The Influence of the Dark Triad of Personality Traits on the Competitiveness of Selected Educators

Abstract

In 2020, there were 7.2 million jobless Filipinos which may have been mostly caused by the lockdowns imposed during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the education sector, more than 800 private schools closed which affected the employment of over 4,000 educators. Although the unemployment rate in 2023 has since gone down to 4.8 per cent, this experience may have left a lasting effect on job seekers in general and on those in the teaching profession in particular. This study aimed to investigate whether the pandemic’s impact on the loss of employment of educators have altered their mindset in terms of career competitiveness and whether the Dark Triad of Personality Traits plays a role in this. The objective of this study was to investigate the existence of relationships between the Dark Triad of Personality Traits and Cooperation and Competition. The respondents who volunteered for this study were 44 educators who teach in different levels at several schools located in various areas of Metro Manila. The Cooperative/Competitive Strategy Scale (CCSS) as well as the Short Dark Triad (SD3) instruments were administered on the respondents. The CCSS results showed that the respondents exhibited high Cooperation and moderate Competition. The SD3 results revealed that the respondents possess moderate Machiavellianism, moderate Narcissism and low Psychopathy. A significant moderate positive relationship was established between Machiavellianism and Competition. This implies that as the respondents’ Machiavellianism increases, their Competition moderately increases and vice versa. In addition, a significant moderate inverse relationship between the respondents’ age and their Psychopathy scores was found. This suggests that as the respondents’ age increases, their Psychopathy tends to decrease moderately and vice versa. Keywords: Dark Triad, Machiavellianism, Narcissism, Psychopathy, Cooperation, Competition