Why ‘insularity’ is the latest trust barrier facing B2B brands – with insights from the Edelman Trust Barometer
For over a quarter of a century, the Edelman Trust Barometer has been the definitive measure of how the world feels about the institutions that shape our lives. Its 26th edition, based on nearly 34,000 respondents across 28 countries, lands at a moment that demands attention.
In the latest episode of the ‘Trust & Influence’ in B2B podcast, I spoke with Andrew Mildren, MD of Edelman Business Marketing for EMEA, about what this year’s findings mean for B2B marketers — and the picture is both sobering and galvanising.
The headline number is stark: 70% of people globally now hold what Edelman calls an “insular trust mindset.” They are hesitant or unwilling to trust people who come from different backgrounds, hold different values, or use different information sources. Trust is retreating from the broad and institutional to the local and familiar.
A five-year descent
This hasn’t happened overnight. As Andrew explained, the Trust Barometer’s annual themes have tracked a clear trajectory. In 2024, political shifts and populist gains drove polarisation. By 2025, that had curdled into grievance — a sense that institutions were failing, that the next generation might be worse off, that the system wasn’t working. Now, in 2026, the response is withdrawal. People aren’t just angry; they’re turning inward, gravitating toward what feels controllable and known.
“This really reflects a retreat into quite familiar circles,” Andrew said, “driven by economic anxiety, fear of change, and a real sense of declining optimism.”
For B2B marketers used to operating across borders, sectors and buying committees, this isn’t just a societal trend to observe. It’s a shift in the operating environment.
Business: trusted, but not off the hook
One of the Trust Barometer’s most consistent findings in recent years is that business is now the most trusted institution globally — a position it has held since 2021, ahead of government, media and NGOs. But as Andrew was careful to point out, this is a relative distinction. Business is the only institution rated highly on both ethics and competence, but that says as much about the failings of other institutions as it does about corporate virtue.
The significance for B2B is in the implication. If business is where people place their trust — particularly in their employers — then businesses carry both an opportunity and a responsibility to act on that position. As Andrew put it, trust is what ensures companies are invited to tender, helps them close business and protects their margins. It’s not abstract; it’s commercial.
The trust broker role
This year’s report introduces the concept of “trust brokering” — and it’s one of the most actionable ideas to emerge from the data. Trust brokering means acknowledging and accepting differences, listening without judgment, and working to surface the common ground that enables progress. Businesses, Andrew argued, are naturally suited to this because they already convene complex groups of employees, suppliers, partners and customers in order to be commercially successful.
The examples are instructive. Microsoft’s Cybersecurity Tech Accord brought together 150 technology companies, NGOs and policy stakeholders around a shared commitment to protecting users. IKEA created employment pathways for refugees in partnership with UNHCR and local governments — taking a potentially divisive issue and reframing it around economic participation as common ground. In both cases, the business didn’t take sides; it facilitated cooperation. And this matters: 35% of respondents said they trust businesses more when they encourage cooperation without taking political positions.
For B2B marketers, the principle is clear. The most credible stance isn’t silence and it isn’t values-led positioning on every issue — it’s facilitating dialogue on the topics where your business has a genuine reason to be involved, backed up by meaningful action rather than statements alone.
The polynational imperative
One of the most consequential findings for global B2B companies is the intensification of local trust. With rising nationalism and trade tensions, trust in domestic companies now far exceeds trust in foreign ones, with the widest gaps appearing in Canada, Japan and Germany.
Andrew’s reframing here is worth noting: the shift from thinking “multinational” to thinking “polynational.” The distinction matters. It means investing in local jobs and succession planning for local leaders. It means civic engagement — partnerships with academic institutions, investment in local infrastructure, innovation hubs — rather than short-term CSR gestures. It means adapting product portfolios, positioning and policies to local norms, and emphasising local supply chains.
“Where in the past globalisation used to be about scale and efficiency,” Andrew observed, “in 2026 it’s much more about legitimacy.” The winning global companies will balance overall vision with the ability to look and feel local.
Insularity hits the bottom line
For anyone who still considers trust a soft metric, the workplace data should concentrate the mind. Among the Trust Barometer’s respondents, 34% said they would put in less effort if their team leader held different political beliefs. 42% said they would rather switch departments than report to a manager with different values. And 34% said they would support reducing the number of foreign companies in their country, even at the cost of higher prices.
This is insularity translating directly into productivity loss, talent churn and resistance to collaboration. Combined with generational shifts — 71% of B2B decision-makers are now millennials or Gen Z, a cohort Andrew noted have been described as “allergic to sales calls” — the environment for B2B leaders is more fluid and complex than ever.
Employers, as the most trusted institution in people’s inner circle, are best placed to bridge these divides: promoting shared identity, creating forums for genuine dialogue, and building teams that require cross-boundary collaboration to succeed.
AI and the credibility gap
No conversation about trust in 2026 is complete without addressing AI. The Trust Barometer identifies generative AI as one of five key events shaping trust over the past five years, alongside inflation, misinformation, COVID-19 and trade wars. The tension is real: technology leaders evangelise AI’s potential while trade bodies and workforce groups voice deep concerns about its impact on jobs and authenticity.
For B2B content and communications, Andrew highlighted a specific challenge. When anyone can produce polished content at speed, and that content is largely aggregating what already exists, everything starts to feel the same. The response, he argued, lies in several directions: investing in creative craft that earns the right to a busy buyer’s time; using proprietary data as a genuine differentiator; making AI governance visible through plain-English policies and clear human oversight; and developing a generative engine optimisation strategy alongside traditional SEO. The era of AI-driven search means that how and where your content indexes is becoming a critical marketing consideration.
What B2B marketers should do next
Andrew closed with five recommendations that deserve to be taken seriously, not as a checklist but as a shift in posture. First, benchmark trust as a commercial metric — Edelman’s five factors of ability, dependability, integrity, purpose and self provide a framework, and the commercial case is compelling: one Edelman client demonstrated that a 1% increase in trust translates to a €98 million increase in sales. Second, build a strategy for AI-driven search. Third, respect generational shifts in how buyers research, collaborate and make decisions. Fourth, pursue trust brokering — campaigns that drive action and behaviour change, backed by tangible commitments. And fifth, set a respectful, evidence-led tone that encourages dialogue rather than deepening division.
The 2026 Trust Barometer doesn’t make comfortable reading. But for B2B marketers willing to take its findings seriously, it offers something more valuable than reassurance: a clear-eyed view of where trust stands and a practical framework for what to do about it.
Practical takeaways for B2B marketers
- Measure trust commercially. If you’re not benchmarking trust as a business metric, start. Edelman’s framework — ability, dependability, integrity, purpose, self — provides a structure. The goal is to connect trust performance to commercial outcomes in language the board understands.
- Think polynational, not multinational. If you operate across borders, audit how local your presence actually feels. Local leadership, local partnerships, local civic engagement and locally adapted positioning are now trust essentials, not nice-to-haves.
- Embrace the trust broker role. Identify the societal or industry issues where your business has a credible reason to convene and facilitate — then act on them. Cooperation beats silence and sideline positioning. Back words with investment and action.
- Differentiate in the AI content era. Creative craft, proprietary data, transparent AI governance and a GEO strategy are your levers for standing out when AI-generated content is making everything look the same. Invest in what machines can’t replicate: originality, cultural nuance and genuine human perspective.
- Respect how your buyers actually buy. With millennials and Gen Z now dominant in B2B decision-making, self-guided research journeys, collaborative purchasing and an aversion to hard selling aren’t trends — they’re the baseline. Align your channel mix, content strategy and tone accordingly.