Dark Triad Traits and Workplace Performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT)

Psychologists have recently turned their focus to the “dark side” of workplace behavior, particularly negative traits that impact professional environments.

In this exploratory study, we examined the Dark Triad traits Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy among 3,112 bank employees. Additionally, we analyzed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) performance in a subset of 1,613 participants to explore correlations between Dark Triad traits and decision-making. We also investigated differences based on sex and job position.

Our findings reveal that men scored higher on Dark Triad traits than women, reinforcing well-established findings. Furthermore, sales managers and premium client managers displayed the highest levels of Machiavellian strategies, though overall, bank employees showed significantly lower Machiavellianism scores compared to published Russian norms. While IGT performance showed no sex differences, it varied between managers and non-managers. A significant negative correlation emerged between Machiavellianism and psychopathy and good deck choices on the IGT, with a linear regression indicating that lower Dark Triad scores predicted better decision-making.

Further research is needed to explore the relationship between affective decision-making and dark personality traits.