How innovative is your employee? The role of employee and supervisor dark triad personality traits in supervisor perceptions of employee innovative behavior

Organizational researchers have focused on the potential benefits of the Dark Triad personality traits (i.e., psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) in organizational contexts. The current research builds on this research, examining the link between employee and supervisor Dark Triad traits and perceived employee innovative behavior (idea generation, idea promotion, and idea implementation) on the workfloor. Regression analysis on the data of 306 pairs of employees and their supervisors revealed that employee Machiavellianism was negatively related and employee psychopathy was not related to supervisor ratings of employee innovative behavior. In addition, a positive relationship between employee narcissism and supervisor ratings of employee innovative behavior emerged. However, this effect was weakened by supervisor narcissism: only when supervisors themselves were low on narcissism did employee narcissism foster positive perceptions of employee innovative behavior (specifically idea promotion). We discuss the value of differentiating between the three Dark Triad traits and the subscales of innovative behavior in order to more fully understand supervisors’ assessments of their employees.