“One of these things is not like the others”: The associations between dark triad personality traits, work attitudes, and work-related motivation

Abstract

Our research investigated whether the dark triad personality traits relate to work attitude including work-related motivation, organizational identification, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. We hypothesized that subclinical narcissism is associated positively, while subclinical psychopathy is associated negatively with work attitude. We also investigated the relationships between Machiavellianism and work attitude but did not formulate any hypothesis because of the mixed previous findings. Two studies (NTotal = 688) assessed these predictions. Importantly, in Study 2 we obtained both self-report and observer-report measures of dark triad traits and achievement motivation. Results supported our predictions. The findings suggest that each dark triad trait has a distinct relationship with work outcomes. Furthermore, the participants' self- and other-rated dark triad personality traits only correlated weakly. Implications of these findings are discussed.