Exploring the Cause and Effect of Consequences of the Light Triad Personality Manifestation in Public Organizations Managers

A light triad is an alternative structure to the dark triad, which consists of Kantianism, humanism, and faith in humanity. Public organizations play a significant role in Iran because of their strong influence on the lives of the Iranian nation and this structure can positively impact public organizations.  As a result, the manifestation of the light triad personality by managers and key people in Iran’s public organizations is important. This study aims to add to the body of knowledge in this field by investigating the cause and effect of manifesting consequences of the Light Triad personality of managers in Iranian public organizations.
This study uses a mixed methodology combining qualitative and quantitative research. It employs a deductive-inductive logical approach, as well. Professors and middle and senior managers from Iranian public organizations participated in the qualitative phase of the current study. Twenty individuals were sampled using the snowball technique and the purposive sampling method to achieve the research objective. Participants in the quantitative phase of the research included middle and senior managers from government agencies, and 42 managers from this field participated in this study, using stratified random sampling. Face-to-face interviews with open questions were conducted during the qualitative phase. Following that, the light triad of managers’ personalities in public organizations was coded, and the consequences were identified. The codes obtained from the interviews were provided to the interviewees to verify the accuracy of coding and concept extraction.
Based on the data gathered from semi-structured interviews, this study identified 14 consequences of light triad manifestations of the personality of public organization managers. The cause and effect of the Light Triad personality of managers were investigated using the DEMATEL method. The DEMATEL method analyzes causal relationships between complex and multiple factors to build a structural model. To solve complex problems, a group of experts outlined the cause-and-effect relationships between various factors. This study used the DEMATEL method to evaluate the quantitative data to obtain comprehensive and accurate information. According to the DEMATEL analysis, the top influencing factors were a positive mental image, leader-follower exchanges, employee retention, and integration. Furthermore, the top factors affected by other outcomes were organization development and excellence, organizational satisfaction and trust, effective communication, and benevolent orientation.
The Light Triad personality of managers has beneficial effects on employees' organizational life. However, this factor has been overlooked by management and organizational researchers since its introduction. Managers, researchers, and human resource practitioners must be aware of this new personality structure to enrich and operationalize the research literature in organizational settings.