New research from Kantar and the Sustainable Business Council (SBC) highlights an opportunity for New Zealand businesses to drive greater commitment and action on social responsibility, both internally with employees and for the benefit of the communities they operate in.
The inaugural Better Futures Thrive Report aims to provide deeper insights off the back of a perceived gap in social sustainability action by business, identified in the long-running Better Futures Report. The new report reaffirms this, with only 22% of consumers saying they believe New Zealand businesses are taking significant actions to address community and social challenges.
“Exploratory work we carried out last year reflected that the ‘S’ in ESG has lived in the shadows of the ‘E’, with more focus and resource historically put towards environmental issues than social ones,” explains Jay Crangle, Head of ESG at SBC.
“This new Better Futures Thrive report has reinforced that New Zealanders are seeking stronger leadership from business. They want to see both employees thriving in their workplaces and businesses working harder to resolve the social issues facing our society.”
The key findings of the report around consumer perception of business social responsibility fall into three spheres of influence.
Employee perceptions of business
New Zealand employers are generally seen as performing positively when it comes to fostering a culture where employees feel welcome and encouraged to bring their authentic selves to the workplace.
However, 45% of New Zealanders say they have experienced discrimination at work or while looking for a job, based most commonly upon people’s country of origin, culture, age or gender.
Employees see authenticity, social harm of a company’s products, and valuing staff as the highest priority challenges they’d like to see their employer tackle.
Societal perceptions of business
The research indicates Kiwi consumers are most concerned about business efforts to bring about a positive impact in society, primarily through their products and services and their community contributions.
Kantar Qualitative Director Anne John-Francke says, “The priority challenge here is having a visible impact, as this makes the biggest difference to consumers and is seen as a weakness for major New Zealand businesses.”
Issues around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are impacting consumer purchasing behaviour, with 22% claiming that DEI often or always impacts their purchase decisions, and 19% stating they are more likely to purchase from businesses that have inclusive marketing and advertising.
Consumer perceptions of brands
New Zealanders are generally more critical of brands’ impact on social outcomes – the research revealed that major Kiwi brands are seen as underperforming in a range of areas, most notably around engaging with social issues, addressing inequity, reflecting society and community outreach.
“We can see from this underperformance generally, plus the fact that service industry brands with more regular and visible consumer interaction are rated so much higher on DEI delivery, that New Zealanders are looking to business for more visible engagement and meaningful action on social issues,” says Anne John-Francke.
Margin of error ±5% points at the 95% confidence level. This research is based on the perspectives of 1,000 New Zealanders surveyed on social issues and responsibility.
Download the full Better Futures Thrive report online here.
Note: SBC and Deloitte launched their flagship report ‘Strengthening the ‘S’ in ESG for Aotearoa businesses’ in 2023 with support from 10 member organisations.
