Flash Eurobarometer 363

HOW COMPANIES INFLUENCE OUR

SOCIETY:
CITIZENS’ VIEW

SUMMARY

Fieldwork: October-November 2012

Publication: April 2013

This survey has been requested by the European Commission, Directorate-General Enterprise and
Industry and co-ordinated by Directorate-General for Communication.

This document does not represent the point of view of the European Commission.
The interpretations and opinions contained in it are solely those of the authors.

Flash Eurobarometer 363 - TNS Political & Social

SPECIAL EUROBAROMETER

Flash Eurobarometer 363

How Companies Influence Our Society:

Citizens’ View

Conducted by TNS Political & Social at the request of

the European Commission,
Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry

Survey co-ordinated by the European Commission,

Directorate-General for Communication
(DG COMM “Research and Speechwriting” Unit)
FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

TABLE
  OF CONTENTS

 
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 3

1.  CITIZENS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE OVERALL INFLUENCE OF COMPANIES ON

SOCIETY ............................................................................................................... 5  

2.  SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED COMPANIES VS. LARGE COMPANIES ................. 9 

3.  HOW INFORMED DO CITIZENS FEEL ABOUT WHAT COMPANIES DO TO BEHAVE

RESPONSIBLY? AND ARE THEY INTERESTED? .................................................... 11 

4.  CITIZENS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE MAIN POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF

COMPANIES ON SOCIETY.................................................................................... 13 

5.  WHO SHOULD TAKE THE LEADING ROLE IN INFLUENCING COMPANIES’

ACTIONS? ........................................................................................................... 15 

ANNEXES
Technical Specifications

2
FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

INTRODUCTION
 

This summary presents the results of the Flash Eurobarometer survey “How companies
influence our society: citizens’ view”, carried out in October and November 2012. This
survey was designed to investigate the views of Europeans and selected other nationalities
about the influence companies have on society. In particular the survey investigated:

 Levels of interest and information about what companies do to behave responsibly

towards society;

 Perceptions of the efforts companies in different sizes and different sectors make to
behave in a socially responsible way;

 Perceptions of the overall influence of companies on society - is it positive or

negative;

 Who should take the lead in influencing companies to behave in a more responsible
way towards society.

This survey was carried out by TNS Opinion & Social network in the 27 Member States of the
European Union and in Croatia, Israel, Turkey, Brazil, the United States, China and India
between 22nd October and 23rd November 2012. Over 32,000 respondents from different
social and demographic groups were interviewed via telephone (except for India, where the
interviews were conducted face-to-face) in their mother tongue on behalf of Directorate-
General Enterprise and Industry. The methodology used is that of Eurobarometer surveys as
carried out by the Directorate-General for Communication (“Research and Speechwriting”
Unit)1.. A technical note on the manner in which interviews were conducted by the Institutes
within the TNS Political & Social network is appended as an annex to this report. Also
included are the interview methods and confidence intervals2.

* * * * *

**************

The Eurobarometer web site can be consulted at the following address:

http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm

We would like to take the opportunity to thank all the respondents across the continent
who gave their time to take part in this survey.
Without their active participation, this study would not have been possible.

1
http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm
2
The results tables are included in the annex. It should be noted that the total of the percentages in the tables of
this report may exceed 100% when the respondent has the possibility of giving several answers to the question.

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

Note:
  In this report, countries are referred to by their official abbreviation. The abbreviations
used in this report correspond to:

ABBREVIATIONS
BE Belgium LV Latvia
CZ Czech Republic LU Luxembourg
BG Bulgaria HU Hungary
DK Denmark MT Malta
DE Germany NL The Netherlands
EE Estonia AT Austria
EL Greece PL Poland
ES Spain PT Portugal
FR France RO Romania
IE Ireland SI Slovenia
IT Italy SK Slovakia
CY Republic of Cyprus* FI Finland
LT Lithuania SE Sweden
UK The United Kingdom
HR Croatia EU27 European Union – 27 Member States
TR Turkey
IL Israel
BR Brazil
US The United States
IN India

* Cyprus as a whole is one of the 27 European Union Member States. However, the ‘acquis communautaire’ has
been suspended in the part of the country which is not controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus. For
practical reasons, only the interviews carried out in the part of the country controlled by the government of the
Republic of Cyprus are included in the ‘CY’ category and in the EU27 average.

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

  1. CITIZENS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE OVERALL

INFLUENCE OF COMPANIES ON SOCIETY

Just over half of European citizens believe that companies have a positive
influence on society, while more than 4 out of 10 believe companies have a
negative influence. Europeans are more sceptical about the influence of companies
than citizens from other major economies.

Europeans are divided about whether the overall influence of companies is positive or
negative - 52% think that the overall influence of companies on society is positive, while
41% think it is negative.

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

When
  compared with the EU, respondents living in non-European countries are much more
likely to be positive about the overall influence of companies on society. 79% of Brazilian
respondents think that companies have a positive influence on society, followed by just
under three quarters of Indian respondents and around 60% of respondents in the US and
China.

OVERALL INFLUENCE OF COMPANIES ON SOCIETY – TOTAL ‘POSITIVE’

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

Within
  the EU, respondents in Denmark and Finland are much more positive about the
overall influence of companies in society than the European average, with 85% and 83%
respectively thinking this way. There is, however a wide diversity of views across countries.
Fewer than four in ten Slovenian (36%), Italian (36%) and Greek respondents (37%) think
the same way.

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

In
  the European Union, opinion is divided as to whether companies pay more or less
attention to their influence on society than they did 10 years ago: 40% of Europeans
say they pay more attention, while 39% say they pay less attention.

Respondents in non-European countries are generally more optimistic about how much
attention companies pay to their influence on society, with more than half in Brazil (74%),
China (65%), India (62%) and Turkey (57%) saying companies pay more attention than 10
years ago.

CHANGE OF THE COMPANIES’ ATTENTION TO THEIR INFLUENCE OVER SOCIETY IN 10

YEARS – TOTAL ‘MORE’

Food production and agriculture companies (70%), and retail companies and supermarkets
(67%), are the most likely to be seen as making efforts to behave in a responsible way
towards society by Europeans. Finance and banking, and mining, oil and gas companies are
the least likely to be seen as making these efforts (both 34%).

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

  2. SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED COMPANIES VS. LARGE

COMPANIES

Europeans are more likely to think small and medium sized companies make
efforts to behave responsibly compared to large companies.

European respondents are much more likely to say that small and medium sized companies
(71%), rather than large companies (48%), make efforts to behave in socially responsible
ways.

Respondents living in the EU and the US are the only ones who are more likely to think that
small and medium companies are making efforts to behave responsibly towards society
compared to large companies. In Brazil, India and Turkey the situation is reversed, with
respondents more likely to say that large companies are making these efforts. In China the
proportions for both large and small/medium companies are the same (68%).

THE SIZE OF THE COMPANY AND THE EFFORTS MADE TO BEHAVE RESPONSIBLY TOWARDS
SOCIETY

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

More
  than half of Europeans who work at a company say their company has taken measures
they consider effective to behave in a socially responsible way (53%), although respondents
in the US are the most likely to say this (67%).

Base: 37% from the total number of respondents

(Those who work for a company)

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

  3. HOW INFORMED DO CITIZENS FEEL ABOUT WHAT

COMPANIES DO TO BEHAVE RESPONSIBLY? AND ARE
THEY INTERESTED?
There is an information gap in Europe: Although 79% say they are interested in
what companies do to behave in a responsible way, only 36% say they feel
informed in this area.

Just over one third of Europeans (36%) say they feel informed about what companies do
with regard to socially responsible behaviour whereas 62% say that they do not feel
informed.

However, this does not mean Europeans are not interested - 79% say they are interested in
what companies do to behave in a responsible way towards society. Respondents in the US
are even more likely to be interested (87%).

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

When
  we combine information and interest, we see that almost one half (47%) say they do
not feel informed about what companies do to behave in a socially responsible way, but that
they are interested in this information. This compares to China and Turkey where
respectively only 10% and 6% say that they do not feel informed about what companies do
in this area but that they are interested in this information.

Respondents in India (69%), the US (63%) and Brazil (57%) are more likely to feel
informed about what companies do to behave in a socially responsible way than those in the
EU (36%).

LEVEL OF INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT COMPANIES DO TO BEHAVE RESPONSIBLY

TOWARDS SOCIETY

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

  4. CITIZENS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE MAIN POSITIVE AND

NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF COMPANIES ON SOCIETY

In the EU and other major economies job creation is considered to be the most
positive impact of companies on society.

Europeans consider job creation (57%) to be the most positive influence companies have on
society, followed at some distance by contributing to economic growth (32%) and providing
training to employees (31%). In all 27 EU countries job creation is the most mentioned
positive effect of companies on society, as it is for all the non-European countries.

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

Europeans
  consider corruption (41%), reducing staff (39%) and environmental pollution
(also 39%) as the main negative effects of companies on society. However corruption is
much more widely mentioned in India (71%) and China (65%) compared to the EU.

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

  5. WHO SHOULD TAKE THE LEADING ROLE IN

INFLUENCING COMPANIES’ ACTIONS?

European citizens think that citizens themselves should take the lead role in
influencing the actions of companies, through the purchasing decisions they make.

Europeans think that citizens themselves should take the lead role in influencing the actions
of companies through their decisions about what they buy (49%), followed by company
management (40%) and public authorities (36%).

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FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

Respondents
  in India (70%), the US (59%), Brazil (45%) and Turkey (29%) are also most
likely to think that citizens themselves should take the lead in influencing companies'
actions. Respondents in China, on the other hand, are most likely to mention public
authorities (42%).

16
ANNEXES
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363

“How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Between the 22nd of October and the 23rd of November 2012, TNS Political & Social, a consortium created between
TNS political & social, TNS UK and TNS opinion, carried out the survey FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 about “How
Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”.

This survey has been requested by the EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry. It
is a general public survey co-ordinated by the Directorate-General for Communication (“Research and
Speechwriting” Unit). The FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 covers the population of the respective nationalities of
the European Union Member States, resident in each of the 27 Member States and aged 15 years and over. It was
also conducted in Croatia, Turkey, Israel, China, India, Brazil and the United States. In all European Union Member
States, the United States and Turkey, all interviews were carried out using the TNS e-Call center (our centralized
CATI system). In every country (except in India and Israel) respondents were called both on fixed lines and mobile
phones. Respondents in Israel were contacted on fixed lines only, while in India, the interviews were conducted
face-to-face. The basic sample design applied in all states is multi-stage random (probability). In each household,
the respondent was drawn at random following the "last birthday rule".

TNS has developed its own RDD sample generation capabilities based on using contact telephone numbers from
responders to random probability or random location face to face surveys, such as Eurobarometer, as seed
numbers. The approach works because the seed number identifies a working block of telephone numbers and
reduces the volume of numbers generated that will be ineffective. The seed numbers are stratified by NUTS2 region
and urbanisation to approximate a geographically representative sample. From each seed number the required
sample of numbers are generated by randomly replacing the last two digits. The sample is then screened against
business databases in order to exclude as many of these numbers as possible before going into field. This approach
is consistent across all countries.

TS1
FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

 
Readers are reminded that survey results are estimations, the accuracy of which, everything being equal, rests
upon the sample size and upon the observed percentage. With samples of about 1,000 interviews, the real
percentages vary within the following confidence limits:

Statistical Margins due to the sampling process

(at the 95% level of confidence)

various sample sizes are in rows various observed results are in columns

5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

95% 90% 85% 80% 75% 70% 65% 60% 55% 50%
N=50 6,0 8,3 9,9 11,1 12,0 12,7 13,2 13,6 13,8 13,9 N=50
N=500 1,9 2,6 3,1 3,5 3,8 4,0 4,2 4,3 4,4 4,4 N=500
N=1000 1,4 1,9 2,2 2,5 2,7 2,8 3,0 3,0 3,1 3,1 N=1000
N=1500 1,1 1,5 1,8 2,0 2,2 2,3 2,4 2,5 2,5 2,5 N=1500
N=2000 1,0 1,3 1,6 1,8 1,9 2,0 2,1 2,1 2,2 2,2 N=2000
N=3000 0,8 1,1 1,3 1,4 1,5 1,6 1,7 1,8 1,8 1,8 N=3000
N=4000 0,7 0,9 1,1 1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5 1,5 1,5 1,5 N=4000
N=5000 0,6 0,8 1,0 1,1 1,2 1,3 1,3 1,4 1,4 1,4 N=5000
N=6000 0,6 0,8 0,9 1,0 1,1 1,2 1,2 1,2 1,3 1,3 N=6000
N=7000 0,5 0,7 0,8 0,9 1,0 1,1 1,1 1,1 1,2 1,2 N=7000
N=7500 0,5 0,7 0,8 0,9 1,0 1,0 1,1 1,1 1,1 1,1 N=7500
N=8000 0,5 0,7 0,8 0,9 0,9 1,0 1,0 1,1 1,1 1,1 N=8000
N=9000 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,9 0,9 1,0 1,0 1,0 1,0 N=9000
N=10000 0,4 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,8 0,9 0,9 1,0 1,0 1,0 N=10000
N=11000 0,4 0,6 0,7 0,7 0,8 0,9 0,9 0,9 0,9 0,9 N=11000
N=12000 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,8 0,9 0,9 0,9 0,9 N=12000
N=13000 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,7 0,8 0,8 0,8 0,9 0,9 N=13000
N=14000 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,7 0,8 0,8 0,8 0,8 0,8 N=14000
N=15000 0,3 0,5 0,6 0,6 0,7 0,7 0,8 0,8 0,8 0,8 N=15000
5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
95% 90% 85% 80% 75% 70% 65% 60% 55% 50%

TS2
FLASH EUROBAROMETER 363 “How Companies Influence Our Society: Citizens’ View”

N° FIELDWORK POPULATION
ABBR. COUNTRIES INSTITUTES
INTERVIEWS DATES 15+

BE Belgium TNS Dimarso 1.002 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 8.939.546

BG Bulgaria TNS BBSS 1.016 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 6.537.510
CZ Czech Rep. TNS Aisa s.r.o 1.000 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 9.012.443
DK Denmark TNS Gallup A/S 1.004 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 4.561.264
DE Germany TNS Infratest 1.000 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 64.336.389
EE Estonia TNS Emor 1.000 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 945.733
EL Greece TNS ICAP 1.000 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 8.693.566
ES Spain TNS Demoscopia S.A 1.000 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 39.127.930
FR France TNS Sofres 1.006 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 47.756.439
IE Ireland IMS Millward Brown 1.000 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 3.522.000
IT Italy TNS Italia 1.001 29/10/2012 30/10/2012 51.862.391
CY Rep. of Cyprus CYMAR 500 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 660.400
LV Latvia TNS Latvia 1.001 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 1.447.866
LT Lithuania TNS LT 1.000 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 2.829.740
LU Luxembourg TNS Dimarso 505 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 404.907
HU Hungary TNS Hoffmann Kft 1.006 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 8.320.614
MISCO International 502 29/10/2012 31/10/2012
MT Malta
Ltd 335.476
NL Netherlands TNS NIPO 1.007 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 13.371.980
AT Austria TNS Austria 1.001 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 7.009.827
PL Poland TNS OBOP 1.000 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 32.413.735
PT Portugal TNS EUROTESTE 1.001 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 8.080.915
RO Romania TNS CSOP 1.004 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 18.246.731
SI Slovenia RM PLUS 1.003 29/10/2012 30/10/2012 1.759.701
SK Slovakia TNS AISA Slovakia 1.000 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 4.549.956
FI Finland TNS Gallup Oy 1.005 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 4.440.004
SE Sweden TNS SIFO 1.000 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 7.791.240
UK United Kingdom TNS UK 1.003 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 51.848.010
TOTAL
EU27 25.567 22/10/2012 23/11/2012 408.806.313

HR Croatia HENDAL 1.004 29/10/2012 31/10/2012 3.749.400

TR Turkey TNS PIAR 1.000 30/10/2012 03/11/2012 54.844.406
IL Israel TNS Teleseker 1.001 29/10/2012 02/11/2012 4.257.500
US United States TNS Custom Research 1.009 29/10/2012 03/11/2012 247.518.325
BR Brazil RSM 1.001 27/10/2012 30/11/2012 144.799.269
CN China TNS China 1.000 24/10/2012 15/11/2012 70.904.579
IN India TNS India 1.000 30/10/2012 28/11/2012 52.512.000

TOTAL 32.582 22/10/2012 23/11/2012 578.585.479

TS3