71% of U.S. Consumers Want ‘Socially Responsible’ Companies

Seventy-one percent of U.S. consumers say corporations have a responsibility to prioritize their employees, the environment, and their community as much as shareholder returns, compared with an average of 80 percent for international respondents, according to a survey from IBM.

Russian consumers were most likely to say that companies should prioritize concerns beyond shareholders, at 91 percent.

The survey examined consumer sentiment about corporate social-responsibility practices from a total of 7,000 respondents living in 14 industrialized countries.

Globally, consumers most frequently valued environmental consciousness by corporations, with 78 percent of respondents saying they respond favorably to such efforts, according to the survey.