Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Despite the recent flurry of scientific interest in the Dark Triad – narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism (Paulhus & Williams, 2002) – the research has been mostly descriptive in nature (Jakobwitz & Egan, 2006; Paulhus & Williams, 2002). Relatively ignored by researchers, darker personality variables may prove valuable in understanding counterproductive work behaviors. In the present study, we attempt to integrate the Dark Triad personality traits into organizational life (Sulea, 2004) by correlating them with the level of counterproductive work behavior and with work locus of control. In the current study 122 participants (36 males and 86 females) were invited to fill in the following measures: Work Locus of Control Scale (Spector, 1988), MACH IV (Christie & Geis, 1970), Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin şi Hall, 1979), Self-Report Psychopathy scale – version III (Paulhus et al., in press) and Counterproductive Work Behavior Checklist (Spector & Fox, 2002). Results did not show positive correlations between Machiavellianism and counterproductive work behaviour, or between narcissism and counterproductive work behaviour. Nevertheless, one strong positive correlation was found between psychopathy and counterproductive work behaviour (r= .438, p<.01), mirroring Patrick’s results (2007, cit. in Paulhus and Williams, 2002).