Cj. Shultz, SITUATIONAL AND DISPOSITIONAL PREDICTORS OF PERFORMANCE - A TEST OF THE HYPOTHESIZED MACHIAVELLIANISM X STRUCTURE INTERACTION AMONG SALES PERSONS, Journal of applied social psychology, 23(6), 1993, pp. 478-498
The hypothesized interaction found in laboratory studies between situa
tional structure and Machiavellianism was tested on working samples of
sales representatives. The results suggested that success or failure
of Machiavellian tactics used in sales organizations appears to depend
on the organization's structure: In loosely structured sales organiza
tions high Machiavellians significantly outperformed low Machiavellian
s, but in tightly structured sales organizations, high Machiavellians
failed to outperform low Machiavellians. These results and implication
s for future research are discussed.