New research examines: Can religion tame dark personalities at work?

A new study suggests the connection between an employee’s religious practices and their tendency toward self-interest at work is more complex than it might appear. The research indicates that any protective effect of religion against egoistic behaviors depends on both an individual’s personal sense of connection with God and the ethical atmosphere of their workplace. The paper was published in the Journal of Religion and Health.

The role of religion in professional settings has been a relatively neglected area of study, particularly outside of the United States. Much of the existing research has focused on how religious belief can promote positive workplace virtues like gratitude or forgiveness. Less is known about whether religiosity might help prevent negative personality traits from manifesting as antisocial or unethical behavior on the job.

Marcin Wnuk, a researcher in the Department of Work and Organizational Psychology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland, sought to explore this gap, specifically within the context of Poland, a country where a large majority of the population identifies as religious.

The study centered on a set of three personality traits known collectively as the “dark triad”: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. While these are distinct traits, they share an underlying tendency toward self-centeredness, manipulativeness, and a lack of concern for others. The research investigated if religious practices like prayer or attending Mass were associated with lower levels of these traits, and in turn, with less egoism at work, which is defined as an attitude of caring only for one’s own interests, even at the expense of colleagues or the organization.

The study also examined two other important factors. The first was an employee’s perception of their personal relationship with God, a subjective feeling of bonding and support. The second was the “instrumental ethical climate” of the workplace, which describes an environment where employees perceive that self-interest is the primary driver of behavior and that looking out for oneself is the expected norm.

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To conduct the study, the researcher administered a series of questionnaires to 434 employees in Poland. Participants answered questions about the frequency of their prayer and Mass attendance. They also completed assessments designed to measure their levels of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, as well as their tendency toward egoistic attitudes at work. Additional questionnaires gauged their personal sense of a relationship with God and their perception of the ethical climate at their job.

The analysis revealed a nuanced set of relationships. The frequency of religious practices alone was not consistently associated with lower levels of dark triad traits. For instance, simply attending Mass more often was linked to lower narcissism, but prayer on its own showed no direct link to any of the three traits. The connection became clearer when the employee’s perception of a bond with God was considered.

Prayer was associated with lower narcissism and lower psychopathy, but only for individuals who also reported a strong, positive relationship with God. Among those who felt a weak connection to God, prayer was unexpectedly associated with higher levels of Machiavellianism. This suggests that the internal, relational aspect of faith may be a key component in how religious behavior influences personality expression.

The study also confirmed that all three dark triad traits were positively associated with higher levels of egoism at work. An employee with higher levels of narcissism, Machiavellianism, or psychopathy was more likely to report an egoistic attitude in their professional life. This finding set the stage for examining how the workplace environment might influence this connection.

The workplace’s ethical climate was found to play a significant role, though not always in the expected way. For employees with psychopathic tendencies, working in an environment that promoted self-interest amplified the link to egoism. In other words, a self-serving workplace appeared to activate or encourage the expression of egoistic behavior in these individuals.

The finding for Machiavellianism was different. In a workplace with a strong self-interest climate, the positive link between Machiavellianism and egoism was actually weaker. One possible interpretation offered is that in an environment where everyone is expected to be self-serving, individuals with Machiavellian traits may not need to engage in as much active manipulation to achieve their goals, slightly reducing the expression of their egoistic motivation. The ethical climate had no observable effect on the relationship between narcissism and egoism.

The study has some limitations that point toward avenues for future inquiry. Because the data was collected at a single point in time, it shows associations between these factors, but it cannot establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship. The findings are also specific to a sample of Polish employees, who are predominantly Roman Catholic, and may not be generalizable to other cultural or religious contexts. Future research could track employees over time to better understand these dynamics or explore these questions in more religiously diverse populations.

The study, “The Indirect Relationship Between Religious Practices and Egoism at Work Through Dark-Triad Traits? A Sample of Polish Employees,” was authored by Marcin Wnuk.