Destructive Leadership in Organizations: Empirical Studies on the Dark Triad of Personality and Its Interplay With Motivation, Satisfaction, and Development
type: CreativeWork
description: For more than two decades, researchers have been showing an increasing interest in the construct of the Dark Triad of personality and its impact on organizations and individuals. The Dark Triad includes the subclinical dimensions of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, and has been empirically linked to destructive leadership and its malevolent outcomes. Much of the existing research has focused on the impact of leaders with high scores on the Dark Triad and their role in the organizational context. The aim of this doctoral thesis is to examine the underlying and regulatory influences, with a focus on the effects these leaders have on followers in terms of their motivation, satisfaction, and career development. For this purpose, an extensive literature review on destructive leadership, Self-Determination theory, and overarching prevalent theories was carried out; this was followed by four empirical studies. The first study (N = 469) focused on the role of followers¿ psychological capital and psychological safety and revealed a serial mediation for the relationship between dark leadership and the work-related basic need satisfaction of followers. The second study (N = 575) examined differences between two occupational groups, namely individuals in social jobs and non-social jobs regarding their types of motivation, and how they were influenced by destructive leadership. Several findings were drawn from this study. First, the two groups differed in nearly all the motivational types, but not in their levels of leaders¿ dark traits. Also, their autonomous types of motivation were found to be a mediator of the relationship between the Dark Triad of their leaders and their level of amotivation. For further examination, the sample was divided into four groups depending on the job type and the Dark Triad level of leaders. Results revealed significant differences among those four groups regarding individuals¿ life satisfaction, agreeableness, their own dark traits,…
abstract: For more than two decades, researchers have been showing an increasing interest in the construct of the Dark Triad of personality and its impact on organizations and individuals. The Dark Triad includes the subclinical dimensions of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, and has been empirically linked to destructive leadership and its malevolent outcomes. Much of the existing research has focused on the impact of leaders with high scores on the Dark Triad and their role in the organizational context. The aim of this doctoral thesis is to examine the underlying and regulatory influences, with a focus on the effects these leaders have on followers in terms of their motivation, satisfaction, and career development. For this purpose, an extensive literature review on destructive leadership, Self-Determination theory, and overarching prevalent theories was carried out; this was followed by four empirical studies. The first study (N = 469) focused on the role of followers¿ psychological capital and psychological safety and revealed a serial mediation for the relationship between dark leadership and the work-related basic need satisfaction of followers. The second study (N = 575) examined differences between two occupational groups, namely individuals in social jobs and non-social jobs regarding their types of motivation, and how they were influenced by destructive leadership. Several findings were drawn from this study. First, the two groups differed in nearly all the motivational types, but not in their levels of leaders¿ dark traits. Also, their autonomous types of motivation were found to be a mediator of the relationship between the Dark Triad of their leaders and their level of amotivation. For further examination, the sample was divided into four groups depending on the job type and the Dark Triad level of leaders. Results revealed significant differences among those four groups regarding individuals¿ life satisfaction, agreeableness, their own dark traits,…
author: Elbers, Alina
language: en
keywords: Destructive leadership, Dark Triad of personality, Self-Determination theory, Motivation, Satisfaction, Development, Liderazgo destructivo, Tríada Oscura de la personalidad, Teoría de la autodeterminación, Motivación, Satisfacción, Desarrollo
license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
date published: 2025
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:17:52Z
provider: Universidad Catolica de Murcia - Doctoral
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Universidad Catolica de Murcia - Doctoral

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/10952/9424