Machiavellian Behavior Research Articles

MACHIAVELLANISM IN EKA KURNIAWAN’S NOVEL LELAKI HARIMAU

This research examines Machiavellianism in Eka Kurniawan’s novel Lelaki Harimau (Man Tiger), investigating how characters navigate power dynamics and ethical dilemmas in rural Indonesia. Drawing on Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince (1532), the study analyzes how characters employ cunning, manipulation, and strategic thinking to achieve personal goals. Utilizing textual, thematic, and interpretative analysis, the study dissects the novel’s narrative structure, character development, and thematic concerns related to Machiavellianism. Key passages reveal that characters, notably Margio, exemplify Machiavellian traits through concealing intentions, manipulating perceptions, and rationalizing morally ambiguous actions. The novel portrays a complex interplay of power dynamics, personal ambition, and cultural influences, shedding light on human capacity for deception and pursuit of power. This research deepens understanding of Machiavellianism in Southeast Asian literature, illuminating its role in exploring universal themes of power, morality, and human nature within an Indonesian context. By contextualizing Machiavellian behavior, the study enriches discussions on literature’s reflection of societal norms and ethical dilemmas, offering a nuanced perspective on Kurniawan’s portrayal of complex moral landscapes in contemporary fiction.

Uncovering Machiavellian Attitudes Among Accounting Students: A Descriptive Review

This study was conducted to determine the opinions of students as prospective accounting professionals aware of Machiavellian traits and take steps to reduce their negative impact on ethical behavior. The method used in this study is descriptive. Data were collected by distributing questionnaires to respondents, namely accounting students at FEB Untan. The questionnaire contained 16 questions using a Likert scale. The findings of this study indicate that students' opinions do not tend towards Machiavellian behavior.

Business network paradoxes: A literature review and co-evolutionary perspective

How can studying paradoxes in business networks help understand the networks' adaptation and survival? IMP identifies three central paradoxes influencing business networks: i) Development of Relationships vs. Inability to Change, ii) Controlling vs. Effectiveness, and iii) Stability vs. Change. Studying them seems critical to knowing how interdependent participants in business networks adapt to one another. To do that, we use a co-evolutionary lens to review 41 articles dealing with business network paradoxes from an IMP perspective. Results of the Reflexive Thematic Analysis underline that salient tensions mainly originate from weak coordinating norms, resource misallocation, the relationship of newness and aging, and Machiavellian behaviour. As the main value of our work, we then advance that embracing a co-evolutionary perspective can help shed novel light on these paradoxes by contrasting the factors that make the tensions salient with those able to overcome them. Specifically, we identify moral behaviour, structuration of the network, network capability development, and co-adaptation as four main factors that mitigate the paradoxes and help networks' adaptation and survival. Accordingly, we advocate a co-evolutionary conceptual framework regarding paradoxes and outline five co-evolutionary claims as implications for research and practice.

Machiavellian behavior and social-emotional functioning in middle childhood and early adolescence.

Machiavellianism is an antisocial interpersonal style involving the use of manipulative, deceptive, and coercive behaviors in the pursuit of self-interest. Although widely studied as a "dark" personality trait in adults, relatively little is known about the developmental correlates of Machiavellian tendencies earlier in life. The present study addressed this knowledge gap by examining associations between Machiavellian behavior and three theoretically relevant social-emotional domains-prosocial emotions, emotion recognition skills, and self-control-in a community sample of 7- and 11-year-old Canadian children (N = 300, 50% female). Of particular interest was the extent to which individual differences in social-emotional capacities were uniquely associated with Machiavellian behavior after controlling for aggression, a relatively well-studied antisocial behavior in childhood. Parents reported on children's Machiavellian behavior and aggression. Social-emotional correlates were assessed via parent and child reports, behavioral tasks, and physiological assessments. Machiavellian behavior and aggression were similarly associated with lower parent-reported prosocial emotions and self-control. Machiavellian (but not aggressive) behavior was associated with lower child-reported guilt (a prosocial emotion), higher resting skin conductance levels (reflecting a general tendency for higher arousal), and better anger recognition. Semipartial correlational analyses indicated that these patterns of association with Machiavellian behaviors held independent of aggression. These findings indicate that, by middle childhood, Machiavellian behavior constitutes a distinct form of antisocial conduct that is associated with a unique social-emotional risk profile. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Supplemental Material for Machiavellian Behavior and Social–Emotional Functioning in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence

Supplemental Material for Machiavellian Behavior and Social–Emotional Functioning in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence

Study on the Ethical Perceptions of Accounting Students: Evidence from Medan City

This study aims to assess the ethical behavior of accounting students in the city of Medan. The ethical perceptions of accounting students in Medan City will be examined with the Love of Money variable, which is influenced by variables such as Machiavellian behavior, religiosity, and gender. The research approach employed in this study is explanatory. The population of interest consists of accounting students enrolled in state universities in Medan City. A random sample of 100 respondents was selected for the study. The data analysis method utilized is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. The discussion of the results reveals that Machiavellian behavior influenced students' ethical perceptions. Additionally, the study found that religiosity and gender both have an impact on students' ethical perceptions. However, based on the data analysis, it was determined that the Love of Money variable does not serve as an intervening variable. In conclusion, these findings highlight the significance of Machiavellian behavior, religiosity, and gender in shaping the ethical perception of students. However, it is important to recognize that ethical perception is influenced by a multitude of factors, and further research is needed to better understand the intricate connections among these variables.

Greek family-business management performance: Emotionally intelligent or Machiavellian?

Abstract
 
 Although the investigation of emotional intelligence levels and personality traits such as Machiavellian behavior of the manager and the family firm’s workforce is critical in understanding the role of emotions in family business dynamics and in drawing conclusions regarding their effects on the overall business performance, the subject has not been examined adequately. Utilizing modern tools, this paper aims to measure and evaluate the qualitative characteristics of family business managers’ behavior to analyze their influence on the firms’ performance. In particular, it examines whether emotional intelligence and Machiavellianism determine the efficiency of the management in Greek family businesses’ performance. For this purpose, a structural equation model was specified and applied to fieldwork data to test the statistical validity of the hypothesis. The findings suggest that, while emotional intelligence plays an important role, Machiavellian personality does not.
 
 EL Classifications:
 Key words: emotional intelligence, Machiavellianism, family business, management, structural equation models

The Machiavellianism of Tunisian accountants and whistleblowing of fraudulent acts

PurposeThis study aims to examine the influence of accounting professionals’ Machiavellian behavior and ethical judgments on their intention to report fraudulent acts and also to examine the moderating effect of Machiavellianism on the relationship between professionals’ ethical judgments and whistleblowing intention, as well as the mediating effect of personal responsibility, personal costs/benefits and the seriousness of the questionable act on this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected via a survey sent to 201 Tunisian accounting professionals and analyzed using the structural equation method.FindingsThe results indicate that ethical judgments support the whistleblowing intentions among Tunisian accountants. However, this relationship is affected by Machiavellian behavior that minimizes whistleblowing. Furthermore, the results show that Machiavellianism is negatively associated with whistleblowing intention and has an indirect effect on whistleblowing through perceived personal benefit and the seriousness of the questionable act.Originality/valueExamining the ethical ideologies that may affect whistleblowing, including Machiavellianism and ethical judgment, in the Tunisian context contributes to the literature on the accounting profession in the Middle East and North Africa. The results of this study could raise awareness among policymakers and regulators in developing countries, particularly in Tunisia, to value whistleblowing as a mechanism for detecting and controlling organizational misconduct and enact regulations that encourage accounting professionals to report fraudulent acts while protecting them.

The effect of achilles syndrome on machiavellian behavior tendency: A field study

The effect of achilles syndrome on machiavellian behavior tendency: A field study

Opening the black box of organizational Machiavellianism: is co-innovation coming to an end as a driver of innovation performance?

PurposeThe discussion on co-innovation inhibitors usually focuses on external actors’ opportunism, related to the loss of intellectual property. However, from the organizational Machiavellianism perspective, inhibitors are not external as the company itself is a source of constraints. Unfortunately, there is a lack of research studies examining the possible negative impact of organizational Machiavellian behavior such as amorality or distrust and desire for control, which could destroy external partners’ trust and commitment. This paper aims to analyze the effect of organizational Machiavellianism on the relationship between co-innovation and innovation performance (product and process innovation).Design/methodology/approachStructural equations were used to test the research model using survey data from a sample of companies located in an emerging country with a high risk of corruption.FindingsSurprisingly, distrust and desire for control do not moderate the relationship between co-innovation and innovation performance, but do have a positive and direct effect on innovation performance. Conversely, amorality has a negative moderating effect on this relationship.Originality/valueThe study reveals that amorality is an evident constraint of the positive impact of co-innovation, as it diminishes the amount and quality of external actors’ contributions in terms of new ideas and knowledge. In contrast, distrust and desire for control alert the firm about opportunistic behavior by external partners such as technology providers, who may induce the firm to adopt an inadequate technological standard in line with their commercial interests.

From Machiavellianism to Unethical Behavior: A Cross-Level Examination of Cultural Factors.

This study establishes the relationship between a manager's Machiavellian personality and unethical behavior. It also tests the cross-level interaction effects of collectivism and power distance on the relationship between a Machiavellian personality and unethical behavior. The multi-level and multi-source data are collected from 22 public sector organizations from which 202 responses from managers about their personalities, power distance, and collectivism, and 626 subordinates' ratings of the managers' unethical behavior were received and used. The results show that Machiavellian personality has a positive relationship with unethical behavior. The cross-level interaction effects also show that cultural dimensions such as power distance, and collectivism-significantly and positively moderate the relationship between Machiavellian personality and unethical behavior. Based on the study's findings, implications for theory and practice are offered.

Moral Disengagement: Mediator Between Moral Perfectionism and Machiavellian Behavior Among Undergraduates?

To better understand Machiavellian behavior among undergraduate students, the current study examines moral disengagement as a mediator in the relationship between Machiavellian behavior and two dimensions of moral perfectionism (concern over moral mistakes perfectionism and personal moral standards perfectionism). Participants were 210 undergraduate students (64% female) from three universities in Tehran, Iran, aged between 18 and 27 years old. Structural equation modeling revealed that Machiavellian behavior was negatively associated with personal moral standards perfectionism and positively associated with moral disengagement. The results of the structural model showed a non-significant relationship between concern over moral mistakes perfectionism and Machiavellian behavior. However, multi-model analysis provided evidence that moral disengagement partially mediated the relationship between personal moral standards perfectionism and Machiavellian behavior. The findings also showed that there was a relationship between concern over moral mistakes perfectionism and Machiavellian behavior through moral disengagement. The results suggest that while moral perfectionism is often accompanied with moral disengagement, Machiavellian behavior may be an explanation for individuals with these traits.

Transformational and digital change: a UK perspective

This article is based on a qualitative interpretivist methodology that helps to analyse, interpret, and explain the meanings that executives and consultants (as social actors), construct regarding so called transformational and digital change in the corporate setting. It explores change interventions through a psychodynamic perspective that recognises many of the forces operating in an organisation may be “under the surface” and may need to be made explicit if collective progress is to be made. The author has attempted to produce research that is relevant to both practitioners and scholars by following some suggestions of Toffel (2016) to bridge the potential gap between perceptions and workplace realities, including conducting site visits, practitioner interviews, and working as a practitioner. The study is exploratory in nature and was primarily concerned with discovering what management practices (if any) are used by executives and consultants in the operationalisation and implementation of transformational and digital change and what (if any) were the implications. It hopefully provides a stimulus for further research. Qualitative interviews and site visits were conducted with executives, consultants, and workers in ten large UK companies who had all taken the decision to instigate multi-million-pound “transformational change” and “digital transformation”. The companies operate across a range of sectors including manufacturing, retail, financial services, food and beverage, and facilities management. This study finds that executives and consultants search for tools and techniques to deliver effective change capability, change leadership, and project management of change. These imply order, rationality, stability, and manageability in change that often takes place amidst absurdity, irrationality, uncertainty, and disorder. Digital transformation is underpinned by new technology, driving new business models, and new “agile” and “iterative” processes, and “dare to fail” ways of working, but it was a century-old doctrine that provided the framework for change. Executives and consultants explicitly and implicitly advocated and enacted the primary functions of management as outlined by Fayol (1916); they were obsessed with accountability and control. Despite the rhetoric of agile and iterative approaches, they were wedded to top–down mechanistic management. The espoused visions, values, principles, and behaviours, were often counterbalanced by the shadow organisation, the covert processes, coalitions, secret alliances, and counter-values. Narcissism and Machiavellian behaviour was rife. In conclusion, this article calls for a move away from mechanistic management to enlightened management, a concept based on the work of Nonaka (2008) that values individuals and interactions over processes and tools. This may go some way to ameliorate the impacts of change at the individual level and bridge the chasm between espoused culture and the living hell of organisational reality.

Dampak Budaya Etis Organisasi Dan Sifat Macheavellian Pada Keputusan Etis Konsultan Pajak Di Provinsi Bali

The profession of tax consultants is a profession that has ethical decision issues, because these professions are often confronted with conditions of ethical dilemmas, which always threaten the credibility of these professionals, especially the tax consultant profession. There are two views on factors that influence the unethical actions an individual makes. First, views that argue that unethical actions or decision-making are more influenced by the individual's moral character. Second, unethical actions are more influenced by the environment, such as the ethical culture of the organization in which the individual works. Individual characteristic factors that influence decision making include machiavellian behaviour. The research population is all tax consultant in Denpasar City. The study sample was the entire study population. The data used is the primary data obtained from the survey using the questionnaire instrument. Analyzer used is partial least square. The results of the study found that ethical culture produces ethical decisions when the consultant is confronted with an ethical dilemma. Conversely, the macheavellian behaviour of low levels can lead to ethical decisions.

Competitive communities of practice, knowledge sharing, and Machiavellian participation: a case study

This paper explores the emergence of Machiavellian behaviour in a community of practice (CoP). The CoP was initiated by the top management team (TMT) as a management development initiative. Participants in a manufacturing setting were encouraged to engage in a series of problem‐solving tasks with counterparts from across the organization in a short‐term CoP. A qualitative case study, using in‐depth interviews, was conducted in a large processing plant in the Middle Eastern Kingdom of Bahrain. This is an empirical case study that explores employee participation in a short‐term management development programme which sought to create CoPs to enable knowledge sharing. A competitive element was introduced, and we contend this promoted behaviour which served the individuals rather than the CoP. The findings indicate that TMT intervention changes the dynamics of CoPs, reducing knowledge sharing and collaboration among community members. Recommendations are made to practitioners to be cognizant of the possibility of Machiavellian participation in CoPs.

Money and Unethical Behavior of Accounting Students

Financial fraud involving the accounting profession lower public confidence in the accounting profession and the presentation of financial statements. The need for early detection of the factors causing a person to commit an unethical behavior is increasing. Accounting students as individuals who will enter the workforce and become accounting professionals are expected to get accounting ethics education correctly. This study aimed to analyze the relationship among the love of money, the machiavellian behavior, the unethical behavior, and gender as demographic variables. Respondents were active undergraduate students in Accounting Department. The sampling technique used purposive sampling with sample amounted to 234 respondents. Data collection was conducted through questionnaires containing 34 items of questions related to the behavior of love of money, Machiavellian, and unethical behavior. The results found that Machiavellian behavior can mediate the influence of love of money on the unethical behavior of Accounting students. Men tend to choose to take risks in action than women, so this research indicated that gender as demographic variables can also affect the relationship of love of money to unethical behavior.

Machiavellianism in Universities: Perceiving Exploitation in Student Networks

Aim of this article is to examine parameters and types of Machiavellian behavior among students in selected departments. Social network analysis, bivariate analysis and principal component analysis have been implemented. A total sample of 27 students of Business Administration dept. (Thessaly University of Applied Sciences), 63 students of Veterinary dept. and 57 students of Physical Education dept. (University of Thessaly) has been analyzed. Selected results: Male students tend to regard more students as Machiavellians. Female students seem to be more willing to harm others. Male ones are more willing to exploit weaknesses. Tall or heavy students are regarded as quite Machiavellians. Students of urban origin or rich enough seem to adopt a relatively innocent view. Using internet is regarded as an evidence of Machiavellianism. To select friends by appreciating their knowledge capacity is considered to be unrelated to Machiavellianism. Two types of students who are targeted for Machiavellian practices are demarcated: a) “full target” and b) “beneficial target”. Two types of Machiavellian students appear: a) “full Machiavellian” and b) “ruthless”. A mixed typology of victims and Machiavellians reveals: a) a “targeting and targeted” type, b) a “full target”, c) a “beneficial target” and d) a “ruthless”. In general, the Machiavellianism seems to be either a generalized strategy or a quite specific one.

Natural born opportunists

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to adapt research conducted on subclinical psychopaths and Machiavellians to conceptualise false agents in transaction cost economics (TCE). Both opportunism and information asymmetry provide a means to manipulate contractual relationships, pursuing existing loopholes for self-interest, while uncertainty and small-numbers bargaining allow false agents to exploit existing agreements during periods of rapid change, growth, and development. Considering differences in contract length preference may inform our understanding of subclinical psychopaths and Machiavellians. Contextually, the rise of “quasi-governmental” hybrid organisations may produce an ideal prospect for “natural born” opportunists to reap self-interested benefits through contractual loopholes.Design/methodology/approachThis theoretical paper addresses social norms and blind trust in contractual relationships. In turn, blind trust may provide clues about the environmental conditions that facilitate manipulation by subclinical psychopaths and Machiavellians during negotiations of contract term length.FindingsWilliamson’s (1975) TCE framework provides a novel approach to subclinical psychopathic and Machiavellian behaviour by agents. Assumptions about behavioural norms may differ between the contracting party and the agent, leading to positive behavioural expectations of trust such as confidence, reciprocity, and history. The length of the contractual relationship may distinguish subclinical psychopaths from Machiavellians. The subclinical psychopath is more likely to behave opportunistically in short-term contracts, while Machiavellians more likely amass goodwill to behave opportunistically in long-term contracts. The role of uncertainty, small-numbers bargaining, information asymmetry, and opportunism is particularly relevant in quasi-governmental organisations when agents are “natural born” opportunists.Originality/valueThis theoretical paper adds to discussion of TCE related problems in organisations. “Natural born” opportunistic agents are more likely to take advantage of principals who extend trust as a goodwill gesture in a contractual relationship. Trust often represents a mental shortcut, based on “gut” reactions to save time, especially in dynamic environments. Hybrid organisations represent one such environment, in which contracting of goods and services renders comprehensive monitoring impracticable. Yet, scholarship adheres to legal mechanisms as safeguards against opportunism without acknowledging social norms that guide blind trust. Finally, contrasting motives between principals and false agents creates an inherent relationship asymmetry.

The Effect of Auditors’ Feature Machiavellian behavior on Their Whistle Blowing

The Effect of Auditors’ Feature Machiavellian behavior on Their Whistle Blowing

Relative Brain and Brain Part Sizes Provide Only Limited Evidence that Machiavellian Behaviour in Cleaner Wrasse Is Cognitively Demanding.

It is currently widely accepted that the complexity of a species’ social life is a major determinant of its brain complexity, as predicted by the social brain hypothesis. However, it remains a challenge to explain what social complexity exactly is and what the best corresponding measures of brain anatomy are. Absolute and relative size of the brain and of the neocortex have often been used as a proxy to predict cognitive performance. Here, we apply the logic of the social brain hypothesis to marine cleaning mutualism involving the genus Labroides. These wrasses remove ectoparasites from ‘client’ reef fish. Conflict occurs as wrasse prefer client mucus over ectoparasites, where mucus feeding constitutes cheating. As a result of this conflict, cleaner wrasse show remarkable Machiavellian-like behaviour. Using own data as well as available data from the literature, we investigated whether the general brain anatomy of Labroides provides any indication that their Machiavellian behaviour is associated with a more complex brain. Neither data set provided evidence for an increased encephalisation index compared to other wrasse species. Published data on relative sizes of brain parts in 25 species of the order Perciformes suggests that only the diencephalon is relatively enlarged in Labroides dimidiatus. This part contains various nuclei of the social decision making network. In conclusion, gross brain anatomy yields little evidence for the hypothesis that strategic behaviour in cleaning selects for larger brains, while future research should focus on more detailed aspects like the sizes of specific nuclei as well as their cryoarchitectonic structure and connectivity.