Impact of Psychopathy and Narcissism on Employees’ Adverse Outcomes: A Perspective of Ethical Climate Theory and Threatened-Egotism Model

Abstract

This study examines the impact of psychopathic and narcissistic personalities on employees' adverse outcomes. Additionally, this study investigates the intervening mechanism of workplace incivility among the relationship between psychopathic and narcissistic personalities and adverse outcomes. Furthermore, the interactive impact of Islamic work values was also tested between the association of workplace incivility and adverse outcomes. Data was collected through a survey method from 404 permanent public sector employees using the purposive sampling technique in two different time lags. PROCESS-macro was used to test indirect, interactive, and moderated mediation effects. The findings of this study confirm the direct effect relationship between those psychopathic and narcissistic personalities and employees' adverse outcomes. Further, this study demonstrates that workplace incivility indirectly enhances adverse employee outcomes. Finally, the study findings revealed that a higher level of Islamic work values reduces the adverse outcomes of employees having psychopathic and narcissistic personality characteristics. We also tested the moderated mediation model, which disclosed that a higher level of Islamic work values reduces the negativity level of psychopathic personalities, further decreasing the level of counterproductive work behaviors via workplace incivility. However, there was no moderating role of Islamic work values in reducing narcissist personalities' negativity levels and counterproductive work behaviors via workplace incivility. The present study provides information to the management of public sector organizations on how they can overcome their workforce's negative behaviors and outcomes by implementing the Islamic ethical system. This attempt contributed to ethical climate theory and threatened the egotism model by explaining that negative personality traits predict uncivil behaviors, leading to adverse outcomes. This study further contributes that the organization's ethical climate helps the individuals overcome the negativity of their personalities and negative behaviors.