Un(desirable) Traits? The Dark Tetrad Across Academic Disciplines in Higher Education

Holubova, A, Brown, W, Palace, M ORCID: 0000-0003-3016-2118, May, B, Terbeck, S ORCID: 0000-0003-0417-7527 and Denovan, A ORCID: 0000-0002-9082-7225 Un(desirable) Traits? The Dark Tetrad Across Academic Disciplines in Higher Education. Industry & Higher Education. ISSN 0950-4222 (Accepted)

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Abstract

Research suggests that students in certain disciplines, particularly economics and business, may display higher levels of self-interested behaviour than those in other fields. However, it remains unclear whether such differences reflect self-selection, disciplinary socialisation, or their interaction within higher education contexts. Addressing this gap, the present study examined whether Dark Triad and Dark Tetrad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism) differed across disciplinary groupings. Across two studies, university students were categorised into business, law, and economics; natural sciences and engineering; and arts, humanities, and social sciences. In Study 1 (N = 400), students in business, law, and economics reported significantly higher Dark Triad scores than those in arts, humanities, and social sciences, with natural sciences and engineering students also scoring higher than the latter group.
Study 2 (N = 213) replicated these findings using Dark Tetrad measures and examined risk-taking and amoralism, both of which positively predicted Dark Tetrad traits. Overall, students in business-, law-, and economics-related disciplines reported higher levels of socially aversive traits. However, given the cross-sectional design, findings reflect associations rather than causal effects. Results are consistent with both self-selection and socialisation explanations and have implications for curriculum design, student development, and employability in higher education.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1301 Education Systems; 1503 Business and Management; 3505 Human resources and industrial relations; 3507 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour; 3903 Education systems
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology L Education > LB Theory and practice of education L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Divisions:	Psychology (from Sep 2019)
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Date of acceptance:	3 August 2026
Date Deposited:	05 Aug 2026 09:50
Last Modified:	05 Aug 2026 09:50
DOI or ID number:	10.1177/09504222261478687
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29102

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