Narcissists’ negative perception of their counterpart’s competence and benevolence and their own reduced trust in a negotiation context

Abstract

Despite its important role in interpersonal interactions, narcissism has rarely been examined in the context of negotiations in which individuals cooperate and compete with their counterpart. As negotiations occur frequently in daily life, empirical findings of the role of narcissism in negotiation settings can enhance the understanding of the functions of narcissism in common situations in which self- and other-interests are in conflict. By analyzing 35 negotiation dyads’ within-dyad differences using multilevel analysis, I found that negotiators’ narcissism was negatively related to their perception of their counterpart’s competence but was not significantly related to their individual economic gain (objective negotiation performance), suggesting narcissists’ inflated agentic self or deflated perception of their counterpart’s competence. Additionally, narcissism was negatively related to trust, due to narcissists’ negative perception of their counterpart’s benevolence rather than their counterpart’s competence. These findings contribute to the literatures on narcissism and trust.