Leader Narcissism, Perceived Leader Narcissism and Employee Outcomes:The Moderating Effect of Goal

Abstract

Leader narcissism is an important issue in organizational management. However, its effects on employees outcomes yield inconsistent results. A review of extant literature on leader narcissism suggests that its downside or upside effects may depend on situational moderators that explain when and why leaders’ latent narcissistic traits are activated and manifested in behavioral tendencies. In response to this, the present research drew on trait activation theory and identified leaders’ perceived goal congruence with their followers as a key boundary condition that is likely to activate narcissistic leaders’ behavioral expressions. Multilevel analysis of a sample of 55-leader and 214-follower pairing from multisource and multiwave showed that when narcissistic leaders perceive high goal congruence with employees, their latent traits tend to be elicited and expressed in behaviors, which leads to employees’ perceived leader narcissism and in turn negatively affects perceptions of leader effectiveness, employee performance and employee creativity. The results serve as a response to the contradictory findings of the effects of leader narcissism and suggest implications for theory and practice.