A study of Pakistan’s banking sector reveals a troubling link between the “dark tetrad” personality traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism, and a toxic workplace. The work, published in the International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, sheds light on the interplay of manipulation, malice, and mental health in the digital age and shows how this fuels cyberbullying and leads to female employees leaving their jobs prematurely, with significant implications for workplace culture and organizational resilience.
The “dark tetrad” is a well-known term in psychology used to refer to a malignant quartet of personality traits that are often associated with toxic behaviour from those with those characteristics including calculated deceit, self-aggrandizement; a lack of empathy and emotional detachment, feeling pleasure in causing damage or harm to others. In the workplace, such traits lead to antagonism, bullying, and persistent and deliberate harm. In the digital age, these problems might be inflicted online rather than in person, face-to-face, which means they may remain hidden.
Rimsha Baheer of the Institute of Business and Management at the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan, Kanwal Iqbal Khan of the Department of Management Sciences at the University of Engineering and Technology, New Campus, KSK, Pakistan, and Shahid Mahmood of the Institute of Business, Management and Administrative Sciences at The Islamia University of Bahawalpur in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, have surveyed banking workers across Pakistan.
The team’s analysis of the data shows that behaviour associated with the dark tetrad of personality traits targets women in disproportionately. This leads to the exacerbation of mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression, and a loss of confidence. They found that sadism is the most pernicious trait, have a more troubling effect on its victims than narcissism or psychopathy. The researchers point out that those on the receiving end of cyberbullying may struggle with their mental health and might consider leaving their jobs under such pressure.
Overall, the research gives us a stark picture of the cascading effects of workplace toxicity across Pakistan’s banking sector that may well play out elsewhere in the world. It represents a wake-up call for employers seeing an otherwise inexplicably high staff turnover. The researchers suggest that proactive intervention is the way forward to address the problem. By fostering a culture of inclusivity, promoting respectful communication, and providing support for mental health, it might be possible to combat the ripple effects of the dark tetrad. Fundamentally though, it may also raise warning flags to these kinds of personality traits and nudge recruiters and human resource managers to avoid employing such toxic people in the first place.
Baheer, R., Khan, K.I. and Mahmood, S. (2024) ‘Unveiling the consequences of dark tetrad personality traits among female employees: linking cyberbullying and mental health with workplace outcomes’, Int. J. Work Organisation and Emotion, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp.305–330.