Would Corporate Psychopaths bankrupt the world economy to gain a bonus? (In-person)

About this event

This event takes place on our Cambridge campus. You can also join us virtually.

Join Dr. Clive Boddy for an upcoming Cambridge Festival talk entitled: "Would corporate psychopaths in financial services cause another Global Financial Crisis for personal gain?" This will explore the depths of Corporate Psychopathy and how far some individuals might go to gain a bonus. This talk presents new research results that follow on from his 2011 paper 'The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis' in which paper he discussed the role that Corporate Psychopaths played in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.

The presentation will display results from a 2023 survey that explores people's attitudes to money and a 2024 survey that asked questions concerning financial sustainability to a nationally representative sample of 622 UK-based adults. These questions included five scenarios wherein people's willingness to trade in financial products would result in earning a monetary bonus with either:

• No financial consequences for others
• Some financial consequences for others
• Considerable financial consequences for others
• Severe financial consequences for others
• Another global financial crisis

The presentation will show analysis illustrating whether the psychopathic and the non-psychopathic among us are willing to deal in financial derivatives to earn a bonus even when severe global financial damage for other people, in the form of a global financial crisis, results from this.

Current literature suggests that prior to the last global financial crisis, at least one corporate bank used a psychopathy measure to recruit new employees. In light of our current results, we discuss whether corporate banks and those who govern them, should, in the interests of financial probity, ethics, and stability, ensure that the highly psychopathic are screened out of rather than into corporate banks and the financial services sector.

About our speaker

This talk by Dr. Clive Boddy will explore the depths of Corporate Psychopathy and how far some individuals might go to gain a bonus. This talk presents new research results that follow on from his 2011 paper 'The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis' in which paper he discussed the role that Corporate Psychopaths played in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.

The presentation will show analysis illustrating whether the psychopathic and the non-psychopathic among us are willing to deal in financial derivatives to earn a bonus even when severe global financial damage for other people, in the form of a global financial crisis, results from this.

Current literature suggests that prior to the last global financial crisis, at least one corporate bank used a psychopathy measure to recruit new employees. In light of our current results, we discuss whether corporate banks and those who govern them, should, in the interests of financial probity, ethics, and stability, ensure that the highly psychopathic are screened out of rather than into corporate banks and the financial services sector.

Dr. Clive Boddy has been researching the effects of having psychopaths in the workplace since 2005. His groundbreaking work on corporate psychopaths was initially subject to ridicule and rejection but he was nevertheless the first researcher to establish, in a quantitative scientific manner and using a measure of primary psychopathy, the existence of corporate psychopaths in corporate life.

Clive is Deputy Head of the School of Management at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK. He was previously a Professor of Management at the University of Tasmania and before that was a Professor of Leadership at Middlesex University in London. He has also held Visiting Professorships at Curtin, Lincoln, and Middlesex Universities.

Clive’s research interests include toxic leadership, particularly in researching the effects of corporate psychopaths on employees, organisations, and society. Clive’s publications on corporate psychopaths include over fifty papers, several chapters, two doctorates, and two books; “Corporate Psychopaths: Organisational Destroyers” and most recently: “A Climate of Fear: Stone Cold Psychopaths at Work”.

Event presented as part of the Cambridge Festival.