Narcissism and Individual-level Workplace Outcomes

No abstract available

Marching over the world, the narcissism epidemic has spread in the workplace as well. Indeed, narcissism is now more present in the workplace than ever before due to the generational increase in narcissism and narcissists’ prevalence in managerial positions. One implication of this trend is that being omnipresent and having power, narcissists are more likely to affect the lives of everybody of us. The research on narcissists in the workplace has generated a plethora of insights as well. However, while the research in management has mostly been focused on the dark side of a narcissistic personality (Back et al., 2013; Küfner et al., 2013; Rogoza et al., 2016; Rogoza et al., 2018), we expect that considering narcissism in the domain on training may contribute to the literature on positive implications of narcissism. In order to address the following gap, in these three chapters, we are pursuing the following goals. First, we will construct and validate an Instagram-based unobtrusive measure of narcissism that can provide researchers with access to a broad audience and can help them to reach such groups as young adults or celebrities (Ch. 1). Second, we will empirically test the effect of trainers’ and trainees’ narcissism on training performance and training results and outline the mechanisms behind these relationships (Ch. 2). Finally, we will theorize how a narcissistic leader will affect the individual performance of his/her followers and why narcissism can have positive implications for an organization (Ch. 3). We suggest that these three chapters may have the following contribution to the research. Ch. 1, “Photos tell your story: Constructing and validating Instagram-based unobtrusive indicators of narcissism.” First, we constructed and validated the two Instagram-based unobtrusive indicators of narcissism that can be used in future research. Second, we ran numerous studies in order to establish the validity and reliability of our unobtrusive measures; these measures should also have relatively high generalizability as can be applied towards each individual having an Instagram account but at the same time, may push forward the research on the narcissism of bloggers, celebrities, and other individual prominent on Instagram. Finally, these measures can allow researchers to have relatively big samples as only 100 random photos are required. Ch. 2, “Too good to train”. Narcissism and Performance on the Training: Empirical Evidence from “The Biggest Loser” International.” First, we found empirical support for the positive effect of the trainer’s level of narcissism on training performance and results, thus contributing to the literature on the positive implications of narcissism. Second, we found empirical support for the negative relationship between a trainee’s level of narcissism and training results. Finally, we outlined the mechanism that may underlie the relationship between trainers’ and trainee’s narcissism and training outcomes. Ch. 3, “Narcissistic Leaders and Individual Performance of Their Followers: The Conceptual Model”. First, we argued that a leader’s narcissism positively affects the individual performance of followers in the short term, and negatively affects the individual performance of followers in the long term. We constructed a simple conceptual model that can be further empirically tested in future research. Moreover, we suggest that the proposed positive effect can extend the few literature on the positive implications of narcissism. Second, we outlined the possible mechanism for the proposed relationship and considered the narcissistic leader-follower relationship into role models’ theoretical framework.