Haar Jarrod, de Jong Kirsty
School of Management, Massey University (Albany), Auckland, New Zealand.
School of Management, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
Front Psychol. 2023 Mar 10;14:1061698. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1061698. eCollection 2023.
There is growing evidence that CEOs who have the 'dark triad' of personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) detrimentally influence firm performance. However, there is still much we do not know. The present study suggests that the CEO dark triad might directly influence typical performance indicators in different ways: positively affecting external performance indicators (breakthrough sales), but negatively affecting internal performance indicators (organizational performance). We argue that the CEO dark triad can be interpreted differently by those external to the firm versus internally, where managers are much closer to the CEO's dark personality. Our model includes managerial capital as a mediator and competitive rivalry as a moderator, and ultimately tests a moderated mediation model. Using data from 840 New Zealand firms, we find that the dark triad links to outcomes, as expected. While the CEO dark triad is negatively related to managerial capital, managerial capital does positively predict both performance indicators, and partially mediates the CEO dark triad effect. Overall, moderating effects highlight that the CEO dark triad is less detrimental in fiercely competitive business environments, acting as a consistent boundary condition across models. As competitive rivalry increases, the indirect effect of the CEO dark triad on performance decreases. We discuss the implications for understanding the role that the CEO dark triad can play in firms.
越来越多的证据表明，具有“黑暗三联征”人格特质（马基雅维利主义、自恋和精神病态）的首席执行官会对公司绩效产生不利影响。然而，我们仍有很多未知之处。本研究表明，首席执行官的黑暗三联征可能会以不同方式直接影响典型的绩效指标：对外部绩效指标（突破性销售）产生积极影响，但对内部绩效指标（组织绩效）产生负面影响。我们认为，公司外部人员与内部人员对首席执行官黑暗三联征的解读可能不同，因为经理们与首席执行官的黑暗人格更为接近。我们的模型将管理资本作为中介变量，将竞争对抗作为调节变量，并最终测试了一个有调节的中介模型。利用来自840家新西兰公司的数据，我们发现黑暗三联征与预期结果相关。虽然首席执行官的黑暗三联征与管理资本呈负相关，但管理资本确实能正向预测这两个绩效指标，并部分中介了首席执行官黑暗三联征的效应。总体而言，调节效应表明，在竞争激烈的商业环境中，首席执行官的黑暗三联征的不利影响较小，这在各个模型中都是一个一致的边界条件。随着竞争对抗的加剧，首席执行官黑暗三联征对绩效的间接效应会降低。我们讨论了这对于理解首席执行官黑暗三联征在公司中可能发挥的作用的启示。
