Social Responsibility: Most People Have Good Intentions but Only a Small Minority Really Practice What They Preach

It is easy to point the finger and say corporations should be more socially responsible, but when it comes to individual social responsibility, two-thirds of U.S. adults have "Good Intentions" – they believe that social responsibility is a good idea, and they do what they can in terms of volunteering, but they do not sacrifice huge amounts of time or money. At the top end of the spectrum, 8 percent of U.S. adults "Practice What They Preach" and for this group, individual, as well as corporate, social responsibility is extremely important. One-quarter of U.S. adults, however, follow a philosophy of "To Thine Own Self Be True" and, for this group, social responsibility has little consequence in their lives.

These are just some of the results of a Harris Poll of 2,383 U.S. adults conducted online between May 8 and 14, 2007 by Harris Interactive^®.

Three measures were used to gauge individuals’ level of individual social responsibility. First, we looked at attitudes; i.e. how important is it to be involved with community, civic and social causes. Second we viewed behaviors; in particular how active people are with donating time or money to causes. Finally, we measured how much the individual takes into consideration a company’s reputation for social responsibility when making purchasing decisions. From this, an index emerged. Each person who answered at the lowest end of the scale (i.e., least socially responsible) received one point for that response, while those who answered at the top of the scale received four points. Adding the points together for all three questions yielded an Individual Social Responsibility Index score (between 3 and 12) for each respondent. The three groups represent the high (10 to 12), middle (7 to 9), and low (3 to 6) ranges of that index.

In addition to analyzing the results in terms of the three groups, some of the specific responses to the questions are worth noting:

• Just under one-third (31%) believe "people have a personal responsibility to make the world a better place by being actively involved with various issues and causes." Most people do not feel so strongly;
• Only 8 percent of adults say that they are "extremely involved in giving time and/or money to organizations and causes" in which they believe; and
• Only 16 percent say that a company’s reputation for social responsibility has a strong effect on their decisions about what to buy and with whom to do business.

The younger one is, the more likely they are to be true to their own self. One-third of Echo Boomers (ages 18 to 30) and 29 percent of Gen Xers (ages 31 to 42) fall into this category as compared to just 17 percent of Matures (62 and older) and 22 percent of Baby Boomers (ages 43 to 61). Education also seems directly related – the less educated one is, the more likely they are to be "true to their own self". Three in ten of those with a high school or less graduation are part of this group as compared to 18 percent of those with either a college degree or a post graduate degree.

Gender also shows some interesting differences. Men are more likely than women to both practice what they preach (10% versus 7%) and are also more likely to "be true to their own self" (28% versus 23%). Women, however, are more likely to have good intentions – 70 percent as compared to 63 percent. With regard to race, Hispanics are more likely than both Blacks and Whites to practice what they preach (13% versus 9% and 7%).

While those who have household incomes of above $75,000 a year are the income group that is most likely to practice what they preach (12%), this does not come at the expense of being true to themselves. One-quarter of this highest income group falls into this lowest category of individual responsibility compared to 23 percent of those who have household incomes of $35,000 to $49,999 and 21 percent of those with incomes of $50,000 to $74,999.

Politically, it is often said that Republicans think of themselves while Democrats think of others, but according to our study, there is not much of a difference between the two when it comes to social responsibility. In fact, Republicans may be slightly more socially responsible than Democrats. One-quarter of Democrats (24%) are "true to their own self" compared to 22 percent of Republicans and nine percent of Republicans and 8 percent of Democrats each practice what they preach. The difference between Conservatives and Liberals is a bit more pronounced. One in ten Conservatives practice what they preach while 21 percent of them are true to their own self. One in 20 Liberals (5%) practice what they preach while 27 percent of them are true to their own self.

Many surveys have documented the large number of people who do good work, volunteer their time or give money to their churches, charities and/or organizations that advocate for causes they care about. What this survey shows is that only small minorities do this aggressively, practicing what they preach. For the great majority, volunteering and charitable giving, or social responsibility, is a much more marginal activity.

"As you may know, people’s attitudes differ very widely concerning how involved they want to be with community, civic, and social causes – including things like voluntary service, donating to charities, or getting involved in community activities. Which statement best describes your attitude about this subject?"

Base: All adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding

"Which of these statements best describes your behavior in giving time and money to various organizations and causes?"

Base: All adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding

"How much effect would you say a company’s reputation for social responsibility has on your own decisions about what to buy and who to do business with?"

Base: All adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding

Created by scoring and combining responses to three questions above

Base: All adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding

Created by scoring and combining responses to three questions above

Base: All adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding

Created by scoring and combining responses to three questions above

Base: All adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding

Created by scoring and combining responses to three questions above

Base: All adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding

This Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between May 8 and 14, 2007, among 2,383 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

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