The survey, Boardroom Pulse, was created to give FTSE 100 chairmen a voice on the topical business and governance issues of the day and to offer a real-time insight into the boardrooms of major UK private sector employers.
The respondents said public anger over corporation tax is often aimed at the wrong targets, half of respondents (50%) believed that the anger itself was justified. One chairman agreed: "In an environment of prolonged austerity, public anger is understandable."
Respondents were also divided over the principal role of business, with just over half (56%) agreeing that its responsibility was primarily to increase its profits so long as it does so fairly and within the rules, compared to just under half (44%), who believed its role was to improve the lives of the world's citizens and come up with genuine sustainable solutions.
All respondents to the survey, who represent companies with a combined market capitalisation of £180 billion and more 1.1 million employees, agreed with the EU Commission's decision not to set board diversity.
Dominic Schofield, senior client partner with KornFerry's board practice, said: "The results from the survey show that business leaders are in a catch-22 situation where their responsibility to shareholders can often conflict with their responsibility to wider society.
"While they believe anger over tax affairs should be directed more at tax legislators rather than those trying to derive the best result for shareholders under the exiting rules, there is a real sense of understanding about why the displeasure exists."
Schofield added: "Many respondents also pointed out that a company should try to strike an appropriate balance when looking after the interests of their stakeholders."
