When do the ‘dark personalities’ become less counterproductive? The moderating role of job control and social support

INTRODUCTION: The objective of the study is to examine how job resources modify the relationship between the Dark Triad (DT) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Specifically the study examined: (a) the direct link between DT and CWB; (b) the moderation effects of two kinds of job resources (job control and social support); (c) the moderated moderation effect of the job resources (job control × social support) on the DT-CWB link. Moreover, the effect of social approval on CWB was controlled. METHOD: Data were collected among 659 white-collar and blue-collar workers. The hypotheses were tested by means of the PROCESS method. RESULTS: As expected in the hypotheses, a high DT level was found to be directly related to high CWB, and job control moderated (intensified) the link. Social support did not moderate the DT-CWB link. The moderated moderation effect was supported. Social support increases the moderation effect of job control on the DT-CWB link. The lowest level of CWB is observed when job control was low and social support was high.