Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dark Triad Managerial Personality and Financial Reporting Manipulation

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between the dark triad personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) of managers and the practice of reporting manipulation using a primary survey of 837 professionals working in accounting and finance departments. We find that (a) managers who exhibit dark personality traits are associated with a higher prevalence of fraudulent accounting practices in their accounting and finance departments and (b) traditional risk management mechanisms are only partially effective in mitigating this effect. Internal audits are effective in curtailing the negative behavior of managers with dark triad traits only if these internal audits are outsourced and performed by independent external personnel but not if they are conducted by internal personnel. This suggests that managers with dark triad traits are able to manipulate other employees quite effectively. Consequently, having external personnel perform the auditing task provides a safeguard against such unethical practices and manipulation. This finding has strong practical implications, as it provides support for outsourcing internal audits rather than keeping them in-house.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The data are available at doi: https://doi.org/10.17632/x9bs359gcb.1.

Notes

  1. The observation that narcissism is no longer a statistically significant determinant of fraudulent activities once a control for psychopathy is included in the model is also consistent with findings by Bailey (2019).

References

  • Abbott, L. J., & Parker, S. (2000). Auditor selection and audit committee characteristics. Auditing: A Journal for Practice & Theory, 19, 46–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abernethy, M. A., Bouwens, J., & van Lent, L. (2004). Determinants of control system design. Accounting Review, 79, 545–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abernethy, M. A., Bouwens, J., & van Lent, L. (2011). The role of performance measures in the intertemporal decisions of business unit managers. Contemporary Accounting Research, 30, 1–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashbaugh-Skaife, H., Collins, D. W., Kinney, W. R., & LaFond, R. (2008). The effect of SOX internal control deficiencies and their remediation on accrual quality. The Accounting Review, 83, 217–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atanasov, V., & Black, B. (2016). Shock-based causal inference in corporate finance and accounting research. Critical Finance Review, 5, 207–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babiak, P., & Hare, R. (2006). Snakes in suits: When psychopaths go to work. Regan Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Babiak, P., Neumann, C. S., & Hare, R. D. (2010). Corporate psychopathy: Talking the walk. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 28, 174–193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, C. D. (2017). Psychopathy and accounting students’ attitudes towards unethical professional practices. Journal of Accounting Education, 41, 15–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, C. D. (2019). The joint effects of narcissism and psychopathy on accounting students’ attitudes towards unethical professional practices. Journal of Accounting Education, 49, 100635.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bamber, L. S., Jiang, J., & Wang, I. Y. (2010). What’s my style? The influence of top managers on voluntary corporate financial disclosure. Accounting Review, 85, 1131–1162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baucus, M. S., & Near, J. P. (1991). Can illegal corporate behavior be predicted? An event history analysis. Academy of Management Journal, 34, 9–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belloli, P., & McNeal, A. (2006). Fraudulent overtime: Access to the company’s time recording system enables a local site manager to commit fraud. Internal Auditor, 63, 91–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berson, Y., Oreg, S., & Dvir, T. (2008). CEO values, organizational culture and firm outcomes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 615–633.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertrand, M., & Schoar, A. (2003). Managing with style: The effect of managers on firm policies. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118, 1169–1208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blickle, G., Schlegel, A., Fassbender, P., & Klein, U. (2006). Some personality correlates of business white-collar crime. Applied Psychology, 55, 220–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boddy, C. R. (2006). The dark side of management decisions: Organisational psychopaths. Management Decision, 44, 1461–1475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boddy, C. R. (2015). Organisational psychopaths: A ten year update. Management Decision, 53, 2407–2432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boddy, C. R. (2016). Unethical 20th century business leaders: Were some of them corporate psychopaths? The case of Robert Maxwell. International Journal of Public Leadership, 12, 76–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brody, R. G., Melendy, S. R., & Perri, F. S. (2012). Commentary from the American accounting association’s 2011 annual meeting panel on emerging issues in fraud research. Accounting Horizons, 26, 513–531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bronson, S. N., Carcello, J. V., Hollingsworth, C. W., & Neal, T. L. (2009). Are fully independent audit committees really necessary? Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 28, 265–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchholz, F., Lopatta, K., & Maas, K. (2019). The deliberate engagement of narcissistic CEOs in earnings management. Journal of Business Ethics, 167, 663–686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buss, D. M., & Shackelford, T. K. (1997). Susceptibility to infidelity in the first year of marriage. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 193–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capalbo, F., Frino, A., Lim, M. Y., Mollica, V., & Palumbo, R. (2018). The impact of CEO narcissism on earnings management. Abacus, 54, 210–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caplan, D. H., & Kirschenheiter, M. (2000). Outsourcing and audit risk for internal audit services. Contemporary Accounting Research, 17, 387–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carey, A. L., Brucks, M. S., Küfner, A. C. P., Holtzman, N. S., & F. große Deters, M. D. Back, M. B. Donnellan, J. W. Pennebaker, and M. R. Mehl, . (2015). Narcissism and the use of personal pronouns revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109, e1–e15.

  • Carey, P., Subramaniam, N., & Ching, K. C. W. (2006). Internal audit outsourcing in Australia. Accounting and Finance, 46, 11–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chakrabarty, S. (2015). The influence of unrelated and related diversification on fraudulent reporting. Journal of Business Ethics, 131, 815–832.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, S.-J., van Witteloostuijn, A., & Eden, L. (2010). From the editors: Common method variance in international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 41, 178–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee, A., & Hambrick, D. C. (2007). It’s all about me: Narcissistic chief executive officers and their effects on company strategy and performance. Administrative Science Quarterly, 52, 351–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee, A., & Pollock, T. (2016). Master of puppets: How narcissistic CEOs construct their professional worlds. Academy of Management Review, 42, 703–725.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chenhall, R. H. (2005). Integrative strategic performance measurement systems, strategic alignment of manufacturing, learning and strategic outcomes: An exploratory study. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 30, 395–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christie, R., & Geis, F. (1970). Implications and speculations. In R. Christie & F. Geis (Eds.), Studies in Machiavellianism (pp. 339–358). Academic Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, J. (2005). Working with monsters: How to identify and protect yourself from the workplace psychopath. Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, T. (1993). Case study: Robert Maxwell: master of corporate malfeasance. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 1, 141–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J., Ding, Y., Lesage, C., & Stolowy, H. (2010). Corporate fraud and managers’ behavior: Evidence from the press. Journal of Business Ethics, 95, 271–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connelly, B. S., & Ones, D. S. (2010). An other perspective on personality: Meta-analytic integration of observers’ accuracy and predictive validity. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 1092–1122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, S., & Peterson, C. (1980). Machiavellianism and spontaneous cheating in competition. Journal of Research in Personality, 14, 70–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coram, P., Ferguson, C., & Moroney, R. (2008). Internal audit, alternative internal audit structures and the level of misappropriation of assets fraud. Accounting and Finance, 48, 543–559.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corry, N., Merritt, R. D., Mrug, S., & Pamp, B. (2008). The factor structure of the narcissistic personality inventory. Journal of Personality Assessment, 90, 593–600.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cragun, O. R., Olsen, K. J., & Wright, P. M. (2020). Making CEO narcissism research great: A review and meta-analysis of CEO narcissism. Journal of Management, 46, 908–936.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cressey, D. (1973). Other people’s money. Patterson Smith.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crowne, D., & Marlowe, D. (1964). The approval motive: Studies in evaluative dependence. Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies, P. J. (2020). How wirecard went from tech star to bankrupt. The Wall Street Journal, 2, 2020.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, G. F. (2009). Managed by the markets: how finance reshaped America. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickson-Swift, V., James, E., & Liamputtong, P. (2008). Undertaking sensitive research in the health and social sciences. Managing boundaries, emotions and risks. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dorminey, J., Fleming, A. S., Kranacher, M.-J., & Riley, R. (2012). The evolution of fraud theory. Issues in Accounting Education, 27, 555–579.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doyle, J. T., Ge, W., & McVay, S. (2007). Accruals quality and internal control over financial reporting. Accounting Review, 82, 1141–1170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Souza, M. F., & de Lima, G. A. S. F. (2015). The dark side of power: The dark triad in opportunistic decision-making. Advances in Scientific and Applied Accounting, 8, 135–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feltovich, N., & Hamaguchi, Y. (2018). The effect of whistle-blowing incentives on collusion: An experimental study of leniency programs. Southern Economic Journal, 84, 1024–1049.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Floyd, F. J., & Widaman, K. F. (1995). Factor analysis in the development and refinement of clinical assessment instruments. Psychological Assessment, 7, 286–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Francis, J., Huang, A. H., Rajgopal, S., & Zang, A. Y. (2008). CEO reputation and earnings quality. Contemporary Accounting Research, 25, 109–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Furnham, A., Richards, S. C., & Paulhus, D. L. (2013). The dark triad of personality: A 10 year review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 3, 199–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge, W., Matsumoto, D., & Zhang, J. L. (2011). Do CFOs have style? An empirical investigation of the effect of individual CFOs on accounting practices. Contemporary Accounting Research, 28, 1141–1179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorsuch, R. L. (1990). Common factor analysis versus component analysis: Some well and little known facts. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 25, 33–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groves, R., Fowler, F., Couper, M., Lepkowski, J., Singer, E., & Tourangeau, R. (2004). Survey methodology. Wiley .

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunnthorsdottir, A., McCabe, K., & Smith, V. (2002). Using the Machiavellianism instrument to predict trustworthiness in a bargaining game. Journal of Economic Psychology, 23, 49–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Prentice Hall.

  • Ham, C., Lang, M., Seybert, N., & Wang, S. (2017). CFO narcissism and financial reporting quality. Journal of Accounting Research, 55, 1089–1135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ham, C., Seybert, N., & Wang, S. (2018). Narcissism is a bad sign: CEO signature size, investment, and performance. Review of Accounting Studies, 23, 234–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hambrick, D. C. (2007). Upper Echelons theory: An update. Academy of Management Review, 32, 334–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hambrick, D. C., & Mason, P. A. (1984). Upper Echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers. Academy of Management Review, 9, 193–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hare, R. D. (1985). Comparison of procedures for the assessment of psychopathy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 7–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harman, H. H. (1976). Modern factor analysis. University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, L., Jackson, S., Owens, J., & Seybert, N. (2021). Recruiting dark personalities for earnings management. Journal of Business Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04761-z

  • Harrison, A., Summers, J., & Mennecke, B. (2018). The effects of the dark triad on unethical behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 153, 53–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogan, R., & Hogan, J. (2001). Assessing leadership: A view from the dark side. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9, 40–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • House, R., & Dessler, G. (1974). The path-goal theory of leadership: some post hoc and a priori tests. In J. Hunt & L. Larson (Eds.), Contingency approaches to leadership (pp. 29–62). Southern Illinois University Press.

  • James, K. L. (2003). The effects of internal audit structure on perceived financial statement fraud prevention. Accounting Horizons, 17, 315–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jonason, P. K., Kaufman, S. B., Webster, G. D., & Geher, G. (2013). What lies beneath the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen: Varied relations with the Big Five. Individual Differences Research, 11, 81–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jonason, P. K., & Webster, G. D. (2010). The dirty dozen: A concise measure of the dark triad. Psychological Assessment, 22, 420–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, D. N., & Hare, R. D. (2016). The mismeasure of psychopathy: A commentary on Boddy’s PM-MRV. Journal of Business Ethics, 138, 579–588.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2014). Introducing the Short Dark Triad (SD3). Assessment, 21, 28–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, H. F., & Rice, J. (1974). Little Jiffy, Mark Iv. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 34, 111–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karamanou, I., & Vafeas, N. (2005). The association between corporate boards, audit committees, and management earnings forecasts: An empirical analysis. Journal of Accounting Research, 43, 453–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerin, R. A., & Peterson, R. A. (1977). Personalization, respondent anonymity, and response distortion in mail surveys. Journal of Applied Psychology, 62, 86–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkman, C. A. (2005). From soap opera to science: towards gaining access to the psychopaths who live amongst us. Psychology and psychotherapy, 78, 379–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koch, I., & Biemann, T. (2014). Signs of narcissism of CEOs: Validating a widely used measure. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2014, 16134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krosnick, J. A., Holbrook, A. L., Berent, M. K., Carson, R. T., Michael Hanemann, W., Kopp, R. J., Cameron Mitchell, R., Presser, S., Ruud, P. A., Kerry Smith, V., et al. (2002). The impact of “no opinion” response options on data quality: Non-attitude reduction or an invitation to satisfice? Public Opinion Quarterly, 66, 371–403.

  • Libby, R., Bloomfield, R., & Nelson, M. W. (2002). Experimental research in financial accounting. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 27, 775–810.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lilienfeld, S. O., & Andrews, B. P. (1996). Development and preliminary validation of a self-report measure of psychopathic personality traits in noncriminal population. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66, 488–524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, X. K., Wright, A. M., & Wu, Y.-J. (2015). Managers’ unethical fraudulent financial reporting: The effect of control strength and control framing. Journal of Business Ethics, 129, 295–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loehlin, J. C. (1990). Component analysis versus common factor analysis: A case of disputed authorship. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 25, 29–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luehlfing, M., Daily, C., Phillips, T., & Smith, L. (2003). Cyber crimes, intrusion, detection, and computer forensics. Internal Auditing, 18, 9–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon, J. G., & White, H. (1985). Some heteroskedasticity-consistent covariance matrix estimators with improved finite sample properties. Journal of Econometrics, 29, 305–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Majors, T. M. (2016). The interaction of communicating measurement uncertainty and the dark triad on managers’ reporting decisions. Accounting Review, 91, 973–992.

  • Malesza, M., & Kaczmarek, M. C. (2020). The convergent validity between self- and peer-ratings of the Dark Triad personality. Current Psychology, 39, 2166–2173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, A. J., Ashleigh, M. J., Baden, D., Ojiako, U., & Guidi, M. G. D. (2015). Corporate psychopathy: Can ‘search and destroy’ and ‘hearts and minds’ military metaphors inspire HRM solutions? Journal of Business Ethics, 128, 495–504.

  • Menon, M. K., & Sharland, A. (2011). Narcissism, exploitative attitudes, and academic dishonesty: An exploratory investigation of reality versus myth. Journal of Education for Business, 86, 50–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J. D., Few, L. R., Seibert, L. A., Watts, A., Zeichner, A., & Lynam, D. R. (2012). An examination of the Dirty Dozen measure of psychopathy: A cautionary tale about the costs of brief measures. Psychological Assessment, 24, 1048–1053.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, B. (2005). Drying out fraud. Internal Auditor, 64, 111–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, P. R. (2012). Attitude, Machiavellianism and the rationalization of misreporting. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 37, 242–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, M. W., & Skinner, D. J. (2013). How should we think about earnings quality? A discussion of “Earnings quality: Evidence from the field.” Journal of Accounting and Economics, 56, 34–41.

  • Nestor, S. (2004). The impact of changing corporate governance norms on economic crime. Journal of Financial Crime, 11, 347–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neumann, C. S., & Hare, R. D. (2008). Psychopathic traits in a large community sample: Links to violence, alcohol use, and intelligence. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 76, 893–899.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oh, I.-S., Wang, G., & Mount, M. K. (2011). Validity of observer ratings of the five-factor model of personality traits: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 762–773.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olsen, K. J., Dworkis, K. K., & Young, S. M. (2014). CEO barcissism and accounting: A picture of profits. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 26, 243–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olsen, K. J., & Stekelberg, J. M. (2015). CEO narcissism and corporate tax sheltering. Journal of American Taxation Association, 38, 1–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppenheimer, D. M., Meyvis, T., & Davidenko, N. (2009). Instructional manipulation checks: Detecting satisficing to increase statistical power. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 867–872.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patrick, C. J. (2007). Antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy. In W. T. O’Donohue, K. A. Fowler, & S. O. Lilienfeld (Eds.), Personality disorders: toward the DSM-V. SAGE.

  • Paulhus, D. L., & Jones, D. N. (2015). Measures of dark personalities. In G. Boyle, D. Saklofske, & G. Matthews (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological constructs (1st ed., pp. 562–594). Academic Press.

  • Paulhus, D. L., & Williams, K. M. (2002). The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 36, 556–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrenko, O. V., Aime, F., Ridge, J., & Hill, A. (2016). Corporate social responsibility or CEO narcissism? CSR motivations and organizational performance. Strategic Management Journal, 37, 262–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 879–903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prawitt, D. F., Smith, J. L., & Wood, D. A. (2009). Internal audit quality and earnings management. The Accounting Review, 84, 1255–1280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramamoorti, S. (2008). The psychology and sociology of fraud: Integrating the behavioral sciences component into fraud and forensic accounting curricula. Issues in Accounting Education, 23, 521–533.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raskin, R., & Shaw, R. (1988). Narcissism and the use of personal pronouns. Journal of Personality, 56, 393–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rauthmann, J. F., & Kolar, G. P. (2012). How “dark” are the Dark Triad traits? Examining the perceived darkness of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Personality and Individual Differences, 53, 884–889.

  • Reed, L. L., Vidaver-Cohen, D., & Colwell, S. R. (2011). A new scale to measure executive servant leadership: Development, analysis, and implications for research. Journal of Business Ethics, 101, 415–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rijsenbilt, A., & Commandeur, H. (2013). Narcissus enters the courtroom: CEO narcissism and fraud. Journal of Business Ethics, 117, 413–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rokeach, M. (1985). Inducing change and stability in belief systems and personality structures. Journal of Social Issues, 41, 153–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rovelli, P., & Curnis, C. (2020). The perks of narcissism: Behaving like a star speeds up career advancement to the CEO position. The Leadership Quarterly, 32(3), 101489.

  • Schilit, H. M., & J. Perler (2010): Financial Shenanigans. How to detect accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in financial reports (3rd ed.). McGraw Hill.

  • Schmidt, D., & Reda, J. (2017). Short- and long-term incentive design criteria among top 200 companies: Study highlights. Journal of Compensation and Benefits, 2017, 14–23.

  • Schnatterly, K., Gangloff, K. A., & Tuschke, A. (2018). CEO wrongdoing: A review of pressure, opportunity, and rationalization. Journal of Management, 44, 2405–2432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schrand, C. M., & Zechman, S. L. C. (2012). Executive overconfidence and the slippery slope to financial misreporting. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 53, 311–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schroeder, D. (2002). Ethics from the top: top management and ethical business. Business Ethics: A European Review, 11, 260–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, M. S., Dunfee, T. W., & Kline, M. J. (2005). Tone at the top: An ethics code for directors? Journal of Business Ethics, 58, 79–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snook, S. C., & Gorsuch, R. L. (1989). Component analysis versus common factor analysis: A Monte Carlo study. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 148–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soltani, B. (2014). The anatomy of corporate fraud: A comparative analysis of high profile American and European corporate scandals. Journal of Business Ethics, 120, 251–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, G. W., Deuling, J. K., & Armenakis, A. A. (2012). Successful psychopaths: Are they unethical decision-makers and why? Journal of Business Ethics, 105, 139–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tourangeau, R., & Smith, T. W. (1996). Asking sensitive questions: The impact of data collection mode, question format, and question context. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 60, 275–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trompeter, G. M., Carpenter, T.D., Desai, N., Jones, K. L., & Riley, R. (2012). A Synthesis of Fraud-Related Research, AUDITING: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 32, 287–321.

  • Webster, G. D., & Jonason, P. K. (2013). Putting the “IRT” in “Dirty”: Item response theory analyses of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen-An efficient measure of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. Personality and Individual Differences, 54, 302–306.

  • Young, S. M., Du, F., Dworkis, K., & Olsen, K. J. (2014). It’s all about all of us–The rise of narcissism and its implications for management control system research. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 28, 1–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zahra, S. A., Priem, R. L., & Rasheed, A. A. (2005). The antecedents and consequences of top management fraud. Journal of Management, 31, 803–828.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zingales, L. (2015). Presidential address: Does finance benefit society? The Journal of Finance, 70, 1327–1363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

We did not receive funding for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paderborn University, Center for Risk Management, Warburger Str. 100, 33098, Paderborn, Germany

    Martin Mutschmann & Matthias Pelster

  2. Bond University, 14 University Drive, Robina, QLD, 4226, Australia

    Tim Hasso

Authors
  1. Martin Mutschmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tim Hasso
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Matthias Pelster
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin Mutschmann.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.

Research Involving Human Participants and Their Data

The procedures performed involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Every precaution was taken to protect the privacy of research subjects and the confidentiality of their personal information. Data gathering was conducted by Martin Mutschmann and Tim Hasso and complied with the ethical requirements of Leuphana University of Lüneburg. The study has clearance of the institutional ethics review board of Paderborn University.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Participation by individuals was voluntary, and all participants could terminate the study at any time without negative consequences.

Additional information

We are grateful for helpful comments and suggestions from Sheila Killian (the editor), four anonymous referees, and seminar participants at University of St. Gallen. Any errors, misrepresentations, and omissions are our own.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (PDF 209 kb)

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 10.

Table 10 Factor analyses
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mutschmann, M., Hasso, T. & Pelster, M. Dark Triad Managerial Personality and Financial Reporting Manipulation. J Bus Ethics 181, 763–788 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04959-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04959-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation