METHODOLOGY
For the third time, Newsweek, in collaboration with market research partner Statista, recognizes the Most Trustworthy Companies in America in 23 industries according to U.S. residents’ evaluations. The number of companies varies by industry. The ranking wants to provide guidance to consumers, investors and employees and to highlight the companies that are most trusted in the United States. Being aware that trust can be evaluated from different angles, Newsweek and Statista developed a methodology which takes several aspects into account.
The Most Trustworthy Companies have been chosen based on a holistic approach to evaluating trust. The three main public pillars of trust were considered: customer trust, investor trust and employee trust. The analysis followed a 3-step process:
1 _ Market Definition: All companies headquartered in the U.S. with a revenue over $500 million were considered in the study. Private companies were also eligible.
2 _ Extensive Survey: The basis of the analysis was an independent survey from a sample of about 25,000 U.S. residents, who rated companies they know in terms of all three touch points of trust. A total of 97,000 evaluations of companies were submitted. The field period ran from Monday, October 23 to November 8, 2023.
3 _ Social Listening: For each company that received a sufficient number of evaluations, a Social Listening analysis was conducted. This involved researching what was said about a company in various media segments of the internet and evaluating whether it was positive, neutral or negative. In total, over 532,000 mentions were gathered. Additionally, all companies that were involved in any recent scandals or lawsuits relevant to a dimension of trust were excluded from the analysis.
The 700 companies with the highest scores have been awarded the title of Most Trustworthy Companies in America 2024. The final list is presented by industry.
The selection of the companies and the definition of the evaluation criteria were carried out according to independent journalistic criteria of Newsweek and Statista. The evaluation was carried out by the statistics and market research company Statista. Newsweek and Statista make no claim to the completeness of the companies examined.
The ranking is comprised exclusively of U.S. companies that are eligible regarding the criteria described in this document. A position in the ranking is a positive recognition based on an extensive consumer survey and the research at the time. Events following February 2, 2024, were not a subject of this survey and the analysis. As such, the results of this ranking should not be used as the sole source of information for future deliberations. The information provided in this ranking should be considered in conjunction with other available information. The quality of companies that are not included in the ranking is not disputed.