49% of Luxembourg Survey Respondents Advocate Enhanced Business Regulation

A survey carried out by Luxembourg-based market researcher Quest has revealed a number of insights concerning Luxembourg citizens’ opinions on private businesses in the country.

This survey was conducted from 15 November to 1 December 2023. It was based on 800 interviews carried out using two complementary methods, namely by the Questions.lu panel and by recruiting on social networks.The sample is representative of the resident population based on gender quotas, age groups and nationalities. From the random sample of 800 individuals, 401 were male and 399 were female. 234 were aged between 18 and 34, 294 were aged 35-54 and 272 were aged 55 or over. 422 were of Luxembourgish nationality while 378 were of other nationalities.

Firstly, considering the basic attitude of the Grand Duchy’s population towards businesses, most people taking the survey were “polarised” regarding the role of companies, with 34% believing that companies are “usually part of the problem” and 37% believing they were “usually part of the solution”. 29% of respondents were unsure. Younger citizens were significantly more critical of businesses (41%). Only half the individuals partaking in the survey had a positive attitude towards private businesses (49%), while 36% were unsure and 15% had a bad image of them.

Secondly, regarding companies and their presumed focus, 43% did not believe that companies recognise the value of their employees. 31% thought companies recognised their employees’ value while 26% were unsure. 45% of respondents did not think that private companies are generally aware enough about ecological and social challenges, while 28% thought that private companies were aware of these challenges and the other 28% were unsure. 24% did not think that companies put the customer at the centre of their actions, but an overwhelming majority of 53% thought so.

The question ‘What should a company of the future pay particular attention to?’ followed. Given ten to twelve choices and the possibility to pick three among them, a clear trilogy dominated the spectrum: give more value to their employees (53%), innovate more to find solutions to humanity's problems and challenges (52%) and improve working conditions (46%). A strong focus was thus placed on valuing employees and the search for solutions to humanity's challenges.

Lastly, concerning politics and regulation, more than one in four people (and more than one in three young people) thought that companies do not respect laws and rules. When it comes to dialogue between politics and private businesses, the public appeared “very polarised”, the survey found. More than one in five respondents thought that politics listens too much to private businesses. Young people were significantly more critical of the dialogue between business and politics. 41% among this group believed that politics are too influenced by the private business sector.

Almost half the respondents (49%) called for further regulation of businesses in Europe. Young people expressed a relatively “defensive” attitude concerning businesses. They were overwhelmingly in favour of additional regulations (69%).

In general, participants under 35 displayed a significantly more critical attitude towards businesses, emphasising the need for businesses to understand and address the specific concerns of this age group. According to Quest, these results highlighted the need for businesses, their associations and representatives to reconnect with the general public, especially young citizens. Companies have likely created an ecosystem that is “too self-centred”, focusing too much on themselves and not enough on engaging with society at large, Quest suggested.