The institute found six out of ten (58%) people believe business behaves ethically, a third do not, but there is a disconnect between how they believe business behaves and trust in business leaders.
Each year the IBE asks Ipsos MORI to survey the British public as to their attitudes to business and whether they believe business behaves ethically. In 2011, 58% of the public said they believe business behaves ethically; this is an 11 percentage point increase from when the survey was first run in 2003 (47%).
However, the public were also asked which issues they think need to be addressed by business; the most common answer was that executive pay should be addressed (36%).
In contrast, a survey conducted by IBE of FTSE250 companies revealed different issues emerging as priorities, albeit from a somewhat different list of options. "Executive pay" was not measured specifically, but business remuneration policies were only the 11th most important issue, far below issues such as bribery and corruption, discrimination and whistle blowing (all of which were approximately 80%).
Robert Worcester, president of the IBE, this morning launched the IBE's annual survey of public perceptions of business may not be as bad as some fear, but there is still a disconnect between what business leaders think is important and public attitudes to business.
He said called upon the City to communicate remuneration policies clearly in order to build trust.
Worcester said: "The success of our economy depends on attracting and retaining talented people to lead our companies. But they need to be valued for more than their pay packet. And the time for rewards for failure is past."
He also challenged business schools to do more to embed ethical values within their business graduates. "Our future business leaders are today attracted to a company not solely for the golden handshake, but also for its ethical culture," he said.
