Coping with Dark Leadership: Examination of the Impact of Psychological Capital on the Relationship between Dark Leaders and Employees’ Basic Need Satisfaction in the Workplace
Date
2023Discipline/s
Administración y Dirección de EmpresasCiencias de la Comunicación
Psicología
Subject/s
Dark Triad of personalitySelf-Determination Theory
Basic need satisfaction
Leadership
Psychological capital;
Abstract
In leadership research, the Dark Triad of personality has become a topic of great interest. This construct includes the personality traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and subclinical psychopathy and is associated with several negative outcomes for organizations and followers’ satisfaction. In contrast, the construct of psychological capital, which includes hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and optimism, is positively related to extra-role organizational citizenship behaviors and employee performance. Therefore, the question arises whether people can benefit from psychological capital when confronted with a manager that exhibits dark personality traits. Subsequently, the purpose of this study is to examine the potential impact of psychological capital on the relationship between the Dark Triad traits of managers and the work-related basic need satisfaction of employees. Thus, a dataset of 469 employees was analyzed. Regression analyses demonstrated that the Dark Triad of personality...