<p>Cybercrime and online scams are rampant in today’s tech-savvy world. In the past, scammers relied heavily on emails to contact potential victims but today, the presence and widespread usage of social networking platforms and e-commerce businesses has increased the availability of potential victims and made them easily accessible. It could be assumed that since unsuspecting users seek various products or services online - rentals, booking trips, seeking jobs, dating, it makes them easy targets for scammers yet, it is not just individual users who suffer from fraud, but organizations and institutions as well. A study at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research found that cybercrime costs the global economy up to approximately 540 billion euros annually. There is plenty of research on the technical measures that individuals and organizations may take to prevent themselves from falling prey to fraudsters, however, research trends in the recent past have shifted towards analyzing the human element present in the scenarios. Researchers have argued that identifying the underlying psychological and sociological factors used by fraudsters could help tackle the very root cause of such fraudulent attacks. While there exists some research focusing on the experiences and psychology of victims of these attacks as well as the countermeasures that can be taken to protect them from such attacks, there is little research on the psychology and motivation of those who commit online fraud. This study aims to identify the psychological factors that affect the predilection of scammers to commit online fraud.</p>

En ledares uppgift är bland annat att motivera och engagera sina medarbetare samt att utveckla ett välfungerande samarbete inom organisationen utifrån verksamhetens mål. Vid rekrytering av chefer eftersöks ofta egenskaper som stämmer överens med personer som har en mörk triad-personlighet (personer med psykopatiska, narcissistiska och/eller machiavellistiska drag). På en ledande position kan en sådan personlighet orsaka stor skada inom organisationen. Chefer med mörk triad-personlighet är svåra att upptäcka vid rekrytering då de ofta är karismatiska och övertygande och de kan relativt enkelt manipulera personlighetstester. Magisteruppsatsen implicerar en forskningsstudie om rekrytering av chefer i offentlig sektor där syftet var att studera ifall det inom offentlig sektor (tjänsteproduktion) i Sverige finns en betydande risk för att rekrytera chefer som faller under den mörka triaden, samt medvetenheten om den eventuella risken. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av en kvalitativ metod i form av nio semi-strukturerade intervjuer samt inslag av observationer och texttolkning. Resultatet visade att det finns en viss risk för att rekrytera chefer med en mörk triad-personlighet, och risken verkar vara både metodologisk och kunskapsmässig. Risken beror dels på att det hos flertalet intervjupersoner fanns en viss avsaknad av riskmedvetenhet när det kommer till rekrytering av chefer som besitter vissa egenskaper, samt att flertalet intervjupersoner har en stor tilltro till icke evidensbaserade tester vilka ledare som faller under den mörka triaden tenderar att ta sig igenom. En av slutsatserna som går att dra är att ju lägre samt äldre utbildning personen har desto mer eftersöks egenskaper som faller under den mörka triaden och desto lägre tenderar riskmedvetenheten att vara. Ytterligare en slutsats som går att dra är att det inom offentlig sektor i Sverige till viss del verkar saknas rekryteringstester som inbegriper emotionell intelligens, något som enligt forskning kan ge ett visst skydd mot att rekrytera chefer med mörk triad-personlighet. Resultatet kan tänkas bidra med kunskap om riskerna för att inom offentlig sektor rekrytera en chef med mörk triad-personlighet så att ytterligare tillvägagångssätt inom rekrytering kan användas för att minimera risken för att rekrytera chefer med denna personlighetstyp. Resultatet kan även ses som en bidragande del till forskningsfältet där detta område i Sverige fortfarande är relativt outforskat, särskilt inom offentlig sektor. / A manager's job is to engage and motivate the employees, and to develop a well-functioning collaboration based on the objectives of the business. When recruiting managers, traits that overlap with people with a dark triad-personality (people with psychopatic, narcissistic and/or Machiavallian traits) are often sought, and having a leader with such a personality can cause organizations great harm. It is difficult to detect managers with a dark triad personality in recruitment as they often are both charismatic and persuasive, and they can easily manipulate a personality test. The master´s thesis involves a study on the recruitment of managers in the public sector. The aim was to study whether there in the public sector in Sweden is a significant risk and awareness of the possible risk of recruiting managers who fall under the dark triad. As a method for the study, a qualitative method was chosen in the form of nine semi-structured interviews, with some elements of observation and text interpretation. The results revealed that there is a certain risk of recruiting managers with a dark triad-personality. This risk seems to be both methodological and knowledge-based, and is partly due to the fact that there was a certain lack of risk awareness among the majority of interviewees when it comes to recruiting managers who possess certain characteristics, and that the majority of interviewees put great faith in non-evidence based tests which managers with a dark triad-personality tend to pass. One of the conclusions of the study was that recruiters with lower and/or an old education tended to seek more after characteristics that are synonymous with the dark triad, and they were also less aware of the risks of doing so. Another conclusion that can be drawn is that in the public sector in Sweden there seems to be a lack of recruitment tests that include emotional intelligence, something that according to research can provide some protection against recruiting managers with a dark triad-personality. The results may contribute with knowledge about the risks of recruiting a manager with dark triad-personality in the public sector, so that additional approaches in recruitment can be used to minimize the risk of recruiting a manager with a dark triad-personality. The result can also be seen as a contributing part to the research field as this area in Sweden still is relatively unexplored.

Purpose – Online environments, such as social networks and online forums, offer new possibilities and a wide variety of identity and social relationship management for the users. However, besides functional contributions like mutual support and easy ways of establishing contacts there are critical perspectives on computer-mediated communication (CMC) regarding detrimental behavior like provoking, overbearing, attacking and insulting other users, especially when anonymity is high. Recent research has shown that these kinds of online behavior are associated with personality traits like sadism, machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy (Buckels, Trapnell & Paulhus, 2014) and can lead to severe trouble, negative affect and dysfunction in online communities (Cheng, Danescu-Niculescu-Mitzil & Leskovec, 2015). As such, in the public perception “trolls“ have become a synonym for counterproductive and dysfunctional behavior (Bishop, 2014a, 2014b). Our research aim was to shed more light on trolling and counterproductive online behavior theoretically as well as empirically. In other words: We wanted to know who is behind the troll? How can he or she be characterized in terms of personality traits and what can be expected from trolls when it comes to the organizational context and job performance? Design/methodology/approach – In a first step, we formulated a theoretical framework on counterproductive online behavior. On that ground, two online surveys (N = 122; N = 133) were conducted. The first study’s goal was to develop and validate a questionnaire on counterproductive online behavior. The second study analyzed counterproductive online behavior and tested for possible interrelations to personality traits and work-related outcomes. Originality/value – Using explanatory factor analyses we developed a 40-item questionnaire with two higher dimensions: Constructiveness and destructiveness. 15 subscales focus on different communication styles and trolling strategies. The second study tested the two dimensions of counterproductive online behavior on work-related outcomes such as work engagement, task-related performance and interpersonal facilitation. As was expected, destructiveness revealed significant negative correlations with all work-related outcomes as well as deviant work behavior. Constructiveness, in contrast, showed positive associations with interpersonal facilitation. Practical implications – So far, research on trolling and counterproductive online behavior has been limited to theoretical or anecdotal approaches in most cases (cf. Bishop, 2013a, 2013b). Our study aimed at a more systematic examination of this CMCspecific phenomenon. However, our study design, acquisition of the samples and the formulation of the questionnaire suggest that the results are valid indeed. On that note, our research is a first step for a deeper understanding on people showing counterproductive online behavior.

Объектом исследования явились психологическое одиночество и комплекс личностных черт «темная триада». Предметом исследования стала взаимосвязь психологического одиночества с личностными чертами «Темной триады» у женщин. Магистерская диссертация состоит из введения, двух глав, заключения, списка литературы (63 источника) и приложения, включающего в себя бланки применявшихся методик. Объем магистерской диссертации 93 страницы, на которых размещены 6 рисунков и 9 таблиц. Во введении раскрывается актуальность проблемы исследования, разработанность проблематики, ставятся цель и задачи исследования, определяются объект и предмет исследования, формулируются основная и дополнительная гипотезы, указываются методы и эмпирическая база, а также этапы проведения исследования, научная новизна, теоретическая и практическая значимость работы. Первая глава включает в себя обзор иностранной и отечественной литературы по теме психологического одиночества и комплекса личностных черт «темной триады». Представлены разделы, посвященные исследованию подходов и типологии в изучении психологического одиночества, исследованию структурных показателей комплекса «темной триады», их взаимосвязь и специфику переживания женского одиночества. Выводы по первой главе представляют собой итоги по изучению теоретического материала. Вторая глава посвящена эмпирической части исследования. В ней представлено описание организации и методов проведенного исследования и результатов, полученных по всем использованным методикам: анкете (пол, возраст, статус в браке, наличие детей, родителей, трудовая занятость), опроснику для определения вида одиночества С. Г. Корчагиной, дифференциальный опроснику переживания одиночества Е.Н. Осина и Д.А. Леонтьева, короткому опроснику темной триады в адаптации М.С. Егоровой, М.А. Ситниковой, О.В. Паршиковой. Также во второй главе представлен корреляционный и сравнительный анализ результатов исследования. В заключении в обобщенном виде изложены результаты теоретической и эмпирической частей работы, а также выводы по выдвинутвм гипотезам, обоснована практическая значимость исследования и описаны возможные перспективы дальнейшей разработки данной проблематики. / The object of the study was psychological loneliness and a complex of personality traits «dark triad». The subject of the study was the relationship of psychological loneliness with the personality traits of the «Dark Triad» in women. The master's thesis consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion, a list of references (63 sources) and an appendix, which includes forms of the methods used. The volume of the master's thesis is 93 pages, which contain 6 figures and 9 tables. The introduction reveals the relevance of the research problem, the development of the problem, sets the goal and objectives of the study, defines the object and subject of the study, formulates the main and additional hypotheses, indicates the methods and empirical base, as well as the stages of the study, scientific novelty, theoretical and practical significance of the work. The first chapter includes a review of foreign and domestic literature on the topic of psychological loneliness and the complex of personality traits of the «dark triad». The sections devoted to the study of approaches and typology in the study of psychological loneliness, the study of the structural indicators of the «dark triad» complex, their relationship and the specifics of experiencing female loneliness are presented. The conclusions on the first chapter are the results of the study of theoretical material. The second chapter is devoted to the empirical part of the study. It presents a description of the organization and methods of the study and the results obtained by all the methods used: a questionnaire (sex, age, marital status, the presence of children, parents, employment), a questionnaire to determine the type of loneliness by S. G. Korchagina, a differential questionnaire feelings of loneliness E.N. Osina and D.A. Leontiev, a short questionnaire of the dark triad adapted by M.S. Egorova, M.A. Sitnikova, O.V. Parshikova. The second chapter also presents a correlation and comparative analysis of the results of the study. In conclusion, the results of the theoretical and empirical parts of the work, as well as conclusions on the hypotheses put forward, are summarized, the practical significance of the study is substantiated, and possible prospects for further development of this issue are described.