Skip to content

24 June, 2025

  • Saved Articles
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Log Out

Board Agenda

  • Governance
  • Strategy
  • Risk
  • Ethics
  • News
  • Insight
    • Categories

      • View all
      • Governance
      • Strategy
      • Risk
      • Ethics
      • Board Expertise
      • finance
      • Technology
    • long-term stewardship

      Stewardship strategies

      In times of uncertainty and growing risk complexity, boards need to evolve beyond stability. Here...

    • clear cyber risk

      UK companies face a clear cyber risk

      Boards need a laser focus on digital risks—and the UK needs stronger audit, governance and...

    • public markets

      How can we boost public markets?

      Growing companies need adequate liquidity, together with smart regulation and corporate governance that is not...

  • Comment
      • View all
    • clear cyber risk

      UK companies face a clear cyber risk

      Boards need a laser focus on digital risks—and the UK needs stronger audit, governance and...

    • Warren Buffett CEO succession: what boards can learn from Warren Buffett

      The billionaire investor is handing the reins to Greg Abel, after a long, strategic succession...

    • gender pay gap Act now to close the gender pay gap

      This month, it is 55 years since the Equal Pay Act, yet pay inequality persists....

  • Interviews
      • View All Interviews
      • Podcasts
      • Webinars
    • UK Corporate Governance Code Board meetings ‘are not up to scratch’

      Nearly three-quarters of board members believe the board’s performance in meetings needs improvement, an expert...

    • financial sanctions Tariffs chaos drives boardroom focus on resilience

      Business leaders will prioritise the resilience of their organisations in the face of economic upheaval...

    • ai boards Corporate world has a ‘huge appetite’ for artificial intelligence

      AI could change boardrooms to the extent that directors’ duties would change too, a panel...

  • Board Careers
  • Resource Centre
      • White Paper Downloads
      • Book Reviews
      • Board Advisory & Corporate Services
    • Korn Ferry CHRO 2025 (Copy)

      On The Highwire: Being a CHRO in 2025

      Korn Ferry surveyed 750 senior HR leaders (including 450 CHROs) to understand their key priorities...

    • Boardroom Bellwether CGI 2025 cover

      Boardroom Bellwether 2025

      Boardroom Bellwether is the annual survey by The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland (CGIUKI),...

    • ACCA sustainability reporting 2025 cover

      Sustainability reporting: risk and materiality 2025

      ACCA’s sustainability guide takes a practical approach to helping businesses with sustainability reporting.

  • Events
  • Search by topic
    • Governance
    • Strategy
    • Risk
    • Ethics
    • Regulation
    • ESG
    • Investor Relations
    • Careers
    • Board Expertise
    • finance
    • Technology

Retail’s ethical failures top the 2022 list

by Gavin Hinks on January 12, 2023

The retail sector gained more adverse press reports about ethics than any other, reveals research by the Institute of Business Ethics.

retail ethics

Image: DenysKurbatov/Shutterstock.com

Retail saw more stories about failure in ethics during last year than any other sector, taking the top spot from banking and finance.

The news comes after research by the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) which surveyed news reports to uncover which topics and sectors attract more headlines.

The retail sector attracted 55 negative news stories about ethics in 2022, compared with 43 in banking and finance. Technology came in third with 39, as it continues to attract coverage of cybercrime and privacy issues.

But retail’s climb to the top slot is the most striking revelation in the IBE survey, after previously being third. IBE says the cost-of-living crisis led to a “significant range of stories about [retail companies’] treatment of employees and of customers in response to food and gas prices”. IBE adds: “They have also garnered significant coverage about sustainability, and diversity and discrimination.”

When it comes to the reasons for being in the press, it is ethics stories focused on diversity and discrimination that top the league table, alongside sustainability. Treatment of employees comes in second, with bribery/corruption attracting its fair share of news to come in fourth.

“Diversity and discrimination coverage,” writes IBE, “is mostly of individual stories of discrimination by employers and reflect an ongoing media interest in tribunal cases or complaints made by individuals.”

One of the most high-profile discrimination cases involved Maya Forstater, who lost her job at the Centre for Global Development over a tweet she made, arguing that transgender women could not change their biological sex. She won a discrimination claim on appeal at a tribunal in July last year.

In December, the Financial Times ran a story that black, Asian and ethnic minority people face “pervasive discrimination” in financial services. Another story said “one in five” working age people in the UK had faced discrimination at work.

Marked down

Last year was not a great 12 months for the perception of ethics in business. Another survey from IBE found that 42% of those polled consider business “unethical”, against 40% who say it is. In 2021, business received a 59% positive approval rating. The 2022 figures were an “all-time low,” according to IBE.

Perhaps one of the biggest shocks last year was the launch of an investigation by the Financial Reporting Council into the possibility of cheating in accountancy exams, following a rash of stories around the world signalling it might be an issue.

Further concerning news came when academics concluded companies ended their operations in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine based on an ethical stance—but only to the extent that it supported “shareholder value maximisation”.

Next week, the Edelman Trust Barometer will shed more light on the public perception of business over the past year. In the meantime, retailers may want to ask how they ended up gaining such an unfavourable accolade.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail

Related Posts

  • Annual survey reveals 42% of the public consider business 'unethical'
    January 18, 2022
    Employees commuting to work

    The Institute of Business Ethics says just 40% of those polled in its annual survey think business is ethical—down from 59% in 2020.

  • Academics criticise BlackRock gender diversity research
    November 7, 2023
    gender diversity study

    Its methodology came under fire, with some critics also pointing out it was wrong to focus on the business case for investing in women.

  • How to boost diversity of thought
    October 25, 2023
    diversity of thought

    Companies benefit from diverse workforces, but also from having the input of different opinions and ways of thinking.

  • Diversity 'a chance to increase a board’s problem-solving ability'
    September 5, 2023
    diversity problem-solving

    But organisations that approach diversity, equity and inclusion from a compliance perspective fail to reap its benefits, research finds.

Search


Follow Us

Register Free

Stay in the know! Register to access the latest governance news; plus receive updates about our events and podcasts – Sign up here

 

Most Popular

Featured Resources

wef global risks 2025

The Global Risks Report 2025

The 20th edition of the Global Risks Report reveals an increasingly fractured global...
Supply chain management cover

Strategic Oversight in Supply Chain Management: A Guide for Corporate Boards 2025

Supply chains have become complex, interdependent and opaque and—according to research...
OB-Cyber-Security

Cyber Security: What Boards Need to Know

Maintaining firewalls, protecting servers and filtering malicious emails rarely make...

The IA’S Principles Of Remuneration 2024 2025

This guidance from the Investment Association is aimed at assisting remuneration...
Diligent 2024 leadership tech cover

Leadership, decision-making & the role of technology: Business survey 2024

This research report by Board Agenda and Diligent sheds light on how board directors...

Director Reference Guide: Navigating Conflict in the Boardroom

The 'Director Reference Guide' on navigating conflict in the boardroom provides practical...
Nasdaq 2024 governance report cover

Nasdaq 2024 Global Governance Pulse

This Nasdaq survey gathered data from more than 870 board members, executives, and...

Becoming a non-executive director (4th edition)

Board composition is the subject of much debate, while the role of the non-executive...
art & science brainloop new cover

The Art & Science of Creating an Effective Board

Boards are coming under more scrutiny and pressure than ever before from regulators,...
SAA First time NED guide

First Time Guide for Non-Executive Directors

The role of the non-executive director has never been more vital: to advise, support,...

Register Free

Stay in the know! Register to access the latest governance news; plus receive updates about our events and podcasts. Register


  • Editors & Contributors
  • Editorial Advisory Board
  • Board Advisory & Corporate Services
  • Media Marketing Solutions
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Board Director Network
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
|

Copyright © 2025 Questor Media Group Ltd.

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap