Who is this research for? This research is relevant for HR leaders, organizational psychologists, and talent management executives responsible for hiring, culture, and leadership development.
Executive Summary
This research from Michael Wilmot at the Sam M. Walton College of Business (Department of Management) examines whether counterproductive behavior—such as rule-breaking, aggression, withdrawal, and substance misuse—can be better understood through patterns of personality traits rather than individual traits alone. Drawing on an extensive review of existing research spanning more than 850,000 participants, the study analyzes how combinations of the Big Five personality traits (emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness) relate to harmful behaviors across work and nonwork settings.
The findings suggest that misconduct risk is less about low scores on individual personality traits and more about how traits interact in combination. The research identifies four distinct personality profiles associated with counterproductive behavior, including impulsive disinhibition, avoidant disinhibition, institutional antagonism, and interpersonal antagonism. For employers, the results indicate that screening for single traits in isolation may overlook important risk signals embedded in how traits combine, suggesting greater value in profile-based approaches to hiring, development, and culture management.
Action Items for Industry
- Adopt profile-based screening: Move beyond evaluating single traits in isolation and assess how personality traits combine when making hiring and promotion decisions.
- Match interventions to risk type: Tailor employee interventions depending on whether risk reflects impulsive disinhibition, avoidant disinhibition, institutional antagonism, or interpersonal antagonism.
- Strengthen onboarding and supervision: Employees whose profiles suggest regulatory imbalance may benefit from clearer expectations, structured feedback, and closer early-stage monitoring.
- Integrate self-regulation into leadership development: Emphasize impulse control, stress management, and social responsibility alongside performance and strategic skills.
Quote from the Researcher
“Metaphorically speaking, this research shows that 'bad apples', while rare, tend to be bad wherever they go. Bad apples also come in four flavors—drifters, escapists, rule breakers, and bullies. Thus, it behooves organizational leaders to understand and detect bad apples, and intervene as appropriate, to ensure that one bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole barrel.”
– Michael Wilmot
Co-Authors & Affiliations
Deniz S. Ones — University of Minnesota, Department of Psychology
Brenton M. Wiernik — Saint Paul, Minnesota
Link to the Original Research
Published in Journal of Applied Psychology, available here.
📩 Interested in learning more? If you’d like additional information about this research or to connect directly with the researchers, please email us at research@walton.uark.edu.
Michael P. Wilmot
