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Corporate Psychopathy

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Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics
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Synonyms

Corporate toxicity; Organizational psychopathy; Political psychopathy

Definition

Corporate psychopathy is the condition whereby a corporation acts in a ruthless, uncaring, self-interested, conscience-free manner with respect to its employees, other people, and to the wider society in which it operates. Corporate psychopathy is marked by a callous lack of care or concern for the feelings of others, an incapacity to maintain enduring relationships, a reckless disregard for others’ safety, an incapacity to experience guilt and well as deceitfulness, and repeated lying and conning others for profit together with a failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behavior (Bakan 2004; Achbar 2003). The psychopathic corporation acts irresponsibly, harms the environment, damages employees, and places customers and society at risk in its attempts to fulfill its goals of profit maximization. It accepts no responsibility for its actions and has no regrets or empathy.

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References

  • Achbar M (2003) The corporation. Tv Ontario

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Correspondence to Clive R. Boddy .

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Boddy, C.R. (2019). Corporate Psychopathy. In: Poff, D., Michalos, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_1-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_1-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1

  • eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Corporate Psychopathy
    Published:
    24 December 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_1-2

  2. Original

    Corporate Psychopathy
    Published:
    26 June 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_1-1