer, a survey on trust in the media, government, companies and non-governmental associations conducted in 28 countries on a sample of 33.000 people.
A remarkable crisis, if we consider that in Italy only 28% of the sample thinks that managing directors are credible (below the global average of 37%) with the representatives of credible institutions for 30% of the sample, in line with the global average but down 6 points from the previous year.
Yet, even this year in Italy and in the world, companies are in second place as an index of trust on a global scale, second only to NGOs. Furthermore, Italy is the second country in Europe with the greatest confidence in business after Holland.
In fact, 78% of Italians believe that companies can carry out specific actions aimed not only at profit but also at the economic and social growth of the communities in which they operate and business is the category with the greatest confidence among Italians who are uncertain about the correct functioning of the system.
However, there is no shortage of mistrust: 3 out of 5 Italians are against free trade agreements because they damage local workers, 77% think that national interests should be privileged to the detriment of those of the rest of the world and even 84% think that the government must protect workers and local industry even if this results in slower growth of the economy.
Italians are also asking for stricter controls for companies: for example, 90% of the sample ask for more rules for the pharmaceutical industry and 70% do not agree on the fact that the reforms of the financial markets have increased economic stability. If we consider the fear of losing their job, the first reason is the transfer to countries with lower labor costs (87%), in second place are foreign competitors and only in third place are immigrants with 67%. It should be noted that in Italy 68% believe that globalization is not going in the right direction, a figure significantly higher than 50% of the global average.
