An insider's dilemma : the role of the dark triad in insider threats

Abstract

The Dark Triad personality traits have been implicated in numerous insider threat incidents, yet little empirical research was done to examine its role more thoroughly in this context. This paper seeks to address this gap by utilizing a social cognitive approach to understand the psychological mechanisms that underlie an insider’s (with Dark Triad qualities) mind prior to their behavioural choices. Findings revealed that personality variables were not significant predictors of the of malicious insider threat occurrences through the construct of a self- regulation dilemma. This suggests that contextual variables would need to be considered in order to better understand a phenomenon as complex as this. Nonetheless, the role of the Dark Triad still seems to have a viable influence on insider threats, as they were found to be associated with the proclivity for malicious insider threat. The implications of these results for the understanding of dark personality features in the workplace are discussed.