Asked for their impressions of chief executives, a majority of business students at Duquesne University and five other schools described them as smart and hardworking, but nearly half also characterized CEOs as greedy.

A total 383 undergraduate business students participated in a survey conducted by James Weber, professor of business ethics at Duquesne. Dr. Weber, who also heads the Beard Center for Leadership in Ethics at Duquesne, said he conducted the poll to find out whether undergraduates considered CEOs to be virtuous.

Students were provided with five positive and five negative attributes and asked which best describe CEOs.

The highest percentage of respondents, 89 percent, said CEOs were "intelligent." The next-highest response, 79 percent, was "hardworking" followed by "competent" which generated 74 percent of all responses.

But students also had misgivings about CEOs with 48 percent agreeing they were "greedy," 30 percent saying they were "self-centered" and 17 percent noting they were "dishonest."

Dr. Weber said the mixed results show students held both good and cynical ideas about CEOs.

Besides Duquesne, the survey included business students at Ball State University, Muncie, Ind.; Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Union County; Butler University, Indianapolis; Edgewood College, Madison, Wis.; and Suffolk University, Boston.