For many years, the success of corporate communication was measured largely by visibility: how widely an institution’s story travelled, how often it appeared in the media, and how many people it reached. Visibility remains important. Yet another question is increasingly shaping our work: beyond being seen, are we trusted?

This is not a departure from what communicators have always done, but a natural evolution of it. Today, any institution can publish instantly across many channels. As information becomes more abundant, the value of credibility grows: the confidence of students, staff, industry partners, government and the public that what an institution says is accurate, and that it will act on its word.

A Changing Landscape of Trust

2026 Edelman Trust Barometer Report

Global research points in the same direction. The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer, which surveyed nearly 34,000 people in 28 countries, found that seven in ten are unwilling or hesitant to trust someone with different values or information sources. Edelman describes this as a “retreat into insularity”, a gradual shift in which people increasingly place their trust only in those closest to them. In such an environment, reaching audiences is only the beginning. Earning their confidence is what allows a message to be truly heard.

The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer shows trust is shaped more by a country’s economic trajectory than by its wealth. Across the 28 countries surveyed, developing countries average a Trust Index of 66, up three points, while developed countries average 49, up only one, and the gap is widening. By region, the Gulf (76.5), South Asia (74) and Southeast Asia (68) sit firmly in the trust zone. Africa, East Asia, Oceania and Latin America occupy a middle band, while North America (49.5) and Western Europe (48) remain at or below the threshold of distrust. These averages also hide contrasts within regions: East Asia spans China at 80 and Japan at 38. Within Southeast Asia, Malaysia was the only country to gain, rising from 66 to 71 while its neighbours dipped slightly. The pattern suggests that trust tends to follow optimism: where people expect their lives to improve, they extend confidence to institutions. For Malaysian institutions, this relatively high-trust environment is a valuable asset, best sustained by continuing to earn it rather than taking it for granted.

Generative AI adds a new dimension. As convincing text, images and video become easier to produce, audiences are learning to look more carefully for signals of reliability. An institution’s words carry the most weight when they are consistently supported by its actions. Communication plays a vital role here, helping an institution’s work become visible, understandable and verifiable.

What Trust Rests On

Trust Framework

Established research offers a helpful way to understand what trust is built on. Drawing on foundational work in management and public relations (Mayer, Davis and Schoorman, 1995; Hon and Grunig, 1999), trust can be seen as resting on four qualities. Competence is confidence that an institution can deliver what it promises. Integrity is the belief that it is honest and fair. Dependability is the assurance that it will act consistently over time. Care is the sense that it genuinely considers the interests of the people it serves. Communication cannot create these qualities, but it can help make them visible and understood.

It is useful to see reputation and trust as closely connected but distinct. Reputation reflects what people think and say about an institution, shaped by its past. Trust reflects the confidence they place in its future, enough to enrol, partner, invest or collaborate. Visibility helps to build reputation; trust helps it endure. This matters most in challenging moments, when stakeholders who trust an institution are more willing to wait for the facts and allow time for a considered response.

Why Trust Matters for Universities

For universities, trust holds special significance. Parents entrust us with their children’s futures. Industry partners invest in our research. Government and the public support us in the expectation of lasting value. Rankings, awards and media recognition are meaningful milestones that reflect this work. They are most powerful when they rest on the everyday substance behind them: rigorous research, qualifications that carry real value, commitments to students that are kept, and openness where there is room to improve.

Five Practices for Building Trust

Five Practices for Building Trust

What might a trust-centred approach to communication involve? Several practices stand out. The first is early involvement. When communicators contribute as decisions are being shaped, they can help anticipate how stakeholders will understand them and ensure they can be explained clearly and openly.

The second is strengthening internal communication. Edelman’s research found that “my employer” is the most trusted institution, at 78 per cent among employees. For a university, academics, support staff and students are among its most credible voices. When they are well informed and confident in the institution’s direction, they naturally become its most persuasive ambassadors.

The third is listening as well as speaking. Surveys, feedback channels and social listening help institutions understand where confidence is growing and where attention may be needed. Social listening offers a valuable early signal, although it reflects public conversation rather than trust itself, and is best combined with other insights.

The fourth is openness. Sharing information promptly, acknowledging challenges and explaining the steps being taken builds confidence over time. Transparency is not a sign of weakness; it is one of the clearest expressions of integrity.

The fifth is measuring what matters most. Coverage and reach remain useful indicators of visibility. Alongside them, measures such as stakeholder confidence, progress on public commitments and how quickly confidence recovers after a setback offer a fuller picture of whether communication is building trust.

Visibility and Trust as Partners

Visibility and trust, then, are partners rather than alternatives. Celebrating achievements helps the public appreciate the contribution a university makes, and it remains an essential part of our work. Trust ensures that those stories are received with confidence. Each strengthens the other.

This evolution invites communicators to play a broader role: as advisers who help institutions consider how decisions will be understood, as listeners who bring stakeholder perspectives into the conversation, and as storytellers whose stories are grounded in evidence.

In a world of abundant information, the institutions that thrive will be those that people trust to be accurate, consistent and caring. Visibility helps an institution to be known. Trust helps it to be believed, relied upon and supported. Moving from one to the other, while holding on to both, is the work of corporate communication today.

Author
Assoc. Prof. Dr Farhana Diana Deris serves as Director of the Corporate Communications Centre at the Office of Strategy and Global Eminence, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). She is also a Senior Lecturer at the Language Academy, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities. Trained in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), her work sits at the intersection of language, culture, and global engagement. She is particularly interested in how storytelling and ethical communication can build trust and strengthen intercultural understanding in education and society. Her research explores technology-enhanced language learning, multilingualism in tourism communities, and the internationalisation of higher education. She is actively involved in professional networks such as NEAS Quality Assurance in Education and Training, AsiaTEFL and the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association.

Sources:

Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H. & Schoorman, F. D. (1995). An integrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 709-734.
Hon, L. C. & Grunig, J. E. (1999). Guidelines for Measuring Relationships in Public Relations. Institute for Public Relations.
2026 Edelman Trust Barometer, https://www.edelman.com/news-awards/2026-edelman-trust-barometer-society-slides-into-insularity