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The current paper proposes a curvilinear relationship between the dark triad traits (Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism) and job performance. In addition, it examines the moderation effect of traitedness on the dark triad–job performance relationship.

Drawing on data from 382 participants in a financial services firm in India, the authors conducted a two-phase study to examine the curvilinear and moderation effects.

Results confirmed that the relationship between dark triad traits and job performance is positive at the lower end of dark triad traits but flattens out as the dark triad traits intensify.

The authors discuss theoretical and practical implications and offer suggestions for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify whether the dark side of personality adds information beyond the bright side when predicting career success.

In total, 287 participants (150♀, M_age=37.74 and SD_age=10.38) completed questionnaires on the Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy) and the Big Five (emotional stability, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness). They also provided information on their objective (salary and leadership position) and subjective (job satisfaction and satisfaction with income) career success. Regression analyses were used to estimate the Dark Triad’s incremental predictive value.

The results show that the Dark Triad only provides incremental information beyond the Big Five when predicting salary (ΔR²=0.02*) and leadership position (ΔR²=0.04*). In contrast, the Dark Triad does not explain unique variance when predicting job satisfaction or satisfaction with income.

The exclusive use of self-rated success criteria may increase the risk of same-source biases. Thus, future studies should include ratings derived from multiple perspectives.

Considering the Dark Triad in employee selection and development seems particularly promising in the context of competitive behaviour.

The results are discussed in light of the socioanalytic theory. This may help to better understand behaviour in organisational contexts.

This study is the first that simultaneously investigates all three traits of the Dark Triad and the Big Five in combination with objective and subjective career success. In addition, it extends previous findings by answering the question of whether the Dark Triad offers incremental or redundant information to the Big Five when predicting success.

Understanding whistleblowing behavior by identifying preferred reporting channels and associated personality characteristics can aid organizations in their attempts to encourage whistleblowing. The authors investigate whether both Dark Triad characteristics and gender affect whistleblowing intentions and whistleblowing channel preferences. Using a sample of undergraduate business students, the authors find individuals with higher levels of Dark Triad personality characteristics indicate that they are less likely to blow the whistle than individuals with lower levels of Dark Triad personality characteristics. They are also more likely to use non-anonymous channels over anonymous channels and individuals with lower levels of Dark Triad personality characteristics show the opposite channel preference. The authors also find women more likely to report, and when reporting, they prefer anonymous over non-anonymous channels. The results provide support for organizations in cultivating an organizational culture that promotes communication among employees and potentially includes incentives to promote whistleblowing.

Machiavellian, narcissistic, and psychopathic traits are often viewed as negative or undesirable personality traits. However, recent research demonstrates that individuals with these traits possess qualities that may be personally beneficial within the business contexts. In this chapter, we conceptualize a balanced perspective of these traits throughout the entrepreneurial process (opportunity recognition, opportunity evaluation, and opportunity exploitation) and discuss human resources management strategies that can be employed to enhance the benefits, or minimize the challenges, associated with Machiavellian, narcissistic, and psychopathic traits. Specifically, we propose that Machiavellian qualities are most beneficial in the evaluation stage of entrepreneurship, and Machiavellian, narcissistic, and psychopathic qualities are beneficial in the exploitation stage of entrepreneurship.

This research aims to examine the influence of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) dark triad traits, follower COVID-19 anxiety and self-leadership on follower evaluations of the effectiveness of organizations’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

In this paper data were collected over two time periods. At time 1, mid-October 2021, 650 participants responded to questions on their CEO’s leadership traits and self-leadership. At time 2, (3-week lag) 275 matched individual responses provided followers’ evaluations of the effectiveness of the organization’s COVID-19 response and follower self-leadership.

CEO dark triad traits had direct and indirect negative effects on followers’ evaluations of the organization’s COVID-19 response (through COVID-19 anxiety). Follower self-leadership mitigated the negative effects.

By examining the moderating role of self-leadership, we can offer organizations evidence-based strategies to mitigate some harmful effects of leaders exhibiting dark triad traits.

Given that organizations are still dealing with the ongoing ramifications of COVID-19 and planning for future crises, our findings emphasize the negative effects of dark traits on COVID-19 anxiety, and in turn, on follower’s evaluation of effective organization response to a crisis, highlighting the importance of top-level leader selection.

Our results bolster Manz’s (1986) argument that self-leadership might be key to achieving peak performance in organizations and important for follower well-being.

This study of dark traits is especially important in a crisis context to understand how leaders affect followers’ perceptions about organizational outcomes and factors that might mediate or moderate the negative impact. Despite interest in understanding leadership during a crisis, the majority of research is focused on positive traits of leaders (Palmer et al., 2020).

The purpose of this research is to examine the influence of the Dark Triad personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) on consumers’ purchase intentions for counterfeit luxury products via the mediating effect of moral disengagement, drawing on moral disengagement theory. Furthermore, descriptive norms are tested as a moderators of the mediated relationships between the Dark Triad personality traits and purchase intentions via moral disengagement based on trait activation theory.

To test the hypotheses, a survey design is employed to gather primary data from 205 consumers. The final data are analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

This study finds that moral disengagement mediates the relationships between (1) Machiavellianism, (2) psychopathy and purchase intentions. Descriptive norms are found to moderate the indirect effect of moral disengagement between psychopathy and purchase intentions.

Dark Triad personality traits are linked to various unethical behaviours. However, no studies have explored how Dark Triad personality traits influence consumers’ purchase intentions for counterfeit luxury products. This study sheds light on how consumers with high Dark Triad personality traits are more likely to be morally disengaged, thereby leading to purchase intentions for counterfeit luxury products, drawing on moral disengagement theory. Furthermore, this study demonstrates descriptive norms as the boundary condition for the mediating relationship between Dark Triad personality traits and purchase intentions via moral disengagement, drawing on trait activation theory. The findings can be used to formulate better strategies to counteract the phenomenon of counterfeit luxury consumption.

Drawing on the generativity framework, this study aims to investigate the relationship between the Dark Triad personalities (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) and knowledge hiding. This study also identifies the mediating role of generativity motivation and the moderating role of focus on opportunities.

Using a convenience sample, a two-wave time-lagged study collected survey responses from 498 employees from manufacturing industries in China, and the data was analyzed using hierarchal regression and bootstrapping methods.

This study found that Machiavellianism and psychopathy are both positively related to generativity motivation. The generativity motivation plays a mediating role in the paths of Machiavellianism and psychopathy on knowledge hiding, and a focus on opportunities positively moderates the direct and indirect effect of Machiavellianism and psychopathy on knowledge hiding.

Based on the generativity framework, we find a new underlying mechanism between the Dark Triad personalities and knowledge hiding, thereby further enriching the literature in relation to their influence over knowledge management. Moreover, it also finds that a focus on opportunities can weaken the negative relationships between the Dark Triad personalities and knowledge hiding.

Narcissism is characterized by grandiosity, and it is included in the Dark Triad with Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Narcissism relates to many detrimental outcomes, but a growing stream of research has investigated beneficial outcomes of the Dark Triad. The authors continue this stream of research by assessing the relation of narcissism with social courage behaviors, which are prosocial actions with personal social risks. The authors propose that this relation is mediated by self-deceptive enhancement and subjective invulnerability and also test these relations while including the other Dark Triad dimensions.

The authors perform two survey studies to investigate our research questions. The first utilizes a cross-sectional approach, whereas the second utilizes a time-separated approach.

The results of this study show that narcissism has an indirect effect on social courage via both mediators, and it also produced a significant direct effect. Machiavellianism and psychopathy did not produce any reliable effects on social courage – whether direct or indirect.

The authors support that a “dark” trait relates to a “bright” outcome, but also that a bright outcome relates to a dark trait. These findings link the narcissism and social courage to novel theoretical frameworks, such as those associated with ethical decision making and self-regulation, which opens many directions for future research on both constructs.

The current article addresses two recent calls for novel research: the study of courage as well as positive outcomes of negative traits. It also adds much-needed nuance to current research on narcissism and courage.

Advancement and disruptions in technologies have attracted cyberentrepreneurs globally, but what factors influence their intentions is an area that requires in-depth investigation. In order to dig down the phenomenon of cyberentrepreneurial intentions (CEIs), this study entails investigation of both direct and indirect effects (through cyberentrepreneurial self-efficacy; CESE) of the dark personality traits (e.g. Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy). It also aims to investigate the moderating role of positive thinking (PT) on the association between CESE and CEIs.

Data are collected, using personally administrated questionnaires, from students enrolled in business and information technology (IT) programs in large public sector universities in three waves to tackle common method bias. A total of 641 useful responses were considered for analysis purposes.

The results reveal that not all dark triad dimensions influence CEIs and CESE. Narcissism is the only positive predictor of both the outcome variables (CESE and CEIs). Specifically, psychopathy positively influences CEIs, while its effects on CESE are negative; whereas Machiavellianism does not predict CESE, however, it negatively influences CEIs. In addition, CESE mediates the association between narcissism and CEIs; however, PT strengthens the relationship between CESE and CEIs.

The study collected data from a country with low entrepreneurs; therefore, results may vary for countries with a large number of entrepreneurs. The findings of the study offer both theoretical and practical implications, while it highlights the role of dark personality traits and their link with the CESE and CEIs.

There is a dearth of literature on CEIs, which this study extends through the dark personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy). This study also explored the mediating mechanism of CESE and the conditional role of PT between dark personality traits and CEIs.

This study aimed to observe the effect of workplace spirituality (WPS) on employee silence. In addition, the study investigated the mediating role of workplace incivility on the relationship of WPS with employee silence. We further explored the WPS–workplace incivility link by testing the dark triad as the moderator.

We collected time-lagged data from 403 employees in the Indian hospitality industry. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) were used to observe the linkages among the study variables.

The results revealed that WPS is associated negatively with employee silence. The dark triad moderated the association between WPS and workplace incivility. Workplace incivility significantly mediated the association between WPS and employee silence.

The study findings would help organizations in promoting WPS to alleviate the occurrences of uncivil behavior at work and comprehend the negative consequences of workplace incivility such as employee silence.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to explore the linkage between WPS and employee silence. The paper makes a significant contribution by analyzing the interactive effect of personal (dark triad), environmental (WPS) and behavioral (workplace incivility) factors on employee silence.