HETEROGENEITY AND CENTRALITY OF “DARK PERSONALITY” WITHIN TEAMS, EMERGENCE OF SHARED LEADERSHIP, AND TEAM PERFORMANCE: TEST OF A MODERATED-MEDIATION MODEL

Abstract

This dissertation aims to advance understanding of team composition, processes, and performance by shifting from the much-studied five-factor model of personality and focusing on “dark personality” (i.e. the “Dark Triad”: Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and Narcissism) and adopting a social network analysis approach. The research responds to a call to explore dark personality’s manifestation within -- and impact on -- teams. Specifically, in this study I examine within-team heterogeneity in dark personality and its impact on team performance, with the emergence of shared leadership as mediator of this relationship. Additionally, I examine two proposed moderators of the relationship between within-team dark triad heterogeneity and shared leadership emergence -- team network centrality of the team member scoring highest on the Dark Triad, and team mean Dark Triad score. The results suggest Dark Triad heterogeneity did not impact team performance and the hypothesized mediating role of shared leadership was not supported. Moreover, moderated-mediation by the aforementioned moderators also did not receive support. Nonetheless, this research makes a uniquely valuable contribution to scholarship on leadership within teams by offering a framework that bridges literatures on social network analysis, teams, leadership, and the dark triad and should have implications for team selection and performance.