Public Protector Thuli Madonsela predicts an increase in ethical behaviour globally and in South Africa - but at present 42% of the employees in this country who are aware of misconduct are afraid to report it because they fear victimisation.This year's SA Business Ethics Survey found that the number of employees who knew of misconduct in the workplace had risen since 2013.But the number of people reporting it had dropped to 48% in the past year, from 64% in 2013.Of the 48% who reported their observations, 52.9% did so to their immediate superior, 13% to another manager, 11.9% to human resources managers and 6.6% through company whistleblower hotlines.This is the fourth national survey released by the Ethics Institute, which held its annual conference in Johannesburg yesterday.Madonsela and auditor-general Kimi Makwetu were guest speakers.Makwetu said a whistleblower should believe in himself even when others had given up on him.Madonsela had not read the survey but believed many people were not reporting graft because they were intimidated."There might be a sense of despair that, even if I report it, nothing is going to happen," she said.But, Madonsela said, there was a global move towards more ethical behaviour and institutions were taking it more seriously.She said ethics was now being taught at school in life orientation classes.For the survey 4795 employees of listed and large companies were telephonically interviewed.Professor Stella Nkomo, of the University of Pretoria, said research showed that ethical business leaders created a culture of ethical behaviour which filtered down to all employees...