Marketing in a time of toxic leadership

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to knowledge by examining what happens to marketing in a time of toxic leadership, embodied in a corporate psychopath, in response to a call for marketers to seek a broader understanding of how marketing operates within organisations. Design/methodology/approach – Commentators have suggested that concepts outside the usual marketing domain may aid in the gaining of an intra-organisational understanding of how marketing operates. Here, the concept of corporate psychopathy was used to identify a psychopathic UK board director and chief executive officer (CEO) via a constructivist approach to research involving six in-depth interviews. A CEO and a main board director who were measurably psychopathic were studied via these reports. Findings – The paper examines how corporate psychopaths, as archetypal toxic leaders, are detrimental to marketing. Overseeing the marketing function within the UK part of an established and well-branded multi-national services company, corporate psychopaths capriciously dismantled the marketing initiatives that were in place and needlessly abandoned future marketing plans. Marketing services, marketing ethics, product quality and corporate reputation declined. Good marketers left. Practical implications – The research demonstrates the dangers to marketing of toxic leadership. The paper also suggests that marketing may be uniquely qualified to deal with toxic leaders because it can, through research, identify them through their effects and behaviour. The results illustrate the value of longitudinal qualitative market research in investigating complex organisational situations. Originality/value – The paper makes a unique contribution to the marketing field by empirically investigating, for the first time, the influence of a corporate psychopath director and a psychopathic CEO on the marketing function and practice. The research was conducted longitudinally using qualitative market research techniques via in-depth interviews over a two-year period. Longitudinal research aids in establishing causality, and this was evident in this research, as the negative influence of psychopathic leadership was monitored over time.

Psychopathic traits of corporate leadership as predictors of future stock returns

“…The Pearson correlation coefficients for the remaining corporate psychopathy proxies are statistically indistinguishable from zero, although that for FRC_Action borders on statistical significance ( ρ = 0.0424, p ‐value = 0.1124). Taken together, these results are in line with the observations made in case studies of Boddy and Croft () and Boddy () that individuals working under psychopathic management are more likely to explore alternative employment opportunities.…”

“…Earnings_- Taken together, these results are in line with the observations made in case studies of Boddy and Croft (2016) and Boddy (2017) that individuals working under psychopathic management are more likely to explore alternative employment opportunities.…”

“…Treviño, Brown, and Hartman () pointed out that top executives set the ethical climate and culture within their companies. This is confirmed by two case studies (Boddy, ; Boddy & Croft, ) evidencing swift changes in organizational ethics and ethos following appointment of new psychopathic CEOs.…”

“…We would like to point out, however, that CSR activities are only one of the possible outcomes of 'non-psychopathy,' which can also foster better customer relations and employee satisfaction. Boddy and Croft (2016) as well as Boddy (2017) provide evidence that employees reporting to a psychopath lose enthusiasm for their jobs and leave the company within a relatively short period. Regrettably, UK companies are not mandated by law to disclose staff turnover statistics, which makes the precise estimation of this effect relatively difficult.…”

“…Boddy and Croft () as well as Boddy () provide evidence that employees reporting to a psychopath lose enthusiasm for their jobs and leave the company within a relatively short period. Regrettably, UK companies are not mandated by law to disclose staff turnover statistics, which makes the precise estimation of this effect relatively difficult.…”