Entrepreneur narcissism and new venture performance: A learning perspective

Abstract

Recent research views narcissism as an important personality trait that can explain the heterogeneity in firm performance. This is particularly relevant in the entrepreneurial context as entrepreneurs have a more direct influence on firm strategies than executives in established firms. This study proposes that narcissism has different implications for venture performance when it is reflected as admiration versus rivalry. Moreover, we suggest that a venture’s learning strategy in new product development (NPD) is an important mediating mechanism that links entrepreneur narcissism and new venture performance. Utilizing data collected from 215 new ventures in China, we find that while narcissistic admiration motivates entrepreneurs to focus more on explorative learning, narcissistic rivalry makes them more likely to promote exploitative learning. More importantly, we find that founding team members can potentially reshape the impact of entrepreneur narcissism on venture learning strategy by participating in venture decision-making and by contributing diverse knowledge resulting from their heterogeneous professional backgrounds.