Cutting corners at work: An individual differences perspective

Perceptions of narcissism in college professors

We conducted three studies to examine perceptions of grandiose narcissism in college professors. Narcissism might appear incompatible with the profession if professors are viewed fundamentally as helpers or as introverted bookworms. Then again, people might expect professors to display big egos congruent with the prestige of their profession and their privileged public platforms. Our research indicates that professors are generally not seen as highly narcissistic according to the criteria of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire, though they are viewed as more narcissistic than elementary school teachers. More professor narcissism was expected at colleges that prioritize scholarly productivity over teaching excellence. Male professors were viewed as more narcissistic, but only for narcissism dimensions associated with interpersonal hostility and for judgments of whether professors are "narcissistic." We discuss possible implications for narcissistic professors' ability to exploit the gap between academic ideals and reward system realities.

Perceiving intraorganizational mobility ameliorates the effects of low-level position on detrimental workplace attitudes and behaviors

How do the perceived chances to get a better position in a company affect how individuals feel and behave towards their employer? Confirming the theory of relative deprivation, recent research showed that social mobility belief has attenuating effects on anger about one's relative social standing. When an individual believes they can change their current social status, negative affect about one's disadvantaged standing is appeased compared to when people believe the present hierarchy is fixed. We tested this model in a workplace context, examining whether perceived intraorganizational mobility ameliorates the effects of a low position at work on negative workplace attitudes (Study 1) and behavior (Study 2). Study 1 (n = 498) found that indeed, perceiving chances of promotion weakened the association of position at work with hostile affect towards the employer. Expanding this model to provide a direct test of the theory of relative deprivation, we designed a moderated mediation model testing whether the effect of workplace position on counterproductive work behaviors was mediated by relative deprivation, and whether this indirect effect was moderated by perceived chances of promotion. As hypothesized, Study 2 (n = 408) found that perceiving chances of promotion attenuated the detrimental effect of workplace position via relative deprivation on counterproductive work behaviors. Effects in both studies occurred independently of company hierarchy, salary, educational attainment, sex, and job sector. Overall, the results suggest that perceiving potential for individual promotion is linked to lower levels of negative workplace attitudes and counterproductive work behaviors.

Analysis of a brief biodata scale as a predictor of job performance and its incremental validity over the Big Five and Dark Tetrad personality traits

The collection of biographical information (biodata) through CVs and application forms has many advantages, namely easiness of collection, acceptable validity, less prone to faking, and the fulfilment of legal requirements. However, its systematic use among practitioners is scarce. Two of the mains reasons is the overlap with other constructs like personality and the lack of validated biodata scales in articles and public repositories. Aimed to fill this gap, García-Izquierdo and colleagues developed an 8-item scale able to generate positive applicant reactions, but they did not provide empirical evidence that their scale is able to predict job performance. The present paper was developed for this purpose, investigating the scale’s relationship with four different dimensions of job performance (i.e., task performance, contextual performance, counterproductive behaviors, and adaptive performance) and its incremental validity with respect to Big Five and Dark Tetrad personality traits. The study comprises 528 employees from different organizations (M_age = 39.51, SD = 14.25; 52.8% women, M_experience = 17.06, SD = 13.27) which voluntarily agreed to participate filling a questionnaire with the variables of interest. Results provide evidence of the predictive validity of the biodata scale in a multi-occupational sample; identify that these biodata contribute to predicting two specific types of job performance: contextual performance and adaptive performance; shows that a brief job-related biodata scale achieves results comparable to those of most personality traits in predictive models of job performance dimensions; and provide evidence of the incremental predictive validity of biodata over the Big Five and the Dark Tetrad. As a whole, these results provide support for the use of the scale in researcher and applied settings, and contributes to the advance the knowledge of biodata for personnel selection.

The Dark Triad of personality and attitudes toward cognitive enhancement

Background

Cognitive enhancement (CE) refers to the voluntary improvement of human cognitive capabilities. Few studies have examined the general attitude of the public towards CE. Such studies have suggested that the use of CE is considered largely unacceptable by the public. In parallel, past research indicates that individuals scoring high on the Dark Triad of personality (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) and competitiveness have atypical views of ethical questions. In this study, we examined (a) whether attitudes towards CE are associated with individual differences in the Dark Triad of personality as well as in trait and contextual competitiveness and (b) whether the Dark Triad moderates the effect of trait and contextual competitiveness on attitudes towards CE.

Method

US employees (N = 326) were recruited using Mechanical Turk. Participants completed a web survey. Data were analyzed by means of (robust) hierarchical regression and (robust) ANCOVAs.

Results

The Dark Triad of personality and one of its subscales, Machiavellianism, predicted positive attitudes towards CE. Neither trait competitiveness nor contextual competitiveness were linked to general attitudes towards CE, but the DT was a positive moderator of the association between contextual competitiveness and positive attitudes.

Conclusion

Our findings extend the incipient knowledge about the factors relating to favourable views of CE by highlighting the role of dark personality traits in shaping such views. Our study further shows contextual factors can play a differentiated role with respect to such attitudes depending upon dark personality traits. Implications for policy-making are discussed.

The Dark Triad traits predict authoritarian political correctness and alt-right attitudes

It is well established that mainstream personality traits are associated with moderate, traditional political attitudes. However, very little is known regarding trait predictors of extreme political attitudes. In the current study (N = 511 U.S. residents), we examined the relationships between the Dark Triad traits, Entitlement and three extreme political attitudes that are highly covered in mainstream media: White Identitarianism ('Alt-Right'), Political Correctness-Authoritarianism, and Political Correctness-Liberalism. We found that Dark Triad traits and Entitlement had incremental validity in the prediction of these 3 attitudes over demographic factors. The Dark Triad traits and Entitlement explained a substantial portion of variance in White Identitarianism and Political Correctness-Authoritarianism, and only a small portion of variance in Political Correctness-Liberalism. Across all attitudes, Psychopathy and Entitlement were the most consistent, strongest predictors. Results indicate that, from a Dark Triad perspective, Authoritarian PC advocates have more in common with extreme right advocates than those holding PC views related to compassion.

Personality and boredom at work: the mediating role of job crafting

Purpose

Boredom at work is associated with negative consequences, therefore it is important to investigate whether employees engage in job crafting behaviors that reduce boredom and what are the individual differences associated with these behaviors. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire study was designed to examine the mediating role of job crafting in the relationship between conscientiousness and emotional stability and boredom among 252 employees (Study 1) and in the relationship between Machiavellianism and psychopathy and boredom among 216 employees (Study 2).

Findings

The results showed that conscientiousness is negatively related to work-related boredom. This relationship is mediated by job crafting. Neuroticism and psychopathy are positively associated with boredom at work, but these relationships are not mediated by job crafting behaviors.

Research limitations/implications

The study was based on self-reported measures, which might raise questions of common-method bias, and the research samples contained mostly women and young employees, which raises questions about generalizability of our findings. At the same time, the cross-sectional design does not allow causal inferences.

Practical implications

Organizations can select employees based on their personality for jobs that predispose to boredom and give them enough autonomy to be able to craft them. Moreover, they can identify employees who need support to manage their boredom and include them in job crafting interventions.

Originality/value

Traditionally, boredom at work has been considered as resulting from characteristics of tasks and jobs. The findings indicate that some employees can make self-initiated changes to their work in order to reduce their boredom and possibly its negative consequences.

Dark Pathways to Achievement in Science: Researchers’ Achievement Goals Predict Engagement in Questionable Research Practices

Questionable research practices (QRPs) are a strongly debated topic in the scientific community. Hypotheses about the relationship between individual differences and QRPs are plentiful but have rarely been empirically tested. Here, we investigate whether researchers’ personal motivation (expressed by achievement goals) is associated with self-reported engagement in QRPs within a sample of 217 psychology researchers. Appearance approach goals (striving for skill demonstration) positively predicted engagement in QRPs, while learning approach goals (striving for skill development) were a negative predictor. These effects remained stable when also considering Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy in a latent multiple regression model. Additional moderation analyses revealed that the more researchers favored publishing over scientific rigor, the stronger the association between appearance approach goals and engagement in QRPs. The findings deliver first insights into the nature of the relationship between personal motivation and scientific malpractice.

The Dark Triad and Workplace Behavior

Over the last 15 years, there has been growing fascination among scholars in studying “dark behaviors” and “dark traits,” especially as they are expressed in organizational contexts. One taxonomy of dark traits that has garnered special interest is the dark triad (DT), which is comprised of three toxic and malevolent traits: psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism. This chapter offers a review of DT research, with a particular focus on research relevant to the organizational sciences. We begin with a definition of personality in general and the traits of the DT in particular, including a discussion of the clinical and subclinical variants of these traits. We then review literature linking the DT traits to an array of organizational outcomes, discuss how the DT traits may be assessed, and conclude with recommendations for future work.