Public trust in public administration has improved during the pandemic—the rescue services are the most reputable organization

Finns trust the public sector more than ever before: citizens rate the emergency services as the most reputable and trusted organization within the public sector. 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 bodies 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.

Public Administration Reputation&Trust Survey: The Most Reputable Organizations. An organization’s ranking on the list is based on the reputation scores obtained in the survey. The figures presented in the table are rounded to two decimal places. Rankings and changes are determined based on the unrounded figures.

Trust in public administration rose to a healthy level for the first time

The level of trust in the most well-known public administration organizations rose to a positive 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. This represents an increase of 0.11 points.

In addition to rising confidence, the public’s willingness to seek employment and to support public sector organizations through tax revenue has improved. The public sector’s actions during the COVID-19 crisis have also been met with public approval. 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 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 the starting point was moderate, they have not yet reached a high level of trust,” commented Harri Leinikka, CEO of the research company T-Media.

The rise in the Parliament's reputation is the biggest development of the year

Finns believe that Parliament has performed well during the COVID-19 pandemic and has even exceeded expectations. Parliament’s reputation rose by nearly 0.40 points, 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 reputation of the best-known organizations across all eight categories, the most significant positive change has occurred in the area of leadership. This shows that when there has been a real need for leadership during the crisis, people have also been able to rise to the occasion,” 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 in this round of research. 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, finance, leadership, innovation, interaction, products & services, workplace, and responsibility.

Additional information

Harri Leinikka, CEO
harri.leinikka@reptrust-staging.fi-p.seravo.com, 040 505 5001

Elisa Runsas, Project Manager for Specialized Research in Public Administration, Information Management Specialist
elisa.runsas@reptrust-staging.fi-p.seravo.com, 050 468 8849