The Corporate Social Mind

Annual Review | December 2021

Introduction

Two months after the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), researchers for this study uncovered a startling detail: The American public’s approval of companies working with political leaders to change environment/climate change policies has dropped 14% from last year, down to less than a quarter of adults today.

Why the change? The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the public’s view that companies have a role in protecting the world and its citizens. Now that we are past the time when we expected COVID to be over and 2020’s protests related to ending racial discrimination have declined, people are having to find ways to get back to daily living -- and address all the old and new concerns that come with it.

Concurrently, however, Americans report spending more time learning about social issues and what companies are doing in relation to them. Many are also taking time to educate themselves more deeply about the social issues they are interested in.

Since we began studying how Americans view a company's role in social issues, we have discovered that when the world is in crisis or a social issue moment, public expectations of companies increases and intensifies. When the crisis or moment dissipates or becomes normalized, so too do those expectations.

We reported as such in 2020: In June, less than a month after protests of George Floyd’s murder began sweeping the nation, a third of respondents had acted in support of racial equity because a company asked them to; another third had taken a COVID-related action for the same reason. By year-end 2021, when discussions about racial equity and COVID have become part of daily life, each of those figures dropped to 11%.

This study reflects a more subdued attitude toward corporate social issue engagement and a wider distribution of actions taken by consumers in response to corporate influence. However, it does not suggest companies should back off their social issue efforts. Rather, it reflects the normalization of those issues in the public’s daily lives and the spread of their expectations across more issues in the absence of a crisis.

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Definitions

Social Mindset: A perspective that approaches decisions and actions with their impact on society in mind (e.g., police reform, hunger, discrimination, immigration).

Corporate Social Mind: Companies must develop eight traits to have a corporate social mindset: 1) Decide with society in mind, 2) live the company’s values, 3) use resources for society’s benefit, 4) listen before acting, 5) have a social voice, 6) lead social collectives, 7) measure social impact and 8) innovate for social good. (Source: The Corporate Social Mind: How Companies Lead Social Change From the Inside Out)

Purpose

This study is an annual review of the public’s expectations of business as social moments and movements occur and mature. The ongoing examination arose from the book The Corporate Social Mind: How Companies Lead Social Change From the Inside Out by Derrick Feldmann and Michael Alberg-Seberich, which defines the social mindset needed by today’s companies in the face of these expectations – and how to weave this mindset throughout the company.

Methodology

A quantitative approach was taken with an online survey fielded November 27-29, 2021, to collect data about attitudes and activities in the United States related to corporate involvement in social issues. The survey had 1,000 respondents from a nationally representative sample (Census projected), producing a 95% confidence interval with a +/- 3% margin of error. Note that categories may not total 100% due to non-answers, multiple-choice questions and rounding.