The National Survey of CEOs on Business Ethics, by Georgia State's Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility and Clemson's Robert J. Rutland Institute for Ethics, polled 293 chief executives at both private and public companies in 48 states.

Among its findings, 62 percent of executives agreed that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act strengthened public and investor trust in corporate America, but 74 percent said it had done nothing to improve ethical standards at their businesses. Sixty-eight percent agreed that the act was an overreaction to the ethical failures of a handful of executives and has proven burdensome and unnecessary.

"Basically, [Sarbanes-Oxley is] a really unpopular piece of legislation and it's unpopular because people have real doubts about whether the good that it's done can justify the costs," said John Knapp, the director of the Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business.

CEOs were also asked about the often-controversial topic of executive compensation. More than 60 percent of private company CEOs said CEO pay at most large public companies is excessive. And 31 percent of CEOs at public companies agreed public company CEO pay is excessive.

Public company CEOs seemed split over whether their pay was properly aligned with company performance. Forty-two percent said it was properly aligned while 45 percent said it wasn't.

The arrests and conviction of key figures in the Enron and WorldCom scandals also appeared to have a damaging effect on the public's perception of CEOs, the survey respondents said. Sixty-six percent said the convictions show "the system works," but about the same number said the convictions also "further erode public trust and confidence in business leaders" and "reinforce a negative, unfair stereotype of CEOs."

Nearly 90 percent said the scandals, which shook the business world in the early 2000s, have made corporate leaders more attentive to ethical concerns.

"People pay more attention to the speed limit when they see people pulled over to the side of the road," said Daniel Wueste, the director of the Rutland Institute for Ethics at Clemson.

Survey respondents were asked whether holding to high ethical standards would improve their company's competitive position over the long term and the short term. While 94 percent said ethical standards would be beneficial in the long run, just 70 percent said high standards would help in the short term. Fifty-one percent agreed business executives are more likely to make ethical compromises during economic downturns.

Respondents to the survey include chiefs of corporations with minimum annual revenue of $10 million in a range of industries, including manufacturing, hospitality, banking, utilities, construction and healthcare. Most have between 100 and 1,000 employees and about 23 percent are publicly-held companies.