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

Alina Elbers (), Stephan Kolominski and Pablo Salvador Blesa Aledo
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Alina Elbers: Facultad de Economía y Empresa, UCAM Universidad Católica de Murcia, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Stephan Kolominski: Department of Business Psychology, FOM University of Applied Sciences, 45127 Essen, Germany
Pablo Salvador Blesa Aledo: Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y de la Comunicación, UCAM Universidad Católica de Murcia, 30107 Murcia, Spain

Administrative Sciences, 2023, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-13

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 and psychological capital both work as predictors of work-related basic need satisfaction. When controlling for mediating effects, psychological capital appeared as a partial mediator of the relationship between the managers’ dark traits and the employees’ basic need satisfaction in the workplace. The theoretical and practical implications of the results, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed.

Keywords: Dark Triad of personality; leadership; psychological capital; Self-Determination Theory; basic need satisfaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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