Business should be working harder to demonstrate its “ethical credentials”, as a key survey finds that public perception of the corporate world and its ethics has seen only small improvement.

An annual survey by the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) reveals that 44% of the British public believe that business is ethical, four percentage points up on last year. But the proportion of people who believe business is “unethical” remains steady at 42%. The number of people who professed neutrality on the question has dropped from 19% to 14%.

That still leaves a job of work for business to do in convincing a significant proportion of the population that its policies and behaviour are above board.

According to IBE’s director, Ian Peters, there are solutions to improving the perception of ethics in business, even though a more sympathetic view of business would be welcome.

“Business leaders must be more transparent in demonstrating and reporting how they are addressing the areas still troubling the public,” he says. He adds that business leaders are not being helped by politicians. “Our political leaders are doing us no favours in the behaviour they demonstrate. The business community, and society as a whole, expect and deserve better role models in government.”

Unethical behaviours

Business remains ahead of the media and politicians when it comes to public perception of which is a more ethical sector. In fact, concern about elected representatives and journalists has only grown. Once again, however, the rise in those who think politicians and the media are unethical is due to a fall in the number of those neutral on the topic. The IBE believes this could be a reflection of growing “polarisation” in society. “In a world where opinions seem to be increasingly polarised, this is a striking change and perhaps part of that broader phenomenon.” In the end, the IBE believes people are “increasingly split down the middle” in their views about business.

The findings come even as business increasingly talks about its “purpose”, “societal responsibility” and concern about climate. Though here, again, there are unlikely survey results. Fewer people (down five percentage points) believe “environmental responsibility” is most in need of addressing. It remains an important concern, ranked fourth after corporate tax avoidance, bribery and corruption, and executive pay. But why would it lose priority? The IBE believes one reason could be that “respondents think that at least some businesses are now reacting more convincingly to the sustainability agenda”. If true, that will be reassuring to law makers and regulators, who have pushed hard to make business more transparent on their relationship with climate change.

Bullying and harassment: side effects of Covid?

There is, however, growing concern about harassment and bullying in the workplace, up from a low of 11% thinking it a problem in 2021 to 15% this year. But IBE suggests this could be a function of the general return to offices after the pandemic, where there is “probably a greater risk of harassment and bullying than in a virtual working environment”. Even so, that should give HR departments pause for thought and raise questions about staff members losing their relationship skills while working remotely.

The problem seems more acute for women. Of the women polled for the IBE survey, 18% said bullying was a priority concern, compared with 12% of men seeing it as such. The gap of six percentage points compares with only two percentage points the previous year.

Ironically, IBE’s survey comes just a week after the Institute of Directors launched a campaign for the government to commission work on a new code of conduct for company directors to help “embed the expectations of society” in the boardroom.

IBE’s survey shows business has more to do if it wants to convince the public that its ethics are in the right place. But it also suggests the pandemic has had an effect. Either way, there is much to consider.