The Machiavellian, Narcissistic, and Psychopathic Consumers: A Systematic Review of Dark Triad

Abstract

The term dark triad is an assemblage of the three dark personality traits, that is, Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy. Recently, these traits have gained prominence as both direct and indirect antecedents of consumption-related constructs in marketing literature, signalling heightened scholarly interest in marketing and consumer behaviour. This study adopts a hybrid systematic review methodology, considered a two-pronged approach comprising framework-based systematic review and bibliometric review methods, analysing 251 articles sourced from two of the largest citation and abstract databases: Web of Science and Scopus. We offered a panoramic overview of the domain of dark triad in marketing and consumption research, using selected techniques from the bibliometric toolbox (e.g. cartographic analysis, charting of publication-related metrics, mapping of citation-related metrics and visualisation) and TCM framework-based content analysis. First, we uncovered the performance trends depicting key trends in the domain. Second, we deciphered the intellectual structure by delineating and elaborating on themes such as (1) Psychopathy, (2) Narcissism, (3) Materialism, and (4) Machiavellianism. Additionally, we charted theoretical perspectives, contextual settings and methodological approaches deployed in the domain of the dark triad in marketing and consumption research. These findings further paved the way for orchestrating a rich future research agenda and interesting insights (implications) for practitioners and academics.