The Effects of the Dark Triad on Unethical Behavior

This article uses behavioral theories to develop an ethical decision-making model that describes how psychological factors affect the development of unethical intentions to commit fraud. We evaluate the effects of the dark triad of personality traits (i.e., psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narciss...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2018-11, Vol.153 (1), p.53-77
Main Authors: Harrison, Andrew, Summers, James, Mennecke, Brian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antisocial personality disorder
Behavior
Business and Management
Business Ethics
Decision making
Decision making models
Education
Ethical dilemmas
Ethics
Fraud
Machiavellianism
Management
Moral education
Narcissism
Original Paper
Perceptions
Personality
Personality traits
Philosophy
Psychological aspects
Psychological development
Quality of Life Research
Structural equation modeling
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Summary:This article uses behavioral theories to develop an ethical decision-making model that describes how psychological factors affect the development of unethical intentions to commit fraud. We evaluate the effects of the dark triad of personality traits (i.e., psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) on fraud intentions and behaviors. We use a combination of survey results, an experiment, and structural equation modeling to empirically test our model. The theoretical insights demonstrate that psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism affect different parts of the unethical decision-making process. Narcissism motivates individuals to act unethically for their personal benefit and changes their perceptions of their abilities to successfully commit fraud. Machiavellianism motivates individuals not only to act unethically, but also alters perceptions about the opportunities that exist to deceive others. Psychopathy has a prominent effect on how individuals rationalize their fraudulent behaviors. Accordingly, we find that the dark triad elements act in concert as powerful psychological antecedents to fraud behaviors.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-016-3368-3