This suggests that executives expect recent progress in LGBT rights to continue unabated, despite political developments that may suggest otherwise.

The study is based on a global survey of over 1,000 executives across 87 countries and is part of a research programme assessing different aspects of LBGT inclusion under the banner of The Economist Events' Pride and Prejudice Summit series. The findings are informed by interviews with senior executives from corporate heavyweights including Google, as well as political leaders such as Ana Helena Chac�n, former vice-president of Costa Rica.

This year's research focussed on the evolving landscape for public LGBT advocacy and how the environment for it may change in future. It finds that although executives say their firms remain committed to advocacy, these attitudes vary by region and company type. Multinational companies, for example, are more likely than their domestically-focused counterparts to boost future investment in advocacy, highlighting a persistent gap in global and local activity in places where community engagement is a crucial factor in positive change.

Unfortunately, companies which remain "stuck in a rut" on LGBT issues are not likely to take on the mantle of advocacy anytime soon: Among companies which do not currently consider themselves role models for LGBT diversity and inclusion, only 18% believe it will get easier for them to engage in public advocacy around LGBT issues in future. This underscores the need for knowledge transfer from companies at the forefront of this space to those still in the shadows, particularly as the future is hardly guaranteed to provide a more conducive social backdrop for advocacy.

Among executives who believe that businesses will take on a more prominent role as agents of change for LGBT people in future, the vast majority (66%) cite increasingly positive attitudes toward LGBT people in society as the main impetus for this shift. Yet as rising populism and nativism take hold in the West, coupled with the entrenchment of authoritarianism elsewhere in the world, this may prove to be an overly optimistic assessment of the direction of travel in this on-going struggle.

Michael Gold, EIU editor and author of the report, said, "We still need to think about what it means for advocacy to be effective and what should be the desired outcomes. In today's increasingly connected world, public promotion of LGBT rights should be a joint effort of businesses around the globe. Companies being out, loud and proud will mean a great deal to the overall progress of LGBT diversity and inclusion, particularly as social progress remains imperilled."

The full research report, entitled Pride and prejudice: the future of advocacy, was released at The Economist Events' Pride and Prejudice Summit, a 24-hour event on May 24th in Hong Kong, London and New York.