Abstract
Although narcissism is an important factor influencing entrepreneurial activity and outcomes, not much research has been conducted on the relationship between narcissism and entrepreneurship. To summarize the current literature on this relationship and provide an agenda for further in-depth research, a systematic review was conducted based on the PRISMA guidelines using Web of Science, Elsevier ScienceDirect, and EBSCO host databases. Accordingly, 33 articles have been identified as being eligible for the final synthesis. The findings of the present study showed, in general, that (1) life history theory, person-environment fit theory (P-E theory), and career choice theory were mostly used to explore the topic of narcissism and entrepreneurial intention, social exchange theory was used to analyze narcissistic entrepreneurs' entrepreneurial motives and attitudes, and upper echelons theory (UET) was applied to research on the relationship between narcissism and entrepreneurial outcomes, (2) Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) and narcissistic sub-dimension of the Dark Triad were frequently used self-report scales among 23 identified empirical studies, and (3) narcissism has both bright and dark sides to entrepreneurial activities and outcomes. While narcissism makes potential entrepreneurs have higher entrepreneurial intentions and greater willingness to take risks, it also prevents entrepreneurs from discovering opportunities, acquiring resources, and learning from failure. Besides, results also showed that relations between narcissism and entrepreneurial intentions and performance are more complex. For a deeper understanding of this complex relations and advancing research on narcissism and entrepreneurship, more research is necessary to explore the relations between narcissism and entrepreneurship-related variables from a temporal perspective and at the team level, examine the relationship between narcissism and entrepreneurship ethics, and investigate the interaction effects of narcissism and other personalities.
Highlights
IntroductionEntrepreneurship has been a topic of concern for practitioners and researchers
In recent years, entrepreneurship has been a topic of concern for practitioners and researchers
Wu et al (2019a) explored the effect of the interaction of dark and bright personality traits on sustainable entrepreneurial orientation, and the results showed that psychological resilience can weaken the relationship between narcissism and sustainable entrepreneurial orientation
Summary
Entrepreneurship has been a topic of concern for practitioners and researchers. The relationship between narcissism and entrepreneurship did not attract researchers’ attention until very recently It was not until 2013 that a study about this relationship was published (e.g., Mathieu and St-Jean, 2013). Omorede et al (2015) found that entrepreneurial personality dominated early entrepreneurship research, from the 1960s to the early 2010s, with a significant spike in interest between 2005 and 2011 Despite this demonstrated interest, the scarce research on the relationship between narcissism and entrepreneurship failed to reflect the critical impact that narcissism has on the entrepreneurial process and activities (Grijalva and Harms, 2014; Navis and Ozbek, 2016; Leung et al, 2021). This finding attests to the insufficient research on the relationship between narcissism and entrepreneurship, justifying our further investigation
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