The Cascading Effects of CEO Dark Triad Personality on Subordinate Behavior and Firm Performance: A Multilevel Theoretical Model
基于高层梯队理论和社会交换理论，构建多层次模型，揭示CEO的三种黑暗人格特质如何通过影响高管团队互动质量、破坏性领导等，逐级传导至下属行为并最终影响企业绩效。
Chief executive officer (CEO) personality has emerged as a key predictor of firm performance. A burgeoning literature rooted in psychology has shown that leaders with the dark triad personality traits (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) can have harmful effects on organizations. However, scholars have not fully illuminated the “black box” of processes that explain how and why CEO dark personality matters. Specifically, we know little about the microfoundations of CEOs’ influence: how and why do the effects of CEO dark personality cascade down to affect employees and outcomes throughout the different levels of the firm. Therefore, we explore how CEOs’ personalities shape their relationships with other top management team (TMT) members and how these relationships affect other employees in the organization. Specifically, drawing on upper echelons theory and social exchange theory, we provide a multilevel theoretical model examining how distinct CEO dark triad traits shape CEO–TMT exchange quality, TMT destructive leadership, TMT behavioral integration, subordinates’ counterproductive work behaviors, and ultimately firm performance. Implications for theory, future research, and practice also are discussed.