Unethical business finds strong support in Europe

Cash bribes to secure work are acceptable according to 25% of the responses to a European survey by Ernst & Young. Half of the 2,200 employees in major companies across 22 European countries who took part were relaxed about unethical business practice. Local variations were noticeable: while 14% of UK respondents believed that paying cash bribes was reasonable, the figure was 38% in Spain, 43% in the Czech Republic and 53% in Turkey. Senior managers are not averse to breaking the rules when times are hard either; 13% said that distortion of the company’s financial performance would be justified to survive the current economic crisis. It is not a surprise therefore that 67% of respondents doubted the integrity of management: only 12% of individuals from France and Italy thought that their management always observed high standards of probity; the figure was 23% in the UK.