Are Managers More Machiavellian than Other Employees?

61 Pages Posted: 11 Aug 2023

See all articles by Mehrzad Baktash

Mehrzad Baktash

University of Trier

Uwe Jirjahn

University of Trier - Faculty of Economics

Abstract

Concerns about corporate scandals and abusive leadership suggest that individuals with an opportunistic and manipulative personality take advantage of incomplete incentive and control systems to get their way into managerial positions. Against this background, we examine whether there is an association between Machiavellianism and occupying a managerial position. We suggest how to incorporate the psychological concept of Machiavellianism into agency theory and hypothesize that individuals scoring high on Machiavellianism are more likely to attain and keep a managerial position. Using a large and representative panel dataset from Germany, our empirical analysis confirms a strong and positive relationship between Machiavellianism and occupying a managerial position. This result holds in various robustness checks and in instrumental variable estimations accounting for possible endogeneity. Furthermore, our analysis provides evidence that the relationship is monotone; i.e., those with the highest scores of Machiavellianism are most likely to be managers. It also suggests that the direction of influence runs from Machiavellianism to occupational status and not vice versa.

Keywords: Machiavellianism, dark triad, managers, agency theory, occupational sorting

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JEL Classification: D23, D90, J24, M12, M51

Suggested Citation

Baktash, Mehrzad and Jirjahn, Uwe, Are Managers More Machiavellian than Other Employees?. IZA Discussion Paper No. 16361, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4538025 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4538025

Mehrzad Baktash (Contact Author)

University of Trier

15, Universitaetsring
Trier, 54286
Germany

Uwe Jirjahn

University of Trier - Faculty of Economics ( email )

Trier, 54286
Germany

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