This paper is concerned with the relationship between dark side personality traits and emotional intelligence (EI). It has been argued in both popular books as well as academic papers that EI is essential for leadership and management success, and generally beneficial in all jobs in the workplace ([25]). Key elements of EI that are said to contribute to success in the workplace are: the ability to recognize and manage one’s own emotions appropriately, to maintain good relationships with others, to make good decisions while under pressure, to manage stress effectively, and to be adaptable in the face of ambiguity ([49]).

When individuals no longer manage their behavior appropriately in times of stress, this is often referred to as “derailing”. Research has shown that derailment can be attributed to 11 personality characteristics popularly referred to as the “dark side” of personality. Both emotional intelligence and derailers have been correlated with the personality trait Neuroticism, depicting either end of the continuum of scores on the factor. This common conceptual origin means that there should be meaningful correlations between measures of emotional intelligence and measures of derailers.

There have been a number of papers that have examined the relationship between EI and the dark side, mainly looking at the dark triad ([2]; [23]; [34]; [40]; [39]). Indeed, there has been a review of the dark side of emotional intelligence. [8] reviewed 34 papers and found negative effects of EI across multiple contexts (health, academic, occupational). They also found that self-perceptions (trait facets) or actual emotional skills contributed to poorer outcomes, particularly emotional awareness and management. A few of these studies relevant to this suggested that EI was often associated with psychopathy ([27]; [28]; [51]).

This study is a partial replication of [17] study. However, it differs in three ways. First, it uses the new EQ-i 2.0 test rather than the earlier Bar-On EQ-i. The more recent scale has both new facets and new composite scales added. Secondly, it has a larger and much more diverse sample. Thirdly, [17] were interested in the extent to which the dark-side traits predicted the EQ domain scores, whereas in this paper, we are interested in the extent to which the EQ domain and facets predict the higher order dark-side factors.

Based on previous research, we therefore tested four hypotheses.First, that the HDS would factor into three higher order factors: moving away from people; moving against people; and moving toward people.Second, that EQ scores at the domain and facet level will be (a) negatively correlated with the moving away factor because of the preference of these types often to minimize social interaction, (b) positively correlated with the moving against factor because of the interest in these types to control and manipulate others, and (c) positively correlated with the moving toward factor because of the interest in these types to receive approval and protection of others.

There was a very small amount of missing or incomplete data (<2%). However, this meant that the number of people completing both questionnaires varied very slightly between 431 and 436, as shown by the respective degrees of freedom in the tables below.

First, a MANOVA followed by specific ANOVAs was computed between men and women on both tests. Table 1 and Table 2 show that there were only three significant differences between men and women on the two scales. In accordance with various previous studies, men were more Mischievous and Imaginative but less Diligent than women on the HDS. However, the effect sizes were all small, and these differences are unlikely to be observable.

Table 1. Differences between gender groups on the HDS scales.

Table 2. Differences between gender groups on the EQ-i composite scales.

***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05.

Table 3 shows the correlations between the scales. A clear pattern emerged: All five moving away dark side traits (Excitable, Skeptical, Cautious, Reserved, Leisure) correlated negatively with all five EQ scores, while, with few exceptions, the moving against (Bold, Mischievous, Colorful, Imaginative) dark side traits were positively correlated with EQ. These results are similar to those found in previous research by [50], where the moving against scales of the HDS were positively related to interpersonal relationships and other aspects of intrapersonal emotional intelligence.

The eleven dark side scores were then subjected to various factor analyses with different rotations, which gave very similar results. The Varimax, orthogonal rotation analysis is shown in Table 4. We used the Eigenvalue > 1.00 rule to determine the number of factors.

Table 3. Correlations between HDS scales and EQ components.

Note. **p < .01, *p < .05.

Table 4. Principle factor axis analysis of HDS scales.

The first factor was clearly the Moving Away factor, and the second the Moving Againstfactor, but the third and fourth factors contained just one scale each (Diligent and Dutiful, respectively). Previous factor analyses of the HDS have shown, in effect, almost identical results ([16]; [5]).

Following this, four hierarchical regressions were computed with the factor scores from the above analysis as the criterion variable. Bivariate correlations suggested there was not a serious multicollinearity problem. In the first step, age and gender were entered, and in the second step, it was the five EQ scores. The first regression was significant and accounted for a third of the variance. People in the moving away factor tended to score low on Self-Expression and Stress Management. The second regression was significant and accounted for around a fifth of the variance. People in the moving against cluster had high scores on Self-Perception, Self-Expression, and Interpersonal but low scores on Decision Making. The third regression was significant and accounted for just under ten percent of the variance. Diligent people tended to score high on Decision Making but low on Stress Management. The fourth regression was significant and accounted for 17 percent of the variance. Dutiful people were high on Interpersonal but low on Self-Expression and Stress Management. This can be seen in Table 5.

The above regressions were repeated, but this time using the 15 facets rather than the five domain EQ scores. These are shown in Table 6. This allows for a finer-grained analysis of the relationship between the two variables. Again, all regressions were significant, accounting for between 16 and 43% of the variance. Two facets were closely related to the first factor: Those who scored high on moving away scored low on Emotional Expression and Flexibility. Three facets were closely related to the second factor: Those who scored high on moving against scored high on Assertiveness and Interpersonal Relations but low on Impulse Control. Six facets were closely related to the third factor: Diligent people scored high on Self-Actualization, Assertiveness, Problem Solving, and Impulse Control but low on Reality Testing and Flexibility. Finally, six facets were closely related to the fourth factor: Dutiful people scored high on Interpersonal Relations and Optimism but low on Assertiveness, Independence, Flexibility, and Stress-Tolerance.

Table 5. Regression analysis on HDS.

Note. ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05.

Table 6. Regression analysis.

Note. ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05.

This study demonstrated that dark-side traits are systematically related to emotional intelligence. It replicates other studies with different measures of both EQ and the dark-side as well as on different populations. The results supported most, but not all, hypotheses tested, and compared to [17], the relationship between the two measures was stronger in this study.

The correlation results suggested that all five moving away dark-side traits were negatively correlated with all EQ scores, particularly stress management. This suggests that individuals with lower emotional intelligence literally move away from others during times of stress or change and hence do not learn the essential skills to manage negative behaviors effectively. Similarly, the overly brash and confident (moving against others) learn to manipulate others using these skills.

The HDS measure factored into four rather than three scales, which occasionally happens ([17]), because the two moving towards scales (Diligent and Dutiful) are sufficiently distinct not to load on the same factor. This was made clear in the regressions, where Decision Making was positively and Stress Management negatively related to Diligence, while Self-Perception and Stress Management were negatively and Interpersonal EQ strongly positively related to the Dutiful dark-side trait.

Compared to [17], the relationship between these two measures was much stronger. Thus, the regression on the moving away traits onto the five EQ domains accounted for a third of the variance, whereas in the [17] study, most regressions accounted for often less than ten percent of the variance. The analysis at the 15-facet level provided better insight into the associations between the two variables.

Most researchers suggest that EQ is an asset in the workplace. This study shows clearly that a number of people with elevated dark-side traits are unlikely to be emotionally intelligent. Those who are Cautious, Dutiful, Excitable, Leisurely, Reserved, and Skeptical tend to be low on emotional self-expression and stress management. However, those who are Bold, Mischievous, and Colorful have many high EQ scores. Indeed, it is this that makes them potentially dangerous in the sense that their EQ skills make them more effective at manipulating others. Data from many studies show that, paradoxically, some of the dark-side factors are associated with leadership potential and success as defined by such things as promotion to managerial level ([29]). One study showed that while high scores on the derailers seem associated with speed of promotion, they are also associated with later leadership failure ([15]).

Further, there is evidence that the pattern of dark-side traits is very different between job types and sectors ([19]). Three studies with data from different countries have shown that dark-side factors can help “climb the greasy pole” of leadership within organizations ([26]). This study, however, showed those from the Moving Against Others factor were very low on Impulse Control, which no doubt accounts for their derailment as leaders.

A major limitation of the study is method-invariance and cross-sectional, which is particularly problematic with work-related studies. It also means that we cannot infer causation. Having only self-report measures presents two problems: first, it tends to increase the reported size of relationships, and also there may be problems associated with social desirability. However, the derailers have been shown not to have their validity threatened by social desirability problems ([42]). Yet, it would always be most desirable to have observation data (multi-source data) or, better still, behavioral data as work success criteria in future studies.

This is obtainable from the first author upon request.

This paper was not pre-registered with the journal.

Participants gave consent for their anonymised data to be analysed and published.

There was no funding for this research.