THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL TRUST, DARK TRIAD PERSONALITY TRAITS, AND SCHOOL CLIMATE: EVIDENCE FROM TEACHERS

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18623/rvd.v23.7345

Keywords:

Organizational Trust, Dark Triad, School Climate, Teachers, Educational Administration

Abstract

This study examines the relationships among organizational trust, dark triad personality traits, and school climate using survey data obtained from 232 participants. The study was designed as a quantitative correlational research. Organizational trust, dark triad personality traits, and school climate scale scores were calculated after coding Likert-type items and reverse-coding negative school climate items. Reliability analysis, KMO-Bartlett tests, exploratory factor analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis, independent-samples t tests, and ANOVA were conducted in accordance with APA reporting standards. Findings indicated that the scale scores were suitable for parametric analysis, reliability coefficients were acceptable to excellent, and organizational trust was positively associated with school climate. Dark triad traits were expected to show negative relationships with organizational trust and school climate; therefore, their predictive effects were tested in a multiple regression model. The findings highlight the importance of strengthening trust-based school cultures and monitoring destructive interpersonal tendencies that may weaken educational climate. The study contributes to educational administration literature by jointly examining a positive organizational variable, a negative personality cluster, and school climate in the same empirical model.

References

Berkowitz, R., Moore, H., Astor, R. A., & Benbenishty, R. (2017). A research synthesis of the associations between socioeconomic background, inequality, school climate, and academic achievement. Review of Educational Research, 87(2), 425-469. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654316669821

Boddy, C. R. (2014). Corporate psychopaths, conflict, employee affective well-being and counterproductive work behaviour. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(1), 107-121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1688-0

Cohen, J., McCabe, E. M., Michelli, N. M., & Pickeral, T. (2009). School climate: Research, policy, practice, and teacher education. Teachers College Record, 111(1), 180-213.

Colquitt, J. A., Scott, B. A., & LePine, J. A. (2007). Trust, trustworthiness, and trust propensity: A meta-analytic test of their unique relationships with risk taking and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(4), 909-927. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.4.909

Collie, R. J., Shapka, J. D., & Perry, N. E. (2012). School climate and social-emotional learning: Predicting teacher stress, job satisfaction, and teaching efficacy. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(4), 1189-1204. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029356

Dirks, K. T., & de Jong, B. (2022). Trust within the workplace: A review of two waves of research and a glimpse of the third. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 9, 247-276. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-083025

Dirks, K. T., & Ferrin, D. L. (2002). Trust in leadership: Meta-analytic findings and implications for research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4), 611-628. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.4.611

Fodor, O. C., Curşeu, P. L., & Meslec, N. (2021). In leaders we trust, or should we? Supervisors' dark triad personality traits and ratings of team performance and innovation. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 650172. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.650172

Forsyth, P. B., Adams, C. M., & Hoy, W. K. (2011). Collective trust: Why schools can't improve without it. Teachers College Press.

Furnham, A., Richards, S. C., & Paulhus, D. L. (2013). The dark triad of personality: A 10 year review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(3), 199-216. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12018

Hoy, W. K., & Tschannen-Moran, M. (1999). Five faces of trust: An empirical confirmation in urban elementary schools. Journal of School Leadership, 9(3), 184-208.

Jones, D. N., & Figueredo, A. J. (2013). The core of darkness: Uncovering the heart of the dark triad. European Journal of Personality, 27(6), 521-531. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1893

Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2014). Introducing the Short Dark Triad (SD3): A brief measure of dark personality traits. Assessment, 21(1), 28-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191113514105

Konold, T., Cornell, D., Jia, Y., & Malone, M. (2018). School climate, student engagement, and academic achievement: A latent variable, multilevel multi-informant examination. AERA Open, 4(4), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858418815661

Kramer, R. M. (1999). Trust and distrust in organizations: Emerging perspectives, enduring questions. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 569-598. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.50.1.569

Legood, A., van der Werff, L., Lee, A., & den Hartog, D. (2021). A meta-analysis of the role of trust in the leadership-performance relationship. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 30(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2020.1819241

Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, F. D. (1995). An integrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 709-734. https://doi.org/10.2307/258792

Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Otgaar, H., & Meijer, E. (2017). The malevolent side of human nature: A meta-analysis and critical review of the literature on the dark triad. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(2), 183-204. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616666070

Paulhus, D. L., & Williams, K. M. (2002). The dark triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 36(6), 556-563. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-6566(02)00505-6

Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2012). Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 539-569. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100452

Thapa, A., Cohen, J., Guffey, S., & Higgins-D'Alessandro, A. (2013). A review of school climate research. Review of Educational Research, 83(3), 357-385. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654313483907

Tschannen-Moran, M. (2014). Trust matters: Leadership for successful schools (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Vize, C. E., Lynam, D. R., Collison, K. L., & Miller, J. D. (2018). Differences among dark triad components: A meta-analytic investigation. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 9(2), 101-111. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000222

Wang, M.-T., & Degol, J. L. (2016). School climate: A review of the construct, measurement, and impact on student outcomes. Educational Psychology Review, 28, 315-352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-015-9319-1

Downloads

Published

2026-07-10

How to Cite

Çavadar, Çağatay, & Yılgın, A. (2026). THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL TRUST, DARK TRIAD PERSONALITY TRAITS, AND SCHOOL CLIMATE: EVIDENCE FROM TEACHERS. Veredas Do Direito, 23(11), e237345. https://doi.org/10.18623/rvd.v23.7345