Corporate Psychopaths as Risk Factors: The Role of Managerial Control and Competition for Risk Governance
Florian Fuchs
What the paper says
The increasing prevalence of corporate scandals and dysfunction linked to psychopathic leaders has prompted significant research into the drivers and effects of psychopathy in business. This paper examines corporate psychopathy, focusing on individuals with extreme selfishness, callousness, and manipulative behavior who often achieve individual success in corporate hierarchies yet cause substantial organizational harm. Studies indicate that psychopathic leaders negatively impact employee well‐being, corporate ethics, and sustainability commitments, highlighting the importance of addressing psychopathy as a crucial risk factor in organizational governance. However, while there is a growing body of research on the harmful effects of these individuals, research in management accounting and control as well as strategies on prevention are still at a nascent stage. Thus, the present paper explores the interplay between corporate psychopathy, competition, and management control mechanisms. Drawing on major insights from the theory of corporate psychopathy and Malmi and Brown's typology of management control, a number of propositions for future management control research are stated. Alongside, several insights into mitigating the risks posed by psychopathic leaders are derived. The paper concludes with considerations on fruitful future research avenues that ultimately aim at fostering long‐term value creation, responsibility, and ethical conduct in business settings.
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
| M · momentum | 0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.