Survey finds being CEO is not all about the money
A researcher from the Vlerick Business School challenged 950 chief executives from Belgium and the Netherlands to a number of ethical scenarios. The results came as a bit of a surprise
Big cheese
Researcher Xavier Baeten put a number of ethical scenarios to 950 chief executives in the two countries: scenarios like whether they would accept bribes or bank-handers, or whether they would switch to a cheaper supplier of raw materials despite less attention to working conditions.
Baeten said he was surprised at the results. In contradiction to the generally held view that the bosses are fat cats interested only in their own generous remuneration packages, the results show that CEOs are motivated first by the challenge of the job, then by the advancement of the company and then by the pride in doing the job well. And money didn’t even figure in the top 10.
One notable difference that ethical businesses might consider: top executives who own shares in their own companies are less likely to make ethical decision than those who do not. Only 56% of share-holding bosses made an ethical decision in the scenario presented, compared to 73% who do not own shares.
Photo: Ingimage
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