The influence of corporate psychopaths on employees, workplaces and society

This PhD by Public Works is based on a context statement and eight, refereed papers published in academic journals. Six papers theoretically examine the possible influence of corporate psychopaths on organizations and society. Additionally the two empirical papers focus on the influence of corporate psychopaths on counterproductive work behaviour, conflict, well-being and organizational decay. Collectively the papers make an empirical, theoretical and methodological contribution to research into corporate psychopaths. Areas of Corporate Psychopathy Theory are developed in all eight papers. The first paper was based on an initial understanding of the possible effects of corporate psychopaths. The second paper, called 'The Dark Side of Management Decisions: Organisational Psychopaths', was published in a British journal and was the further theoretical development of the ideas presented in the first paper. The third paper is an empirical paper which makes a contribution to knowledge in terms of investigating the influence of corporate psychopaths on conflict, well-being and counterproductive work behaviour. The fourth paper: 'Extreme Managers, Extreme Workplaces: Capitalism, Organisations and Corporate Psychopaths' again makes a contribution to knowledge based on exploratory qualitative research conducted in the UK in 2013. The fifth paper is a theoretical paper published in the Journal of Business Ethics. The sixth paper: 'The Impact of Corporate Psychopaths on Corporate Reputation and Marketing' was a theoretical paper concerning how psychopaths may influence marketing, thus providing avenues for further research. The seventh paper portrays corporate psychopaths as irresponsible leaders while the eighth paper is an update of the literature on corporate psychopaths within the last ten years and which identifies areas for further research.