Trust is a central aspect in the relationships between individuals (horizontal trust) and between individuals and institutions (vertical trust). Trust replaces knowledge, creates security and minimises risks in a society with an increasing complexity. Apart from being a dimension of an individual’s values and a reflection of responsibilities and structures of power in society, trust is also a question of efficiency. Trust between corporations and their stakeholders is crucial to functional markets as distrust will raise the costs for transactions between producer and consumer. If these costs increase too much it means a collapse in the relationship between these (and other) actors.
A large number of studies from different countries have shown a decreasing trust for institutions in general, including corporations. The results have urged both political and corporate actors to take action. From corporations different strategies have been used. One example is the development of management system and external auditing. Another strategy is the use of communication and rhetoric arguing for trustworthiness. A third example is the development of corporate social responsibility.
Compared with the other two corporate social responsibility can be seen as a deviation from the liberal ideal where politics and economy were separated. In a society where individuals make their decisions as consumers and citizens based on economical, political and ethical values, corporations meet other demands compared to a situation where only economical aspects are taken into account. Therefore corporations need to take into account other areas and stakeholder groups in their activities and decision making processes to gain trust.
There are numerous examples of corporations working with corporate social responsibility and the research in the area is extensive. One outstanding result is the differences between different countries when it comes to scope but there are also differences when it comes to the areas where corporations try to act responsible. Sweden is one of the countries where the practice of corporate social responsibility as defined in the international literature is limited. Probably there are several explanations for this but one central is the dominating role played by the state in the Swedish society when it comes to social matters. Another explanation is the long tradition of negotiations between employers’ associations and trade unions on national level. As both the welfare state and the central negotiations has been deconstructed many companies try to find other ways to meet demands from different stakeholder groups. Corporate social responsibility is one answer to such demands.
Even if Swedish corporations show an increasing interest in the practise of corporate social responsibility, little is known about the expectations from those directly or indirectly affected by the strategies, the stakeholders. Little is also known about the relationship between corporate social responsibility and how it affects the trust in corporations. This text is an attempt to answer some of these questions. I will present the results from a survey of the public’s trust in corporations and how it is related to expectations and judgements of corporate social responsibility. The paper will answer four main questions:

Q1 Does the public trust corporations?
Q2 To what extend does the public demand corporations to take social responsibility?
Q3 Does the public consider corporations to be responsible social actors?
Q4 Are there any relations between the demands on corporations social responsibility, their fulfilment of such expectations and the trust in corporations?

The study consists a large number of Swedish and international companies. Political institutions non-governmental organisations, trade unions and others are also included for comparison. The results are representative for the Swedish people and it was completed the fall 2004 in co-operation with Medieakademin.

Förtroendekommissionen [The Commission of Trust] an initiative from the Swedish government is one
example.

Medieakademin [The MediaAcademy] is a institution founded 1997 by Göteborg University,
Forsman & Bodenfors (advertising agency) Göteborgs-Posten (local newspaper) and TNS Gallup.
Its aim is to deepen the public debate on society, politics and culture. Medieakademin publish
”Förtroendebarometern” [The Barometer of Trust ] an annual report on the Swedish publics trust in Swedish and international companies and organisations authored by professor Lennart Weibull
(communication studies) and professor Sören Holmberg (political science). For further information
please visit <http://www.medieakademin.se>