Machiavellianism as a Dual-Edged Driver of Intrapreneurship: A Systematic Review of Individual-Level Evidence

Abstract

Intrapreneurship has gained considerable scholarly attention as organizations increasingly rely on internal innovation to sustain competitive advantage (Blanka, 2019; Baruah & Ward, 2015). Among the personality-level factors shaping intrapreneurial behavior, Machiavellianism, which Christie and Geis (1970) characterized by strategic manipulation, emotional detachment, and an amoral pursuit of personal goals, remains one of the least systematically examined. This review addresses that gap by synthesizing individual-level evidence on how Machiavellianism relates to intrapreneurial behavior, and under what organizational, leadership, and cultural conditions its effects become either productive or harmful. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines (Page et al., 2021), searches across Google Scholar, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, and supplementary grey literature sources yielded 23 eligible studies published between January 2015 and April 2025. Quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (Hong et al., 2018), and certainty of evidence was evaluated using adapted GRADE principles (Guyatt et al., 2008). Four themes emerged: Machiavellianism as a conditional facilitator of strategic initiative; as an inhibitor of collaborative innovation; ethical leadership and culture as key moderators; and motivational variability across cultural contexts. The findings consistently indicate that organizational system design, rather than individual trait profiles alone, determines whether Machiavellian tendencies ultimately support or undermine intrapreneurial outcomes.