Narcissism and Machiavellians in a Workplace and their Impact on an Individual’s Psychosocial Well-Being

This research project explored the complex effects of the Dark Triad personality traits (Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy) on Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB), the role of Psychological Entitlement in mediating the relationship, and the moderating effect of Subjective Well-being (SWB) in the workplace. Quantitative analysis corroborated the anticipated mechanism that Machiavellianism and Narcissism are key drivers of CWB, and that Psychological Entitlement is an important mediator, as it gives the cognitive rationale behind the retaliatory behavior in cases where people feel their rights or privileges was infringed. Importantly, the study has found that there is a deep paradox here, with subjects with higher Dark Triad scores reporting better psychosocial well-being and SWB than their lower-scoring counterparts. It is theorized that this surprising discovery is a result of psychological defense mechanisms, namely, the strong capacity to externalize blame, which enhances their Psychological Resilience, and the Contextual Reinforcement they get when working in competitive settings. Although the effects of age and experience were identified to mitigate some of the psychopathy-related problems in interpersonal relationships, qualitative evidence revealed that these factors essentially build a disjointed and haphazard work environment that undermines trust and prevents true cooperation. The paper finds that the Dark Triad entails a personal temporary benefit in terms of excellent SWB, but at a considerable and quantifiable cost to the moral condition and unity of the organization. Recent suggestions center on practice within organizations, such as the incorporation of Situational Judgment Tests (SJTs) into the hiring process and a communal and ethical culture within the organization, as well as methodological improvements in future studies to objectively verify the SWB paradox.