Global Trust Decline
Public trust in leaders has experienced a significant and widespread decline in recent years. According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, 68% of people believe business leaders are misleading them, and 69% hold the same view about government leaders[4]. This represents a dramatic erosion of confidence across institutional leadership.
The decline has been particularly sharp in recent years. Between 2019 and 2024, the percentage of people who rated their government as competent and ethical fell by more than 10 percentage points, while the percentage who fear that government officials lie to them rose by a similar margin[5].
Employee Trust in Managers
The trust crisis extends to organizational leadership as well. Only 29% of employees trust their immediate supervisor, representing a dramatic 17% decrease from 2022 when trust stood at 46%[7]. This sharp decline in just two years demonstrates how rapidly confidence in management has eroded.
Additional data from Gallup’s 2025 Global Leadership Report reveals that only 19% of employees strongly agree they trust the leadership of their organization[9]. Furthermore, just 29% of employees feel supported by their managers, and only 31% believe their supervisor has created an open and trusting work environment[3].
Reasons for the Trust Decline
The erosion of trust stems from multiple interconnected factors:
Institutional and Economic Factors: The UN’s 2025 World Social Report attributes the broad decline in institutional trust to long-term factors such as growing insecurity and inequality, as well as specific events like the 2008 financial and economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic[5].
Perceived Dishonesty and Lack of Support: The primary concern driving distrust is the belief that leaders are misleading the public. Additionally, employees report that their managers lack transparency—only 27% of workers believe their manager keeps them informed about organizational developments[3].
Grievance and Vulnerability: Research shows a strong correlation between personal grievance and distrust. People with high levels of grievance are significantly more suspicious of leadership across all sectors, including artificial intelligence initiatives[6].
Lack of Emotional Intelligence: Modern leadership challenges require emotional intelligence and genuine support for teams. Leaders who actively support their teams have 3.4 times more engaged workers, yet many organizations fail to develop these capabilities[3].
Organizational Leadership Gaps
The problem is compounded by structural issues within organizations. 77% of organizations lack sufficient leadership depth across all levels[7], meaning there aren’t enough qualified leaders to fill positions and mentor others. This shortage likely contributes to the quality and trustworthiness of available leadership.
Global Variations
While trust has declined globally, there are regional differences. The 2025 Morning Consult Global Trust and Governance Outlook found that global average trust in business leaders and large corporations held relatively steady in the last six months, with small regional gains in North America and Asia offset by minor declines elsewhere[1]. However, this stability masks the deeper erosion that occurred in prior years.
The data consistently shows that trust in leadership—whether political, corporate, or managerial—has reached critically low levels, driven primarily by perceptions of dishonesty, lack of support, and failure to address public concerns about inequality and security.
Sources
2025 Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report — the primary comprehensive report on global trust levels across institutions2025 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust and Health — a focused analysis on trust in health-related institutions and providers2025 Edelman Trust
Barometer Special Report: Brand Trust, From We to Me — an examination of consumer trust in brands versus institutional trustRichard Edelman’s video presentation on the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer findings from the World Economic Forum in Davos2025
Edelman Trust Barometer: Insights for Financial Services Sector — sector-specific analysis for the financial services industryGeneral
Edelman Trust Barometer resource pages — ongoing trust research and insights