Corporate Responsibility Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics
By two to one, people in Britain believe that British businesses generally act ethically, according to an Ipsos poll for the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE).
Those who say that Business behaves 'very' or 'fairly' ethically is now 59%, compared with 29% who say they do not. This 59% is 12 points higher than when the measure was first taken in 2003 when 47% said that British business generally acts ethically. More women especially now believe businesses act ethically than was the case several years ago. Executive pay is still the top concern about what the public thinks needs addressing, but is down from a year earlier.
Sir Robert Worcester, Founder, MORI and President, Institute for Business Ethics, said:
"Over the past year there has been a significant recovery in the British public's belief that British businesses generally act responsibly. Now by a margin of two to one the public thinks this to be true. Increasingly British companies are concerned about their corporate responsibilities and are acting more responsibly, in the way they deal with their customers, their employees, the way they do business, and importantly, through their corporate communications are telling people what they are doing to act not just in the interests of their shareholders, but in the interests of all of their many stakeholders."
- Download the presentation (PDF)
- Download the full computer tables (PDF)
- Download the IBE Briefing Note (PDF)
Technical Details
A nationally representative quota sample of 1,019 British adults aged 16+ was interviewed throughout Great Britain on160Ipsos's Capibus survey, across 169 sampling points. Interviews were carried out using CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing),160face-to-face in respondents' homes between 20 and 26 August 2010. Data have been weighted to reflect the known national population profile.
