Manager psychopathy, trait activation, and job performance: a multi-source study

When it's not safe to be me: employee authenticity mediates the effect of perceived manager psychopathy on employee well-being

BACKGROUND

Psychopathy in managers is often measured on global scales and associated with detrimental outcomes for subordinates, such as bullying and reduced well-being. Yet some features of psychopathy, like boldness, appear to have beneficial outcomes. Using the triarchic model of psychopathy, we differentiate between adaptive and maladaptive traits in managers and model their effects on employee engagement and burnout. In addition, we test the extent to which authenticity, known to ameliorate the effect of some negative experiences on well-being, might mediate the influence of managers' perceived psychopathic traits on employee well-being.

METHODS

In a two-wave study, full-time employees (N = 246) reported on their manager's psychopathic traits (boldness, meanness, disinhibition), their own authenticity and, six weeks later, their engagement and burnout.

RESULTS

In support of our hypotheses, manager boldness enhanced engagement and reduced burnout while meanness and disinhibition reduced engagement and increased burnout. Additionally, employee authenticity was a partial mediator of the effect of managerial psychopathy on engagement and burnout.

CONCLUSIONS

Perceived psychopathic traits in managers have the potential to influence whether employees feel able to be their authentic selves at work, which consequently affects their well-being. A work culture that values authenticity can directly improve well-being and help employees to deal with managerial behaviour that stems from maladaptive psychopathic traits. We also highlight the importance of discriminating between constituent psychopathic traits to identify the potentially adaptive nature of the boldness element of psychopathy.

How Does Abusive Supervision Affect Organisational Gossip? Understanding the Mediating Role of the Dark Triad

According to the trait activation theory (TAT), personality characteristics are dormant until contextual elements stir them into action. Personality traits are expected to be activated in the context of abusive supervision. From this perspective, our paper examines whether abusive supervision affects organisational gossiping behaviour through the dark triad. To this end, this study examines the mediating effects of the dark triad on the relationship between abusive supervision and organisational gossip based on cross-sectional data gathered from two separate samples. Using the results from structural equation modelling, it is evident that abusive supervision activates the dark triad, and its context influences organisational gossip in line with the TAT. In addition, our results show that abusive supervision positively affects gossip for information gathering and relationship building, with the dark triad proving to be completely mediating. This finding implies that abusive supervision is a contextual factor, and as such, behaviours such as consistent ill treatment and non-violent, verbal or non-verbal hostile acts will have long-term and lasting effects on organisational communication in many organisations. This study offers significant policy implications concerning behavioural issues within education-centred organisations.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly? A Triarchic Perspective on Psychopathy at Work

Does psychopathy have an upside in vocational contexts? Applying the triarchic model of psychopathy, we propose that the dimensions of boldness, disinhibition, and meanness have different relations to workplace outcomes. Focusing on boldness and in line with socioanalytic personality theory, we propose that political skill moderates the relation between boldness and job performance. Using a sample of 477 target-coworker pairings, we found interaction effects of boldness and political skill on contextual and task performance, and the buffering of counterproductive work behavior. Furthermore, political skill moderated the relation between boldness and adaptive performance. Disinhibition and meanness were positively correlated with counterproductive work behaviors, thereby reflecting the dark core of psychopathy. In sum, boldness is a trait linked to career success in the absence of the other traits that make up psychopathy as a whole. Furthermore, we encourage the use of the triarchic model as an overarching framework in vocational contexts.

The bright and dark sides of the Dark Triad traits among senior managers: effects on organizational commitment

Senior managers play a fundamental role in organizations. They shape organizational strategy and culture, set the mission, including opportunities for new markets, and construct the business models. Their commitment to the organization is vital to organizational performance, yet research on personality traits of senior managers and their commitment to organizations is limited. Drawing on self-affirmation theory, we investigate the consequences of senior managers’ ‘Dark Triad Traits’ (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) for their organizational commitment. We use the three-component model developed by Allen and Meyer (J Occup Psychol 63:1–18, 1990) to distinguish affective, continuance, and normative commitment. Our findings from a dataset of 394 senior French managers collected between 2017 and 2018 show that narcissism positively affects continuance commitment and normative commitment. This study contributes to a neglected stream of research investigating the relationship between Dark Triad traits and organizational commitment; contributes to ‘destigmatizing’ Dark Triad traits, often considered problematic for individuals; and adds to the minimal research currently on manager personality and organizational commitment.

The downside of managers: The moderator role of political skill & deceptive situation

Relying on the trait activation theory and socioanalytic theory, this study investigate conditions that activate or restrain a manager's dark triad, which can predict exploitative leadership. First, we examine the interacting effect of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy with deceptive situation cues at work. Then, we investigated the effect of a manager's political skill - into the emergence of exploitative leadership. A multisource data were collected across two studies administered first to employees then to their corresponding managers (N = 150). Structural equation modeling were used to test hypothesis. The study's findings show that the interaction of deceptive conditions with the dark triad is the most predictive of exploitative leadership, while managers' political skill was found to have a neutralize effect. The present study provides an effort to identify a potential cause and a solution to manager's exploitative behavior at work. Implications for the dark triad literature, theories underlying it, and exploitative leadership are discussed.

Machiavellian Leader Effectiveness

Abstract. Research on the effectiveness of Machiavellian leaders has found contradictory results. By linking socioanalytic and trait activation theory to the Machiavellianism and leadership literature, we argue that political skill may explain these findings by moderating the relation between Machiavellianism and leadership effectiveness. Using a multisource design and moderated mediation analyses with 153 leaders, 287 subordinates, and 153 superiors, we show that leaders who are both strongly politically skilled and high on Machiavellianism successfully enact transformational leadership, mediating improved leader effectiveness. However, when leader political skill is low, high Machiavellianism is negatively associated with (subordinate-rated) transformational leadership, resulting in lower leader effectiveness ratings by superiors. We discuss these results in light of current research on Machiavellianism in leadership and work contexts.

Linking emotional intelligence to safety performance: The roles of situational awareness and safety training

INTRODUCTION

Safety outcomes in the workplace require individual employees to perform (behave) safely in everyday duties. While the literature suggests that emotional management capabilities or traits can be positively related to individual performance in certain conditions, it is not clear how they can influence safety-related performance in high-risk work contexts. Drawing upon trait activation theory, this paper aims to examine when emotional intelligence (EI) benefits employees' safety performance. We propose that when employees receive inadequate safety training, EI is more likely to trigger their situational awareness and consequently promote their safety performance.

METHOD

We collected time-lagged data from 133 full-time airplane pilots working in commercial aviation industry. Hierarchical moderated regression analysis was conducted to test the moderating effect of safety training inadequacy on the EI-situational awareness relationship. The moderated mediation model, which involves conditional indirect effects of EI on safety performance via situational awareness across different levels of safety training inadequacy, was tested using the PROCESS-based bootstrap confidence interval.

RESULTS

Safety training inadequacy negatively moderated the relationship between EI and situational awareness, such that EI was significantly related to situational awareness only when safety training inadequacy was more salient. The more inadequate safety training was, the greater the indirect effect of EI on safety performance via situational awareness was.

CONCLUSIONS

Inadequate safety training, as a negative situational cue, can activate individuals' EI to drive their safety-related cognitions (e.g., situational awareness) and behaviors. Effective safety training may be able to complement employees' low EI in shaping their situational awareness and safety behaviors. Practical Applications: Aviation managers should monitor the adequacy and effectiveness of safety training; this could make pilots' situational awareness and safety performance depend less on personal attributes (e.g., EI), which organizations are less able to control. When training capacity is temporarily limited, priority might be given to those with low EI.

A multi-study approach to examine the interplay of proactive personality and political skill in job crafting

The current research examines the combined role of proactive personality and political skill in job crafting and work engagement by integrating the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and trait activation theory. Self-reported survey responses collected from three samples – university students (study 1, N = 363) and panel data (study 2, N = 300 and study 3, N = 206) – were analyzed using the PROCESS macro. Results revealed that political skill strengthened the relationship between proactive personality and work engagement and between proactive personality and job crafting when trait activated. Furthermore, perceived supervisor support did not interact with the job crafting–work engagement relationship with trait activation, suggesting that proactive individuals rely on self-resources to improve engagement when presented with trait-relevant situational cues. The findings extend JD-R theory to offer the interplay of proactive trait and political skill in facilitating overall job crating. JD-R is identified as a contextual condition for trait activation.

Can Psychopathy Be Adaptive at Work? Development and Application of a Work Focused Self-and Other-Report Measure of the Triarchic Psychopathy Model

Psychopathy may have both adaptive and maladaptive effects at work but research into workplace psychopathy is constrained by the lack of short, work-relevant measures that can be used for both self- and other-report. We adapt the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) for this purpose and distinguish the (mal)adaptive effects of psychopathy at work in two time-lagged survey samples. Sample 1 consisted of managers reporting their psychopathic traits and work outcomes (well-being, engagement, burnout and job performance). Sample 2 reported on their managers' psychopathic traits and leadership styles (servant and abusive supervision) and their own work outcomes. The TriPM (Work) is a reliable, valid, 21-item measure of triarchic psychopathy at work with self- and other-report forms. Using this measure, we demonstrate that the triarchic model's boldness trait is related to servant leadership and predicts improved well-being and performance while meanness and disinhibition are related to abusive supervision and predict increased burnout.

Jeopardies of Aversive Leadership: A Conservation of Resources Theory Approach

The research on the dark side of leadership is still in its infancy. We have contributed to this line of research by proposing that work alienation acts as an underlying mechanism through which aversive leadership results in reduced job performance. We further propose that psychological capital (PsyCap) acts as an important personal resource that reduces the negative effects of aversive leadership in the form of work alienation. The proposed model gets its support from the conversation of resources theory given by Hobfoll (1989) which suggests that stressful situation like an aversive leadership results in the loss of employee resources as a result of that he/she indulges in work alienation and shows poor job performance to retain back the lost resources. People with better personal resources in the form of PsyCap are better able to cope-up with the aversive leader behavior and make them able to avoid work alienation. It is a time-lagged study. The data for the current study was collected from 321 employees working in the service sector organizations, particularly universities, banks and telecom organizations, through personally administered questionnaires. The results supported the mediation and moderation hypothesis. Limitations and future research along with theoretical and practical implications are given at the end.