Objective: This study investigated people's willingness to emotionally manipulate others maliciously and disingenuously in the workplace. It also examined the role of gender, emotional intelligence, and the Dark Triad traits in this destructive behaviour. Method: A sample of employees (N = 765; 581 females, 184 males) from varying occupations completed measurements of emotional manipulation willingness in the workplace, emotional intelligence, and the Dark Triad. Results: T-tests revealed that females were significantly less likely than males to engage in both malicious and disingenuous emotional manipulation. In bivariate correlations, higher levels of emotional intelligence were associated with disingenuous emotional manipulation in females only. Emotional intelligence was also a significant contributor to disingenuous emotional manipulation in multiple regression analysis, indicating the existence of a “dark side to emotional intelligence” at work. In females, the magnitude of correlations (small to moderate) between the Dark Triad traits and both forms of emotional manipulation were similar. In males, both forms of emotional manipulation most strongly correlated with Machiavellianism, followed by narcissism, then psychopathy. Conclusion: This study is the first to demonstrate that good emotional intelligence skills can facilitate undesirable workplace behaviours. Emotional manipulation is elevated in males with a relentless drive to achieve goals, and in females with broader deceptive tendencies.

中文翻译：

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情商的阴暗面：性别和黑暗三合会在工作情绪操纵中的作用

目的：本研究调查了人们在工作场所恶意和不诚实地在情感上操纵他人的意愿。它还检查了性别、情商和黑暗三合会特征在这种破坏性行为中的作用。方法：来自不同职业的员工样本（N = 765；581 名女性，184 名男性）完成了工作场所情绪操纵意愿、情商和黑暗三合会的测量。结果：T 检验显示，女性参与恶意和不诚实的情绪操纵的可能性明显低于男性。在双变量相关性中，更高水平的情商仅与女性不诚实的情绪操纵有关。情商也是多元回归分析中不诚实的情绪操纵的重要贡献者，表明工作中存在“情商的阴暗面”。在女性中，黑暗三合会特征与两种情绪操纵形式之间的相关程度（小到中等）相似。在男性中，两种形式的情绪操纵都与马基雅维利主义密切相关，其次是自恋，然后是精神病。结论：这项研究首次证明良好的情商技能可以促进不良的工作场所行为。在追求目标的不懈努力的男性中，在具有更广泛欺骗倾向的女性中，情绪操纵会有所增加。