But whose principles? The employee or the company?

It doesn't matter. What does matter is how strong a commitment is shown to principle. Giving up a million-dollar contract because it supported something shady is impressive. By contrast, someone who ums and ahs and comes out with something lame may well be someone who always puts themself first.

Or possibly someone who's never been handed responsibility for an ethical decision at work. I mean, otherwise, what are you going to say? "I went and helped that homeless guy even though he could have stuck me up"?

It's a good question, but some companies may not have had the opportunity to do anything principled/unprincipled.