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A Year of Public Opinion Research

CCSR Conference, November 15

Corporate and Community Social Responsibility Conference Algonquin College, November 15, 2011


•I am not 18, but look it. •I am a Millennial•CEO of Abacus Data Inc. •PhD in Political Science, University of

Calgary•Lecturer at Carleton University•Pollster for Sun News•Pollster for Corporate and Community

Social Responsibility Conference in Ottawa

About Me


Research Series

•Six-part Public Opinion Research Series•Canadian Benchmark Survey (Oct 2010)•Ethical Consumerism (Jan 2011)•Ethical Employment and Compensation (Feb

2011)•Ethical Investing (Apr 2011)•Occupy Wall Street/Canada (Oct 2011)•Industry Performance (Oct 2011)


Ethical Consumerism


Spending More for Socially Responsible Product/Services

19%

18%

25%

38% Over $10$5 to $10Less than $5None


Are you an Ethical Consumer?

No, 42%

Yes, 58%


Other Findings

• 23% would spend 10% or more for locally grown food.• 42% would spend 5% or more for ethically produced goods or services.• Many Canadians have discussed the ethical behaviour of corporations


Ethical Consumers

Conditional

• 60%• Not Self-

Identifying• But Spend

More• Rarely

Discuss

Adopting

• 16%• Self-

Identifying• Only

Spend 10% more

Committed

• 13%• Fully

Engaged• Spend 15%

or More• Actively

Discuss

Indifferent

• 10%• Not Self-

Identifying• Don’t

Spend More


Ethical Employment and Compensation


Pay Cut to Work for Socially Responsible Company/Organization

8%

15%

28%

50%

Over 10%5% to 10%,Less than 5%0% pay cut


Apart from a Good Wage, What Employees Seek…

Number of employees in the company

Company sells products/services around the world

There is profit sharing or part ownership

Portable retirement plan contributions

Professional development and advancement opportunities

Company is ethical and considered to be socially responsible

Generous family oriented benefits (daycare, parental leave, paid sick days)

Company has a good reputation in the community

Job has flexible working hours and you can work from home

Company is profitable and stable

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

12%

13%

38%

44%

59%

48%

60%

56%

58%

70%

2%

2%

3%

3%

8%

9%

9%

14%

17%

27%

Rank the following factors from 1 to 5 in terms of what is most important to you in deciding where you would work. [rotate]

(n=1,105, weighted)

Ranked 1st Ranked top 5


Ethical Canadian Companies

Yes, 67%

No, 31%

Would you describe the organization you work for or worked for as ethical based on the definition above? (n=1,348, weighted)

YesNo


Canada Compared to the World

Norway

Sweden

Germany

France

Great Britain

United States

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

15%

15%

19%

27%

19%

47%

52%

49%

62%

57%

71%

41%

33%

36%

19%

16%

10%

12%

Based on the above definition, do you think Canadian companies are more ethical, less ethical, or about the same as companies in …

(n=1,, weighted)

More Ethical About the Same Less Ethical


Ethical InvestingApril 2011


Socially Responsible Investing

Portfolio 1 (Most Ethical)

Portfolio 2 (Balanced)

Portfolio 3 (Least Ethical)

CEO Compensation(ratio of CEO to lowest paid employee) Low Reasonable High

Environmental record Very good Mixed Poor Labour practices Very good Very good Very good Operating in countries with oppressive regimes No Yes Yes

Direct community investment High High Low

Community involvement Yes Yes Yes Reporting Transparency Good Good Good Amount of additional money you will receive at the end of the year $50 $100 $180

Consider the following three possible investment scenarios. Pretend you have $1,000 to invest in one of the three portfolios below for a one year period. Tell us which portfolio

you would most likely invest in.(n=1000, weighted)


Socially Responsible Investing

41%

46%

13%

Consider the following three possible investment scenarios. Pretend you have $1,000 to invest in one of the three portfolios below for a

one year period. Tell us which portfolio you would most likely invest in. (n=1000, weighted)

Portfolio 1Portfolio 2Portfolio 3


Local Investment

Your Neighbourh

ood

Your Municip

ality

Your Pro

vince

Canada

A Forign Country

$- $50.00

$100.00 $150.00 $200.00 $250.00 $300.00 $350.00 $400.00

$370.03

$247.13

$134.43

$124.69

$123.72 You are given the ability to decide where to give $1,000 (not your

money) in an organization to improve the lives of people. Distribute based on where you want the money to have an impact.

(n=1000, weighted)

$ Am

ount

(avg

)


Donations

Affordable H

ousing

Education and Sk

ills D

evelopment

Redue hunger

A Small B

usiness

that Helps t

he Community

Environmental C

ause

Public Tra

nportation

0

1

2

3

4

5

2.8 2.9 34 4.1 4.7

What cause would you want that donation of $1,000 to impact? Rank from most important to least important.

(n=1000, weighted)

Impo

rtan

ce (a

vera

ge ra

nk)


Occupy Wall Street/CanadaOctober 2011


Public Opinion

Very favourable

Somewhat favourable

Neither f

avourable nor unfavourable

Somewhat unfavourable

Very unfavourable

Don't know enough to

have an opinion0%5%

10%15%20%25%

19% 22% 18%11% 11%

18%

Do you have a favourable or unfavourable opinion of these protests, or do you not know enough about the protests to have an opinion?

(n=996, weighted)


Impact

59%

7%

16%

18%

In your opinion, will these protests have a positive, negative, or no impact on Canadian politics today?

(n=996, weighted)

No impact, 59%Negative, 7%Unsure, 16%Positive, 18%


Income Inequality Gap

7%

43%36%

13%

Do you think the wealth gap between the rich and the poor in Canada is larger, small, or about the same as in the United States?

(n=996, weighted)

Unsure, 7%Smaller, 43%About the Same, 36%Larger, 13%


Arguments

Most large corporations in Canada are unethical

Canadian financial institutions have been reckless and greedy

Large corporations and the rich have too much influence on public policy and government in Canada

The gap between the rich and poor in Canada has grown too large

The rich in Canada should pay more taxes

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

20%

32%

46%

55%

55%

31%

32%

35%

26%

25%

Do you agree or disagree with the statements below?(n=996, weighted)

Strongly agree Somewhat agree

80% Total

81% Total

81% Total

64% Total

51% Total


Industry PerformanceOctober 2011


CCSR Importance and Performance

Pharmaceutical

Oil and Gas

Electricity Production

Food and beverage

Vehicle manufacturers

Shippers

Home building supplies

Telecom servicesFinancial services Health services

Grocery retailers

CCSR Importance

CCSR

Per

form

ance


Cause Alignment

Environmental Protection

Oil and Gas

Electricity Producers Shippers

Vehicle Manufacturers

Health Research

Health Care Services

Pharmaceutical

Promoting Active Living

Grocery

Food and Beverage


Important Causes

International development

Arts and culture

Amateur sport

Local community charities

Promoting active living

Children's health care

Environmental protection

Health research

Poverty reduction

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

2%

2%

2%

7%

9%

11%

20%

22%

25%

If you had to select one cause to support, which is most important to you personally?

(n=999, weighted)


Direct Cause Marketing

79%

21%

Have you ever purchased a product or service that promised to contribute a percentage of the

profits to a cause or charity?(n=999, weighted)

YesNo

Very impor-

tant

Somewhat important

Not that important

Not at all important

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

15% 49% 26% 9%

How important was the contribu-tion in influencing your decision to

purchase the product?(n=789, weighted)


Thank you!

Contact Information:

David ColettoCEO, Abacus Data [email protected]/ColettoDwww.abacusdata.ca

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.abacusdata.ca/

www.abacusdata.ca a year of public opinion research ccsr conference, november 15 corporate and...

Documents

ethical consumerism

compensation slide

ethical investing

ethical portfolio

world slide

ethical employment

ethical canadian companies

ethical consumers conditional