An identity and reputation approach to understanding the Dark Triad in the workplace

Abstract

SummaryPrevious research examining the Dark Triad (DT) of personality (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) in the workplace has theorized and assessed the DT almost exclusively from a “self” view perspective (e.g., self‐ratings). In this paper, we extend what is known about dark personality by drawing from socioanalytic theory to make the case that the identity (i.e., “self” view) and reputation (i.e., “other” view) elements of the DT are distinct and complimentary concepts that must be examined in concert. Specifically, we hypothesize and demonstrate that understanding the interaction of identity‐based DT and reputation‐based DT enhances our ability to predict supervisor‐rated organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Utilizing response surface techniques to test our hypotheses, we demonstrate that significant differences exist between different combinations of identity‐ and reputation‐based assessments of the DT and their relationship with OCB. More specifically, we find that supervisor‐rated citizenship decreases at an accelerating rate when both self‐views and coworker‐views of the DT are considered. As such, accounting for DT identity and reputation simultaneously provides a more comprehensive understanding of how the DT relates to OCB. Therefore, we show that reputation‐based aspects of the DT, in concert with identity‐based DT, enhance our knowledge about how dark personality impacts OCB.