Tell me who you are, I'll tell you how you lead: Beyond the Full-Range Leadership Model, the role of corporate psychopathy on employee attitudes. (December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mathieu, Cynthia; Babiak, Paul
• Is Part Of: Personality and individual differences. Volume 87(2015)
• Page Start: 8
• Page End: 12
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Subjects: Corporate psychopathy -- B-Scan 360 -- Employee attitudes -- Job satisfaction -- Turnover intentions -- Work motivation -- Job neglect; Personality -- Periodicals; Individuality -- Periodicals; Individuality -- Periodicals; Personality Development -- Periodicals; Personnalité -- Périodiques; Individualité -- Périodiques; 155.205
• DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2015.07.016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0191-8869

Abstract

Abstract: The role of corporate psychopathic traits in supervisors on employee attitudes has yet to be studied. The goal of the present study is to test the impact of corporate psychopathy in leaders on their employee's attitudes and its impact above and beyond the influence of leadership styles associated with the Full-Range Leadership Model (Transformational, Transactional and Laissez-Faire leadership). A total of 74 supervisors and 423 subordinates participated in this study. Employees completed self-report measures of job satisfaction, turnover intentions, work motivation and job neglect. They also rated their immediate supervisor on the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and the B-Scan 360 (a corporate psychopathy measure). Hierarchical linear regressions indicated that the B-Scan 360 total score was the best predictor of employee's job satisfaction, turnover intentions, work motivation and job neglect (beyond the influence of the Full Range leadership Model). These results indicate that, for our sample, the B-Scan 360 is a stronger predictor of employee attitudes than the three leadership styles comprising the Full-Range Leadership Model. These results represent a stepping stone for future research trying to unravel the factors associated with dark leadership and its impact on employee attitudes. Highlights: We tested the impact of supervisors' corporate psychopathy on employees' attitudes. We tested the impact of psychopathy beyond the Full-Range Leadership Model. Laissez-Faire leadership had more influence than other leadership styles. Corporate psychopathy had the most significant influence on employee attitudes.