Beyond the bright side: dark personality at work. (2015)

“…we set out to expand the discussion …. beyond the Dark Triad (Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) and DSM-IV Axis 2-based models that have dominated research in this area.”

P. D. Harms, University of Nebraska, USA
Seth M. Spain, Binghamton University, USA
One of the articles in Applied Psychology’s special issue: ‘Beyond the bright side: dark personality in the workplace’. January 2015, Volume 64, Issue 1

“Despite the long history of the psychological study of dark personality characteristics and the recent surge of interest in the topic, much work remains to fully understand the breadth and depth of the impact of dark personality in the workplace.

“This commentary briefly covers the history of dark personality, discusses the place of this special issue within that history, and then proposes a number of avenues for future research in terms of defining, measuring, and providing a more comprehensive theoretical framework for the study of dark personality.

“When we set out to put together this special issue, we specifically set out with the ambition to expand the discussion surrounding dark traits beyond the Dark Triad (Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) and DSM-IV Axis 2-based models that have dominated the research in this area.

“Our second goal was to consolidate and enhance the foundations of dark personality in the workplace

“…we cannot help but feel that the work in this area is far from complete. As noted above, research on the topic of dark personality in the context of the workplace is still relatively new and somewhat still ill-defined. We would like to spend the remaining part of this commentary detailing some of our thoughts as to where we see potential for further advancement.”

Access the full article here: Beyond the bright side