I don't have quantitative evidence, but I do feel there was a cultural shift in the 1970s-80s in the corporate world. "shareholder value" became the dominant view of what companies were for (rather than say, social value), activities that most corporate leaders would have been ashamed of in the past - extremely high compensation relative to their employees (100x or more), layoffs to cut costs even when profitable, etc. - became acceptable or even sources of pride.

I believe it may be related to a broader cultural shift towards individualism (see, e.g. http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674064362)