Shady Strategic Behavior: Recognizing Strategic Followership of Dark Triad Followers

Abstract

The importance of strategic behavior in organizations has long been recognized. However, so far the literature has primarily focused on leaders' strategic behavior, largely ignoring followers' strategic behavior. In the present paper, we take a follower trait perspective to strategic follower behavior, specifically focusing on how followers' Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) influence their strategic behavior. We argue that Dark Triad related strategic follower behavior is likely to have negative effects for fellow organizational members and the organization as a whole. We also present 'red flag' behaviors that may signal followers' tendencies to engage in shady strategic behaviors. Then, we put forward factors that may mitigate or increase the occurrence of shady strategic behaviors of followers scoring high on Dark Triad traits, focusing especially on leader attributes and specifics of the organizational context. Finally, we discuss if and how followers' Dark Triad traits could benefit the organization, and highlight emerging issues in research on strategic follower behavior.

Signaling virtuous victimhood as indicators of Dark Triad personalities.

“…enable them to 'shine on a stage' (Nevicka, De Hoogh, Van Vianen, Beersma, & McIlwain, 2011;Schyns et al, 2019). We previously argued that the positive association observed between virtue signaling and narcissism may stem from narcissistic individuals' desire to display their alleged high moral character and behaviors, with the secondary aim of asserting their moral superiority over others.…”

“…The classical definition of narcissism emphasizes an individual’s highly inflated and unrealistically positive views of the self, and a motivation to assert their grandiose self-worth over others (Campbell & Foster, 2007; Morf, Horvath, & Torchetti, 2011). They are likely to make strategic choices that enable them to ‘shine on a stage’ (Nevicka, De Hoogh, Van Vianen, Beersma, & McIlwain, 2011; Schyns et al, 2019). We previously argued that the positive association observed between virtue signaling and narcissism may stem from narcissistic individuals’ desire to display their alleged high moral character and behaviors, with the secondary aim of asserting their moral superiority over others.…”

“…Therefore, a sophisticated approach that utilizes both the victim and virtue signals to achieve a desired outcome may be most reliably associated with the Dark Triad trait of Machiavellianism. One of the hallmarks of Machiavellianism is calculative and strategic interpersonal manipulation, distinguishing it from psychopathy which is characterized by impulsivity and social disinhibition (Jones & Paulhus, 2017; Schyns, Wisse, & Sanders, 2019). It is conceivable that the three Dark Triad traits comprising show different relationships to victim- and/or virtue-signal.…”

Ferdinand Karl Piëch: A Psychobiography of a Ruthless Manager and Ingenious Engineer

“…Recent literature explores dark personality aspects in organisations, ( Schyns et al, 2019 ; Czarna and Zajas, 2020 ; Ray et al, 2020 ), career success ( Oflu et al, 2020 ) and leadership ( Van Scotter, 2019 ; Mackey et al, 2020 ; Syed et al, 2020 ). Spurk et al (2016) observed that narcissism as a dark personality trait is positively related to salary, Machiavellianism is positively related to leadership position, and career satisfaction while psychopathy is negatively related to career outcomes.…”

Call for Papers: “Dark Personality in the Workplace”

“…While there is also an interesting amount of research on different narcissist profiles based on Back et al's conceptualization (admiration vs. rivalry; 2013), we still know little about its implications in the workplace (for an exception, see Helfrich & Dietl, 2019). Schyns, Wisse, and Sanders (2019) suggested that followers with dark personality traits may use strategic behaviors to cause havoc in organizations, but what are the specific behaviors they use? What should organizations do to avoid hiring individuals with dark personality traits in the workplace?…”