Members of a group often show ingroup bias: the tendency to favor one’s own group. An important factor moderating ingroup bias is culture. Hofstede introduced several cultural dimensions, of which...Show moreMembers of a group often show ingroup bias: the tendency to favor one’s own group. An important factor moderating ingroup bias is culture. Hofstede introduced several cultural dimensions, of which indulgence versus restraint (IVR) is one. There has already been extensive research on most of these dimensions and their influence on ingroup bias and prosocial behavior, but less is known about the influence of IVR on ingroup bias. Due to this research gap, this paper aims to answer the question whether the degree to which an individual is indulgent or restrained affects their ingroup bias. Students (N = 75) participated in a three-part experiment. First, a minimal group paradigm was created. Then, a dictator game was played. Finally, participants filled in a questionnaire measuring personal IVR score. A significant ingroup bias was found using a simple T-test. However, no correlation was found between IVR and ingroup bias after performing a simple linear regression. This suggests that the degree to which a person is indulgent or restrained does not have an influence on the person’s ingroup bias. However, the results are inconsistent with previous research, so more research needs to be conducted.Show less
The leader-member exchange (LMX) theory emphasises the relationship between leaders and subordinates at the workplace, suggesting that leaders quickly create in and out-groups with certain...Show moreThe leader-member exchange (LMX) theory emphasises the relationship between leaders and subordinates at the workplace, suggesting that leaders quickly create in and out-groups with certain subordinates which can lead to in-group bias, the act of favouritism of members of your in-group compared to members of an out group. An in-group is a social group which an individual identifies with, whilst an out-group is consequently the dissimilarity to an in-group. It has also been found that people who score highly on the Dark Triad are likely to hold leadership positions. The Dark Triad is a psychological theory of personality illustrating three dark personality types consisting of malicious qualities: Machiavellianism, sub-clinical narcissism and sub-clinical psychopathy. With leaders scoring highly on the Dark Triad and the plausibility of in-group bias occurring in organisations, it is important to investigate whether the Dark Triad influences in-group bias to remove in-group bias from a leader and organisation and cease LMX from forming. Therefore, this paper examines whether in-group bias is present using the dictator game and whether the Dark Triad (both traits individually and as a whole) accentuates in-group bias. First-year psychology students from Leiden University (n = 75) participated in a dictator game to measure in-group bias, before completing the SD3 questionnaire to measure levels of the Dark Triad. Three hypotheses were made: firstly, dictators will allocate a higher endowment to in-group recipients compared to out-group recipients. Secondly, participants scoring highly on either Machiavellianism, narcissism, or both will have a higher in-group bias. Thirdly, participants scoring highly on the Dark Triad as a whole will demonstrate higher in-group bias. Results indicate in-group bias, however, no significant results were found in the relationship between the Dark Triad and in-group bias. This is the first paper to directly investigate the relationship between the Dark Triad and in-group bias with many limitations obstructing the accuracy and generalisability of the results. Therefore, this study lays the groundwork for future research in investigating this relationship.Show less