Personality refers to partly heritable, and relatively stable individual differences in the way people behave, think and feel. Because personality characteristics are such fundamental characteristics of people, they have been found to predict an array of important life-outcomes, such as physical and mental health, relationships, and work outcomes. In the workplace, personality characteristics have for instance been found to predict such outcomes as work performance, commitment, burn-out, turnover, and workplace deviance.
Research on personality in our group focuses mainly on the (mostly) detrimental effects of negative personality characteristics in the workplace. More specifically, we focus on the effects of the Dark Triad traits, a constellation of three socially aversive personality traits: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. These traits may help people move forward in their career, are more prevalent among those in leadership positions, but can have severe negative consequences for the organization, and its employees. Other personality characteristics are also examined in our group, such as dispositional envy and jealousy, and individual differences in motivation and needs. Finally, we also pay attention to the structure and assessment of personality.
Research questions
- How can the detrimental effects of having leaders with high Dark Triad scores be counteracted?
- Are certain employees more at risk from being targeted by colleagues with high Dark Triad scores?
- Why do employees with high Dark Triad scores display more negative work behaviors?
- Can negative traits be effectively assessed in a selection situation?
- What are the most important personality characteristics to assess in personnel selection?
- What instruments are best used for this purpose?
Relevant publications
- Barelds, D. P. H., Dijkstra, P., & van Brummen-Girigori, O. (2020). A cock in the henhouse: Relations between Dark Triad, jealousy, and sex ratio. Journal of Individual Differences, 41(2), 78-85. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000306
- Braun, S., Sleebos, E., Zou, L. L., & Wisse, B. M. (2025). Sparking or smothering darkness: Motivational climates influence the leader grandiose narcissism–follower trust relation via leader self-serving behaviour. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 98, e12555. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12555
- De Raad, B., & Barelds, D. (2020). Models of personality structure. In P. J. Corr, & G. Matthews (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of personality psychology (2 ed., pp. 115-128). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108264822.012
- Laurijssen, M.L., Wisse, B., Sanders, S., & Sleebos, E.P. (2023). How to neutralize primary psychopathic leaders’ damaging impact: Rules, sanctions, and transparency. Journal of Business Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05303-x
- Wisse, B., Rus, D., & Schyns, B. (2026). Corporate psychopaths: The regulating forces of organizational dynamics (pp. 142-156). In B. Sheehy, C. Boddy & B. Murphy (Eds.), Research Handbook on Corporate Psychopathy. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
- Wisse, B., Sleebos, E., & Keller, A. C. (2024). The mask of sanity? Leader primary psychopathy and the effects of leader emotion regulation strategies on followers. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 31(2), 146-165. https://doi.org/10.1177/15480518241247113
