Public confidence in public administration has improved during the pandemic – the fire department is the most reputable organization
Finns trust the public administration more than ever before: citizens rate the rescue services as the most reputable and trusted organization within the public administration. The Parliament saw the biggest increase in both trust and reputation, while the Ministry for Foreign Affairs saw the biggest decline.
A total of 8,057 Finns participated in T-Media’s annual Reputation&Trust of public administration. Public administration agencies responsible for basic safety rose to the top of the survey: the Rescue Services took first place for the second year in a row, while the Finnish Meteorological Institute and the Emergency Response Center both managed to improve their reputations and climb into the top ranks.
Trust in public administration rose to a healthy level for the first time
The level of trust in the best-known public administration organizations rose to a good level for the first time in the three-year history of the survey. The average level of trust in public administration was now measured at 3.51 on a scale of one to five. The increase was eleven hundredths.
In addition to the rise in trust, citizens’ willingness to seek employment and to support public administration organizations through tax revenues has developed positively. The public also approves of the actions taken by public administration organizations during the COVID-19 crisis. Of all respondents to the survey, 18 percent felt that the actions taken during the crisis had increased trust, while only 9 percent felt that the actions had had a negative impact on trust.
“It has been particularly interesting to track the evolution of the reputation and trust in organizations that have been in the spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, both the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (STM) managed to improve their results, but since their starting point was moderate, they have not yet reached a high level of trust,” commented Harri Leinikka, CEO of the research firm T-Media.
The Parliament's rising reputation is the biggest story of the year
Finns believe that the Parliament has performed well during the COVID-19 pandemic and has even exceeded expectations. The Parliament’s reputation rose by nearly 0.40 units, which is the largest increase recorded in any of T-Media’s surveys this year. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recorded the largest drop in reputation points this year.
“When we examine the evolution of the reputations of the best-known organizations across all eight categories, the greatest positive change has occurred in the area of leadership. This shows that when there has been a real need for leadership during the crisis, the call has also been answered,” says Elisa Runsas, the project manager responsible for the special study on public sector organizations.
The eight areas of reputation Reputation&Trust are governance, finance, leadership, innovation, engagement, products and services, workplace, and corporate responsibility.
Photo: Southwest Finland Rescue Department / Esko Keski-Oja
This is how we conducted the study
The results are based on Reputation&Trust conducted in October 2020, which aimed to assess the reputation of Finnish public administration organizations among citizens. A total of 8,057 Finns responded to the survey between October 2 and October 29, 2020. The survey’s target group consisted of Finns aged 15–65 nationwide (excluding the Åland Islands).
A total of 74 organizations were surveyed during the study. The study was conducted Reputation&Trust T-Media’s Reputation&Trust, in which an organization’s reputation score is calculated as the average of eight different categories: governance, finances, leadership, innovation, interaction, products & services, workplace, and corporate responsibility.
Additional information
Harri Leinikka, CEO
harri.leinikka@reptrust-staging.fi-p.seravo.com, 040 505 5001
Elisa Runsas, Project Director for Specialized Research in Public Administration, Information Management Specialist
elisa.runsas@reptrust-staging.fi-p.seravo.com, 050 468 8849
