Psychometric properties of the psychopathic personality inventory: Application to high-functioning business population

Abstract

The Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R) has been developed for use in assessing psychopathy in community samples. Recent research into so-called ‘successful psychopaths’ and ‘corporate psychopaths’ has highlighted the potential prevalence of psychopathy in the community at large, and more specifically psychopathy amongst business executives. In this paper we study high functioning business executives and focus on the measurement of psychopathy, specifically the viability of various factor structures of the PPI-R. We employed two large business associations’ databases and obtained a usable sample of 501 responses. The results support the second-order factor of Fearless Dominance (along with the first-order factors of Social Influence, Fearlessness, and Stress Immunity). In addition, the results indicate the second-order factor of Self-Centered Impulsivity with the first-order factors of Machiavellian Egocentricity, Blame Externalization, Rebellious Nonconformity, and Carefree Nonplanfulness. Our results also support previous studies which suggest that Coldheartedness as a latent trait did not seem to relate to Fearless Dominance or Self-Centered Impulsivity. In addition to discussing our results, we also explore limitations and future research in understanding how psychopathy manifests itself in the high-functioning business population.