Are there bright sides of the dark side? Effects of managers' dark triad personality traits on organizational outcomes and moderating roles of organizational culture

In this study, effects of the dark triad personality traits (DT; Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy; Paulhus & Williams 2002: 557) of managers on psychosocial support and career support they provide to their subordinates (Volmer et al. 2016: 414), and their knowledge hiding behaviors (Teo & Lim 2018: 37), were examined. In addition, moderating effects of organizational culture in the proposed relationships were investigated. Data were collected from 53 managers and 223 subordinates by using online surveys resulting in 223 supervisor-subordinate pairs working in different sectors. The findings revealed that grandiose narcissism was not associated with any of the dependent variables. Vulnerable narcissism was both positively associated with knowledge hiding behaviors and psychosocial support. Psychopathy was positively associated with knowledge hiding behaviors and negatively associated with both psychosocial and career support. As expected, Machiavellianism was not associated with any of the dependent variables. In line with the hypotheses, role and support cultures reduced the detrimental effects of managers' DT traits. More specifically, role culture has led to a decrease in knowledge hiding behaviors of managers with high Machiavellian tendencies. Furthermore, support culture has led to an increase in vulnerable narcissistic managers' intention to provide career and psychosocial support to their subordinates. Support culture also led to a decrease in knowledge hiding behaviors of managers with high psychopathic and Machiavellian tendencies. On the other hand, power and achievement cultures enhanced the negative effects of managers' DT traits. More specifically, power culture has led to a decrease in psychopathic managers' intention to provide career and psychosocial support to their subordinates. Moreover, in power culture managers with high DT personality traits (vulnerable narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) were less likely to provide psychosocial support to their subordinates. Power culture also increased the knowledge hiding behaviors of managers with high narcissism and Machiavellianism. Finally, achievement culture has led to a decrease in narcissistic managers' intention to provide career support to their subordinates. Achievement culture also increased the knowledge hiding behaviors of managers with high psychopathy and Machiavellianism tendencies. Findings and their theoretical and practical contribution were discussed along with suggestions for future research. Keywords: The Dark triad personality traits, Knowledge hiding, Psychosocial support, Career support, Organizational culture.