DEVELOPMENT OF SCENARIOS FOR LEADERSHIP PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH TO REVEAL THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LEADERS’ DARK TRIAD TRAITS AND FULL RANGE LEADERSHIP STYLES

Authors

  • Tadas Vadvilavičius Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
  • Aurelija Stelmokienė Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania

Keywords:

full-range leadership model, dark triad traits, leader scenarios

Abstract

Objective. The Full Range Leadership Model (Avolio, Bass, 2004) is one of the most popular leadership theories, while the Dark Triad (Paulhus, Williams, 2002) has become the most researched personality model that describes the “dark side” of personality. However, despite the popularity, there is still a lack of evidence about relationship between Dark Triad traits and Full Range Leadership styles. Besides, researchers confirm the need for reliable and valid instruments that could be used in such empirical studies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of scenarios that were developed and used to reveal the relationships between leaders’ Dark Triad traits and Full Range Leadership styles in the perception of potential employees.

Methods. 40 students from psychology Bachelor’s and Master’s programs participated in this research (90% females, mean age – 24.90 (SD=5.52)). Five scenarios were developed to represent hypothetical leaders with different patterns of Dark Triad traits expression and were used as stimuli material for this quasiexperiment. Participants were asked to read one out of five scenarios and to fill in two questionnaires about the hypothetical leader: the Dirty Dozen scale (Jonason & Webster, 2010) to assess Dark Triad traits, and the Multifactorial Leadership Questionnaire (Avolio & Bass, 2004) to assess leadership styles and outcomes from Full-range leadership model. Data were collected via online survey.

Results. All developed scenarios showed high reliability. However, results confirmed construct validity in only of four out of five scenarios. Relationships between Dark Triad traits and Full Range Leadership styles, and Dark Triad traits and leadership outcomes, were not significant.

Conclusions. Developed Dark Triad leader scenarios could be an original and useful instrument for leadership psychology research. Some revisions should be made before the future usage of them.

References

Antonakis, J., Avolio, B. J., & Sivasubramaniam, N. (2003). Context and leadership: An examination of the nine-factor full-range leadership theory using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. The Leadership Quarterly, 14(3), 261– 295. DOI: 10.1016/S1048-9843(03)00030-4

Arnold, K. A. (2017). Transformational leadership and employee psychological wellbeing: A review and directions for future research. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(3), 381–393. DOI:10.1037/ocp0000062

Avolio, B. J. (2007). Promoting more integrative strategies for leadership theorybuilding. American Psychologist, 62(1), 25–33. DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.62.1.25

Avolio, B. J., & Bass, B. M. (2004). Multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ). Mind Garden.

Avolio, B. J., Reichard, R. J., Hannah, S. T., Walumbwa, F. O., & Chan, A. (2009). A meta-analytic review of leadership impact research: Experimental and quasiexperimental studies. The Leadership Quarterly, 20(5), 764–784. DOI: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2009.06.006

Bonett, D. G., & Wright, T. A. (2000). Sample size requirements for estimating Pearson, Kendall and Spearman correlations. Psychometrika, 65(1), 23–28. DOI: 10.1007/BF02294183

Bono, J. E., Foldes, H. J., Vinson, G., & Muros, J. P. (2007). Workplace emotions: The role of supervision and leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(5), 1357– 1367. DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.92.5.1357

Chung, K. L., & Charles, K. (2016). Giving the benefit of the doubt: The role of vulnerability in the perception of Dark Triad behaviours. Personality and Individual Differences, 101, 208–213. DOI :10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.059

Curtis, G. J. (2018). Connecting influence tactics with full-range leadership styles. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(1), 2–13. DOI: 10.1108/LODJ-09-2016-0221

Dinh, J. E., Lord, R. G., Gardner, W. L., Meuser, J. D., Liden, R. C., & Hu, J. (2014). Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 36–62. DOI:10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.005

Eisenbeiß, S. A., & Boerner, S. (2013). A double-edged sword: Transformational leadership and individual creativity. British Journal of Management, 24(1), 54–68. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2011.00786.x

Endriulaitienė, A., & Stelmokienė, A. (2013). Vadovo efektyvumo vertinimo pagrindimas: ar reikalinga teorinių požiūrių gausa? Organizacijų vadyba: sisteminiai tyrimai, 68, 109-1–22. DOI:10.7220/MOSR.1392.1142.2013.68.7

Forsyth, D. R., Banks, G. C., & McDaniel, M. A. (2012). A meta-analysis of the Dark Triad and work behavior: A social exchange perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(3), 557. DOI: 10.1037/a0025679

Furnham, A., Trickey, G., & Hyde, G. (2012). Bright aspects to dark side traits: Dark side traits associated with work success. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(8), 908–913. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2012.01.025

Furtner, M. R., Maran, T., & Rauthmann, J. F. (2017). Dark Leadership: The Role of Leaders’ Dark Triad Personality Traits. Leader development deconstructed, 75–99. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-64740-1_4

Gamache, D., Savard, C., & Maheux-Caron, V. (2018). French adaptation of the Short Dark Triad: Psychometric properties and a head-to-head comparison with the Dirty Dozen. Personality and Individual Differences, 122, 164–170. DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2017.10.027

Harms, P. D., & Credé, M. (2010). Emotional intelligence and transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analysis. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 17(1), 5–17. DOI:10.1177/1548051809350894

Jonason, P. K., & McCain, J. (2012). Using the HEXACO model to test the validity of the Dirty Dozen measure of the Dark Triad. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(7), 935–938. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2012.07.010

Jonason, P. K., & Webster, G. D. (2010). The dirty dozen: a concise measure of the dark triad. Psychological Assessment, 22(2), 420–432. DOI: 10.1037/a0019265

Jonason, P. K., & Webster, G. D. (2012). A protean approach to social influence: Dark Triad personalities and social influence tactics. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(4), 521–526. DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2011.11.023

Jonason, P. K., Slomski, S., & Partyka, J. (2012). The Dark Triad at work: How toxic employees get their way. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(3), 449–453. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2011.11.008

Jones, D. N., & Figueredo, A. J. (2013). The core of darkness: Uncovering the heart of the Dark Triad. European Journal of Personality, 27(6), 521–531. DOI: 10.1002/per.1893

Jones, D. N., & Neria, A. L. (2015). The Dark Triad and dispositional aggression. Personality and Individual Differences, 86, 360–364. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2015.06.021

Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2014). Introducing the short dark triad (SD3) a brief measure of dark personality traits. Assessment, 21(1), 28–41. DOI:10.1177/1073191113514105

Judge, T. A., & Piccolo, R. F. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), 755–768. DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.89.5.755

Kajonius, P. J., Persson, B. N., Rosenberg, P., & Garcia, D. (2016). The (mis) measurement of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen: exploitation at the core of the scale. PeerJ, 4, e1748. Doi: 10.7717/peerj.1748

Khoo, H. S.; Burch, G. S. J. (2008). The ‘dark side’of leadership personality and transformational leadership: An exploratory study. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(1), 86–97. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2007.07.018

Kim, J. H., & Jang, S. S. (2014). A scenario-based experiment and a field study: A comparative examination for service failure and recovery. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 41, 125–132. DOI:10.1016/j.ijhm.2014.05.004

Kirkbride, P. (2006). Developing transformational leaders: the full range leadership model in action. Industrial and Commercial Training, 38(1), 23–32. DOI:10.1108/00197850610646016

Lanz, M., Sorgente, A., & Tagliabue, S. (2018). Inter-rater Agreement Indices for Multiple Informant Methodology. Marriage & Family Review, 54(2), 148–182. DOI: 10.1080/01494929.2017.1340919

Mathieu, C., Neumann, C., Babiak, P., & Hare, R. D. (2015). Corporate psychopathy and the full-range leadership model. Assessment, 22(3), 267–278. DOI:10.1177/1073191114545490

O’Neill, T. A. (2017). An overview of interrater agreement on Likert scales for researchers and practitioners. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 777. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00777.eCollection 2017

Paulhus, D. L., & Williams, K. M. (2002). The dark triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 36(6), 556–563. DOI: 10.1016/S0092-6566(02)00505-6

Richter, A., von Thiele Schwarz, U., Lornudd, C., Lundmark, R., Mosson, R., & Hasson, H. (2016). iLead–a transformational leadership intervention to train healthcare managers’ implementation leadership. Implementation Science,11(1), 108–121. DOI: 10.1186/s13012-016-0475-6

Uhl-Bien, M., Riggio, R. E., Lowe, K. B., & Carsten, M. K. (2014). Followership theory: A review and research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 83–104. DOI:10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.007

Van Knippenberg, D., & Sitkin, S. B. (2013). A critical assessment of charismatic – transformational leadership research: Back to the drawing board?. The Academy of Management Annals, 7(1), 1–60. DOI:10.1080/19416520.2013.759433

Volmer, J., Koch, I. K., & Göritz, A. S. (2016). The bright and dark sides of leaders’ dark triad traits: Effects on subordinates’ career success and well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 101, 413–418. DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2016.06.046

Westerlaken, K. M., & Woods, P. R. (2013). The relationship between psychopathy and the Full Range Leadership Model. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(1), 41–46. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2012.08.026

Wisse, B., & Sleebos, E. (2016). When the dark ones gain power: Perceived position power strengthens the effect of supervisor Machiavellianism on abusive supervision in work teams. Personality and Individual Differences, 99, 122–126. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.019

Downloads

Published

2020-02-09

Issue

Section

Scientific Publications