Researchers confirm the detrimental effects of psychopathic traits on job performance

A meta-analysis of studies examining the associations between psychopathic traits and workplace behaviors found that higher levels of psychopathic traits are associated with lower task performance and less organizational citizenship behavior. On the other hand, individuals with higher psychopathic traits tended to show more counterproductive work behavior. The research was published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

Psychopathy is a pattern of psychological characteristics that includes a tendency to manipulate other people, emotional deficits, and antisocial behavior. It includes traits such as a lack of empathy, shallow affect, deceitfulness, impulsivity, and reduced guilt or remorse. It is commonly divided into primary and secondary psychopathy.

Primary psychopathy is a subtype of psychopathy characterized by emotional coldness, low anxiety, fearlessness, and interpersonal dominance. Individuals high in primary psychopathy tend to be calculating, manipulative, and relatively emotionally stable. These traits are thought to primarily depend on biological factors and temperament.

Secondary psychopathy, in contrast, is characterized by impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, hostility, and high negative affect. Individuals high in secondary psychopathy frequently show reactive aggression and heightened sensitivity to stress. Secondary psychopathy is more strongly associated with adverse environmental factors, such as trauma or a chaotic upbringing.

The study authors, Lenke Roth and Ute-Christine Klehe, wanted to integrate the results of existing studies investigating the link between psychopathy and core workplace-related behaviors. Their hypotheses were that psychopathy would be associated with lower levels of desirable workplace behaviors and higher levels of undesirable ones. More specifically, they expected that individuals with pronounced psychopathic traits would show lower task performance and organizational citizenship behavior, but more counterproductive workplace behavior.

Organizational citizenship behaviors are discretionary employee behaviors that go beyond formal job requirements and contribute to the effective functioning of an organization. They include activities such as helping coworkers, voluntarily taking on extra tasks, sharing information, and showing initiative that supports the organization beyond what is formally expected of the individual.

Counterproductive workplace behaviors are intentional behaviors that jeopardize an organization’s interests via intentional neglect of duties and/or through deliberate action to damage the organization or the well-being of its members (e.g., taking excessively long breaks, sabotage, bullying).

The study authors searched databases of academic publications and one previous meta-analysis on a similar topic, looking for studies that reported links between measures of psychopathy and the organizational behaviors of interest. The search resulted in 166 independent samples with 49,350 psychopathy scores (i.e., psychopathy measures from that many individuals). These results were published between 2008 and 2024.

The results showed that individuals with more pronounced psychopathic characteristics tended to show reduced task performance and lower organizational citizenship behavior. On the other hand, psychopathic individuals tended to show higher levels of counterproductive work behavior. The observed effects were mostly due to secondary psychopathic traits.

“Results confirmed the largely detrimental effects of psychopathy overall to workplace-related behavior, as well as of secondary psychopathy and to a lesser extent primary psychopathy. Moderation analyses highlighted the relevance of age, organizational tenure, and hierarchical level on the effects of psychopathy,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the specificities of the organizational behavior of individuals with pronounced psychopathic traits. However, the study authors note that this meta-analysis provides data on associations only and did not allow them to map the underlying processes of social exchange (e.g., perceptions of reciprocal fairness, commitment, trust, etc.) that produce the observed associations.

The paper, “The Enemy Within One’s Own Ranks: Meta-Analysis on the Effects of Psychopathy on Workplace-Related Behavior,” was authored by Lenke Roth and Ute-Christine Klehe.