The Dark Side of Leader Narcissism: The Relationship Between Leaders’ Narcissistic Rivalry and Abusive Supervision

Narcissists often attain leadership positions, but at the same time do not care for others and often engage in unethical behaviors. We therefore explored the role of leader narcissism as an antecedent of abusive supervision, a form of unethical leadership. We based our study on the narcissistic admi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2023-06, Vol.185 (1), p.169-184
Main Authors: Gauglitz, Iris K., Schyns, Birgit, Fehn, Theresa, Schütz, Astrid
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business and Management
Business Ethics
Deviance
Education
Egotism
Ethics
Leadership
Management
Narcissism
Original Paper
Philosophy
Quality of Life Research
Self esteem
Supervision
Supervisor-Subordinate interactions
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Summary:Narcissists often attain leadership positions, but at the same time do not care for others and often engage in unethical behaviors. We therefore explored the role of leader narcissism as an antecedent of abusive supervision, a form of unethical leadership. We based our study on the narcissistic admiration and rivalry concept (NARC) and proposed a direct positive effect of leaders’ narcissistic rivalry—the maladaptive narcissism dimension—on abusive supervision. In line with trait activation and threatened egotism theory, we also proposed a moderated mediation assuming that leaders high in narcissistic rivalry would be particularly prone to showing abusive supervision in reaction to followers’ supervisor-directed deviance, as this form of follower behavior would threaten their self-esteem. We conducted a field study with leader–follower dyads (Study 1) and an experimental vignette study with leaders (Study 2). Leaders’ narcissistic rivalry was positively related to abusive supervision (intentions) in both studies. This effect was independent of followers’ supervisor-directed deviance and leaders’ perceived self-esteem threat. We discuss our findings in light of the NARC, as well as threatened egotism theory, and offer directions for future research. Finally, we make practical recommendations for organizations.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-022-05146-6