Cost of living concerns a key driver when judging the ethics of corporate Australia

Baby boomers and Gen Xers are keeping a focus on ethics alive in Australian society, with cost-of-living pressures, cyber security and artificial intelligence topping their list of concerns.

But there has been an overall decline in how Australians perceive the ethics of a number of sectors.

The education and charity sectors have dropped in people’s perceptions of ethical behaviour.

The Governance Institute of Australia 2024 Ethics Index has just been published and shows a growing divide between society’s expectations and perceptions of ethical conduct.

The Ethics Index is an annual survey, now in its ninth year, exploring perceptions of ethical issues and conduct in Australian society.

It identifies the most and least ethical occupations, organisations and sectors, and highlights future ethical challenges.

The survey assesses the importance of ethics in society and the perceived ethical behaviour across various sectors.

Based on an independent survey conducted by research company Ipsos, the institute’s report reveals a mild decline in the Ethics Index to 43 out of 100 (down from 45 in 2023), while the importance of ethics, driven by Baby Boomers and Gen X has risen significantly to an all-time high of 85.

Governance Institute chief executive officer Megan Motto highlighted the growing divide, but noted the survey’s ‘Ethical Expectation Deficit’ has reached its highest level since 2019.

“It is concerning to see such a significant decline in ethical perceptions across key sectors including education and charities, which have traditionally been viewed as highly ethical,” Ms Motto said.

“It’s clear that many Australians feel organisations and individuals have more work to do to deliver the standard of ethical conduct they expect.”

In relation to cost of living concerns, Australians perceive supermarket pricing as the most unethical behaviour (-50) while perceptions of GPs who don’t offer bulk billing have also fallen further (-33).

There is also a strong public expectation for urgent notification of data breaches and ensuring AI is not used to mislead.

When asked about how ethical it was for the government to make promises or involve themselves in certain issues ahead of the next federal election, Australians ranked affordable housing, renewable energy, and grocery prices as their top three campaign topics.

Clear differences emerge when examining election promises by party preference.

“Liberal voters favour nuclear power, while Labor voters focus on affordable housing, renewable energy, and union actions,” Ms Motto said.

“There is also a significant difference in perceptions of US relations based on the election result.”

Fire services (76), nurses (75) and ambulance services (74) are seen as the most ethical occupations, while real estate agents (-18), federal politicians (-15) and state politicians (-6) are seen to be the least ethical.

Other key findings of 2024 Ethics Index:

• The ethical obligation for organisations to tackle climate change, even if it results in reduced profits or job losses has increased significantly over the past year
• Trade unions and associations have seen substantial declines (down 10)
• Health is rated as the most ethical sector (64) but GPs who don’t bulk-bill are seen as somewhat unethical (-26)
• Education sector declines are driven by negative perceptions of universities, university lecturers and private schools, and
• Media is the least ethical sector (-10) with substantial falls in the ethical perceptions of mainstream broadcast media.

Corruption remains the leading issue of unethical behaviour, followed by misleading advertising and company tax avoidance.

Immigration is seen as the most difficult area for ethical navigation, with Indigenous affairs and euthanasia diverging in perceived difficulty.

“These findings highlight the critical need for strong ethical leadership and practices across all sectors,” Ms Motto said.

“It is imperative that we address these challenges to rebuild trust and ensure ethical conduct in our society.”

The Governance Institute is a national membership association for governance and risk management professionals across various sectors. Its mission is to promote better governance, contributing to a stronger society.

This latest of its surveys, conducted in September this year, involved 1000 participants, representative of the Australian adult population.