Almost four in five Australians say they trust the government to give clear and accurate advice on the Covid-19 pandemic, a larger share than those who report the same feelings about the media, according to a new survey.

The poll by the Australia Institute also shows two in three Australians believe the government should take the lead in sustaining the economy as the country recovers from the Covid-19 crisis, while just one in 10 say that role should be taken by big business.

The progressive thinktank surveyed 6,000 people across six countries – Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the US, Italy and South Korea – to gain an insight into their views on trust and economic anxiety in a time of coronavirus.

Based on responses from 1,000 people in each country, the exercise reveals a close relationship between trust in a government’s advice and views about that nation’s performance in responding to Covid-19.

On the whole, it shows people place the most trust in governments and friends and family to give clear and accurate advice, followed by the media, while they place the least trust in material shared on social media.

In Australia, 78% of respondents report that they have either some or high trust in government as a source of information, while 77% say the same about friends and family and 58% say so about the media. Just 30% express some level of trust in social media information.

Ben Oquist, the executive director of the Australia Institute, said Covid-19 was affecting nations around the world in very different ways, but the one unifying response appeared to be a high level of trust in the institution of government.

“The health and economic response to the current has been a serious challenge for democratically elected governments the world over and each nation will emerge from this crisis changed in some way,” he said.

“Reassuringly, so far at least, faith in government has yet to fall victim to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

In all but one of the six countries, a majority rated their national government’s overall response to Covid-19 as good or very good, with the highest such rating found in New Zealand (83%), where Jacinda Ardern has pursued an elimination strategy.

The lowest rating was found in the US (49%), where Donald Trump has faced criticism for a sluggish initial response and poor national coordination.

In Australia, seven in 10 respondents (71%) rated the Morrison government’s overall response as good or better.

But in a sign of ongoing concerns about a protracted economic crisis, just one in three of the Australian respondents (34%) were confident they would keep their current jobs and hours – the lowest rate of confidence among the countries included.

On the notion of keeping current jobs and hours, confidence was found to be highest in the United Kingdom (43%) and New Zealand (41%).

Australian and American respondents were also the most likely to have reported already losing their jobs or that they had stopped being rostered on for shifts (both 16%).

People were also asked to say which out of five groups they think should take the lead in sustaining the economy in the months ahead – government, big business, individuals, small business or charities.

Across the six countries, government was twice as likely to be selected as the other four groups put together.

The survey report said people in Australia and the UK were most likely to say that the government should take the lead in sustaining the economy (both 64%), followed by New Zealand (62%).

Only in the US – where sentiments about “big government” are more strongly held – did fewer than half say that the government should take the lead in the months ahead (43%). Despite this, Americans did select government more than twice as often as any other option.

“Australians are just as likely as Americans to have already lost their job and are more worried about the employment prospects, but have far higher faith in a government-led recovery than their counterparts from the USA,” Oquist said.

“While Scott Morrison may want to espouse the virtues of a business-led recovery, it is clear that the Australian people want government to be at the centre of how we move forward as a nation.”

The surveys of 1,000 people in each of the six countries were conducted online through Dynata between 1 and 14 April, with nationally representative samples based on gender, age and region. The margin of error for national results is 3%.