Shedding light on the relationships between Machiavellianism, career ambition, and unethical behavior intention

ABSTRACT

This research aims at revealing how Machiavellianism correlates with the propensity to engage in unethical behavior. The mediating role of career ambition was thus investigated for this purpose. This research posits that career ambition partially mediates the relationship between Machiavellianism and unethical behavior intention. The research model was tested via Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Research data were collected from full-time hotel employees and managers in Antalya, Turkey. The findings revealed that Machiavellianism positively correlated with career ambition and unethical behavior intention. Furthermore, the mediating role of career ambition in the relationship between Machiavellianism and unethical behavior intention was verified. Specifically, Machiavellianism predicted career ambition, which in turn predicted unethical behavior intention. Finally, considering the fact that the dark sides of the antecedents and consequences of career ambition have been neglected to a significant extent in the literature, the current study makes a significant contribution to filling this gap.

KEYWORDS:

• Career ambition
• Machiavellianism
• unethical behavior intention
• hotel industry

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.