A Meta-Analysis of the Big Five and Dark Triad as Predictors of Workplace Deviance

Abstract

Despite the large and growing number of studies on workplace deviance, the field currently lacks a complete understanding of who perpetrates deviant behavior due to the presence of divergent perspectives. In one stream of research, scholars have examined the relationship between “traditional” personality traits (i.e., the Big Five, which consists of conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, openness to experience, and extraversion) and workplace deviance. In an alternate stream, scholars have examined malevolent personality traits (i.e., the Dark Triad, which consists of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) as predictors of workplace deviance. The purpose of our study is to integrate these two perspectives by examining the independent, additive, and incremental effects of the Big Five and the Dark Triad for predicting workplace deviance. Ultimately, our results contribute to the literature by painting a portrait of a workplace deviant through the use of meta-analytic techniques to explicate the effects of employee personality on both interpersonally- and organizationally-directed workplace deviance.