Triggering Subordinate Innovation Behavior: The Influence of Leaders’ Dark Personality Traits and Level 5 Leadership Behavior

Abstract

The present study investigates the influence of level 5 leadership, a leadership approach based on humility and professional will, on subordinate’s innovation behavior at work. The main aim is to shed further light on the understanding of how leadership can foster innovative behavior. Further we test if the dark triad of personality, consisting of narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy, affects the likelihood of being a level 5 leader. Applying partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling (SEM), we show that humility, but even more the interaction effect of both level 5 virtues, humility and professional will is central and in fact increases innovation behavior of subordinates. Although the influence of dark personality traits on level 5 leadership provides a mixed picture, we find evidence that narcissistic tendencies and humble behavior could coexist at the same time. This consideration contributes to the unclear relationship between narcissism and humility, two central characteristics in leadership research.

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