The ‘Dark’ Side of Hiring: Behavioural Traits of Self-Advancing Managers

Why It Matters

Hiring dark‑triad employees under self‑advancing managers can embed toxic behavior and increase workplace deviance, threatening organizational performance and reputation.

Key Takeaways

• Agentic managers may hire dark‑triad employees for “dirty work”.
• Preference flips when leaders prioritize personal advancement over communal goals.
• Prestige‑oriented leaders avoid dark‑triad hires, favor ethical staff.
• HR should monitor goal profiles, not just candidate traits.
• “Necessary evils” tasks raise likelihood of selecting manipulative subordinates.

Pulse Analysis

The UBC‑led study adds a nuanced layer to the growing literature on dark‑triad personalities in the workplace. While prior research focused on how such candidates conceal their traits, this work flips the lens to the hiring decision‑maker. Managers with high agentic goals—those driven by personal power, advancement, and dominance—are willing to overlook ethical red flags when they perceive a strategic advantage, such as assigning “dirty work” like terminations or compliance enforcement. This preference is not universal; it emerges only among a small, statistically extreme subset of leaders, highlighting a targeted risk rather than a systemic norm.

For human‑resources professionals, the implications are clear: traditional screening for dark‑triad traits may miss the root cause if the hiring champion is actively seeking those qualities. Organizations should therefore assess managerial goal profiles, using tools that capture agentic versus prestige orientations, and embed governance checks that scrutinize role‑specific hiring rationales. Aligning compensation, promotion pathways, and performance metrics with communal, ethical outcomes can dampen the incentive for self‑serving managers to recruit manipulative subordinates. Moreover, transparent oversight of “necessary evils” tasks—areas where harsh decisions are routine—can prevent the creation of micro‑cultures that tolerate toxicity.

Looking ahead, the study prompts a broader conversation about the functional versus destructive aspects of dark‑triad traits. While certain high‑stakes environments may benefit from decisive, ruthless actors, the long‑term costs of eroded trust, increased turnover, and reputational damage often outweigh short‑term gains. Companies that proactively balance the occasional utility of such personalities with robust ethical safeguards will be better positioned to sustain performance without compromising culture. Future research should explore how interventions—such as leader coaching and goal‑realignment programs—can shift agentic motivations toward prestige‑oriented, people‑centric leadership.