Roy Morgan Research
July 27, 2021

Winners & Losers: Trust & Distrust in a post-COVID world – video presentation by Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine & Social Scientist Dr. Ross Honeywill

Topic: Press Release
Finding No: 8754
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The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown an important spotlight on which brands and industries Australians Trust and Distrust with the clear winners being those businesses able to respond quickly and proactively to customers’ needs such as leading supermarkets Woolworths, Coles and ALDI – all clustered near the top of the rankings with high Net Trust Scores while those dealing with high levels of Distrust include Social Media giant Facebook, Telecommunications provider Telstra and media company News Corp.

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown an important spotlight on which brands and industries Australians Trust and Distrust with the clear winners being those businesses able to respond quickly and proactively to customers’ needs such as leading supermarkets Woolworths, Coles and ALDI – all clustered near the top of the rankings with high Net Trust Scores while those dealing with high levels of Distrust include Social Media giant Facebook, Telecommunications provider Telstra and media company News Corp. 

In this one hour long presentation Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine and Social Scientist Dr. Ross Honeywill dissect the drivers of Trust and Distrust across more than 20 industries and highlight what propels the companies performing well with high levels of Trust to the top of the rankings and what mistakes and missteps are made by those companies experiencing high levels of Distrust. 

It is often thought that the most valuable commodity a company can have is a high level of Trust in the brand, but when one examines the drivers of consumer decision making it is actually Distrust which is a more powerful driver of consumer behaviour. Of course it’s important for a company to have a high level of Trust amongst its customers, but that can be more than cancelled out by a rising level of Distrust. Some recent examples include the ‘Fake News’ scandals that have enveloped Facebook, the accusations of poor treatment and low payment of workers at Amazon, the allegations of sexual harassment at AMP and the destruction of the 46,000 year old Juukan Gorge indigenous heritage site by Rio Tinto – all of which have led to high and rising levels of Distrust in these companies. 

Although Trust is key to building a brand, Distrust can easily destroy that same hard-won reputation in a far quicker time-frame. 

To explore the ‘Winners & Losers’ of the COVID-19 pandemic please register and view the full video here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/797896213668732931

To gain a greater understanding of Roy Morgan’s Risk Monitor or to explore the results for specific industries and brands contact Roy Morgan. View the March 2021 edition of the Roy Morgan Risk Report.

View previous releases looking at Net Trust Score by Industries below:

MORE INFORMATION

Michele Levine – direct: 03 9224 5215 | mobile: 0411 129 093 | Michele.Levine@roymorgan.com

View the 2021 Risk Report.

Margin of Error

The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.

Sample Size Percentage Estimate
40% – 60% 25% or 75% 10% or 90% 5% or 95%
1,000 ±3.0 ±2.7 ±1.9 ±1.3
5,000 ±1.4 ±1.2 ±0.8 ±0.6
7,500 ±1.1 ±1.0 ±0.7 ±0.5
10,000 ±1.0 ±0.9 ±0.6 ±0.4
20,000 ±0.7 ±0.6 ±0.4 ±0.3
50,000 ±0.4 ±0.4 ±0.3 ±0.2

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