[1] Conceptualized originally by Richard Christie and Florence Geis, Machiavellianism in psychology refers to a personality trait construct based on a cold, callous and exploitative orientation.
[6] Oliver James wrote on the effects of Machiavellianism and other dark triad personality traits in the workplace, the others being narcissism and psychopathy.
[7] When examining individuals who score high in Machiavellianism, research has identified several characteristic unethical behaviors that commonly manifest, including engaging in theft, practicing deception and dishonesty, deliberately sabotaging others' work, and participating in various forms of cheating to gain advantages.
[11] A new interpretation of how MACH levels specifically affects organizational contexts, encompasses three key elements: the assertion and maintenance of workplace authority, the implementation of severe management practices, and the employment of manipulative behavioral strategies to achieve desired outcomes.
This suggests these personality traits facilitate workplace influence primarily through aggressive and forceful methods rather than subtle approaches.
According to previous study findings, employees high in Machiavellianism may engage in emotionally manipulative behaviors toward their supervisors, especially those low on ethical leadership.
[17] Research examining relationships between Machiavellianism, emotional manipulation, counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) used construct replication methodology across two Amazon Mechanical Turk samples.
Data collected across three phases demonstrated that role conflict triggered CWB through emotional exhaustion, with Machiavellianism serving as a buffering factor.
[13] This can be due to the manipulative behaviors, low empathy, and self-focused motives that individuals high in Machiavellianism may exude in their workplaces.
[13] As a result of being potential victims of these behaviors, employees may experience a lack of trust, higher levels of stress, and a lower sense of commitment to the workplace.
[31] Research has shown that one's level of Machiavellianism can be a major factor in situations where workplace manipulation is involved because this trait can have an effect on the ability for an individual to "fit" into a highly political work environment.
Certain qualities found in the Dark Triad are similar to traits needed for effective entrepreneurship, such as confidence, charisma and risk taking.
[43] Apart from these, another research showed that Machiavellianism was positively associated with subordinate perceptions of abusive supervision (an overlapping concept with workplace bullying).
[44] A study conducted in Poland examined the relationship between workplace bullying (from both victim and perpetrator perspectives), employee Machiavellianism, and perceptions of organizational culture using the Cameron and Quinn framework.
The research, which surveyed 117 employees across various Polish organizations, utilized self-reporting methods to gather data on bullying experiences and perpetration.