“The Darkest of all” The relationship between the Dark Triad traits and organizational citizenship behavior

Abstract

The present study examined dark triad personality traits as predictors of in-role and extra-role work-related behaviors above and beyond the effects of relevant dispositional and situational variables. 256 Hungarian working adults (Mage = 37.121 years, SDage = 11.99 years) took part in the present study. The results showed that only subclinical psychopathy was a consistent negative predictor of in-role and extra-role behaviors. When psychopathy was controlled for, Machiavellianism was positively related to organizational citizenship behaviors beneficial to the organization and to the performance of in-role behaviors, but was unrelated to citizenship behaviors beneficial to individuals. Subclinical narcissism was unrelated to the outcome variables. Together, these results can contribute to the understanding of the role of dark triad personality traits in the prediction of in-role and extra-role behaviors. The study's implication for theory and research were discussed, its limitations were identified, and directions for future research were suggested.