Workplace and academic consequences of individual narcissism

Variation across dimensions of narcissism

A diversity of studies have explored the effects of narcissism on motivation at work.  Nevertheless, the effects of narcissism on motivation remain contentious and cloudy.  One possible cause of this ambiguity is that many of these studies conflate the various dimensions of narcissism.  To illustrate

• some research conflates grandiose narcissism—in which individuals attempt to exaggerate and to display their capabilities and achievements—and vulnerable narcissism—in which individuals strive to undermine or blame other people to maintain their status,
• similarly, research conflates distinct variants of grandiose narcissism—such as narcissistic admiration, in which individuals strive to attract esteem, narcissistic rivalry, in which individuals strive to defeat other people, and communal narcissism, in which individuals strive to be perceived as the most liked. 

Biolik (2025), from the University of Silesia in Katowice, conducted a study that was designed to overcome this limitation.  Specifically, Biolik examined whether four dimensions of narcissism–narcissistic admiration, narcissistic rivalry, communal narcissism, and vulnerable narcissism—each predict various facets of motivation and engagement at work.  Specifically, 500 Polish employees completed a series of scales including

• the Polish adaptation of the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire,
• the Communal Narcissism Inventory (Gebauer et al., 2012),
• the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale to measure vulnerable narcissism,
• as well as measures of meaning at work, harmonious and obsession passion at work, work engagement, and conflicts between work and family responsibilities.

This range of measures helps distinguish motivation at work that is sustainable and motivation at work that might elicit various complications. To illustrate, Vallerand et al. (2003) distinguish two forms of passion: harmonious and obsessive passion.  Harmonious passion emanates when individuals immerse themselves in a beloved activity.  Obsessive passion emanates from a compulsion in individuals to complete these activities.  As Carbonneau et al. (2010) verified, obsessive passion is more likely than harmonious passion to elicit negative emotions, from anxiety to exhaustion. 

As the study that Biolik (2025) conducted revealed, whether narcissism was beneficial or detrimental varied, to a modest degree, across the various dimensions of this trait.  That is

• narcissism admiration was positively associated with a sense of meaning at work, harmonious passion, work engagement, work addiction, and conflict between work and family,
• narcissistic rivalry was inversely associated with harmonious passion, but positively related to work addiction and conflict between work and family,
• communal narcissism was positively associated with a sense of meaning at work, obsessive passion, work engagement, work addiction, and conflict between work and family,
• vulnerable narcissism was inversely associated with work engagement but positively associated with harmonious passion, obsession passion, and work addiction.

These findings imply that, in general, narcissism tend to be positively associated with meaning and passion at work as well as work addiction or conflict between work and family.  This finding is consistent with the notion that people who experience narcissism may perceive work as an opportunity to boost their status—their key motivation.  Consequently, these individuals feel compelled to thrive at work, eliciting a sense of meaning or passion in the workplace.  Yet, because of their preoccupation with status, rather than relationships, they may experience an obsession or addiction to work, sometimes forgoing relationships and other significant life goals. 

This pattern of results did not vary considerably across the various dimensions of narcissism.  Nevertheless, in contrast to the other dimensions, narcissistic rivalry and vulnerable narcissism were not as likely to predict work engagement but more likely to predict obsessive compassion. 

Explanations

Presumably, in contrast to narcissism admiration and communal narcissism, narcissistic rivalry and vulnerable narcissism often coincide with neuroticism.  And this neuroticism might direct attention to potential complications and problems (Gorman et al., 2012).  These individuals, therefore, perceive work as necessary to prevent these problems, eliciting a sense of obligation or obsessive passion, and not as opportunities to achieve gains.    and motivation to learn or change.  That is, if individuals experience self-compassion, they feel consoled—as if receiving comfort from a supportive relative or friend—after failures or problems unfold.  The unpleasant emotions these challenges elicit abate rapidly.  Individuals can thus manage their problems constructively (for a detailed account and evidence, see Inwood & Ferrari, 2018).    

Practices that boost the motivation of narcissistic individuals

Narcissism does not only affect the motivation of individuals but also influences the practices or circumstances that promote motivation. To illustrate, people often utilise self-talk to motivate themselves.  For example, they might repeat to themselves phrases like “I can win this session” or “You can do it”. 

Interestingly, as Abdoli et al. (2025) revealed, whether individuals should utilise first-person pronouns, such as “I”, or second-person pronouns, such as “you”, to motivate themselves depends on their level of narcissism.  In particular

• narcissistic cyclists feel especially motivated—and thus can cycle over a longer period—if they utilise first-person pronouns during self-talk, such as “I can win this session”,
• in contrast, other cyclists feel especially motivated—and thus can cycle over a longer period—if they utilise second-person pronouns during self-talk, such as “you can win this session”.

To explain this finding, Abdoli et al. (2025) observed that narcissists tend to be especially concerned about their personal needs.  First-person pronouns, such as “I”, thus resonate with narcissistic individuals.  So, messages that include first-person pronouns, such as “I can win”, are especially likely to inspire these individuals. 

In contrast, people who are not narcissistic are more inclined to change when they experience a sense of distance from themselves—as if observing themselves from the perspective of someone else.   That is, when people observe themselves from afar, they can more readily ascertain how to change.  Consequently, messages that include second-person pronouns, such as “you can win”, are especially likely to enable these individuals to improve their strategies on how to motivate themselves.    

Introduction

In 2016, for several reasons, Schwarzkopf et al. proposed that narcissistic tendencies may tend to promote burnout.  To illustrate

• narcissists strive to be perceived as superior—and thus pursue goals to impress other people rather than fulfill personal interests or values,
• similarly, narcissistic people seldom fulfill their goal to be regarded as important or significant and, therefore, often feel unfulfilled,
• because these individuals disregard their natural interests and tend to feel unfulfilled, they seldom experience the feelings of vigour and excitement that restore mental energy and prevent burnout.  

In one study, published by Schwarzkopf et al. (2016), in the journal called Burnout Research, 723 patients, hospitalised primarily because of conditions related to stress, completed several instrument.  Specifically, participants completed the German version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory to assess burnout.  This inventory comprises three facets:

• emotional exhaustion, comprising items like “I feel emotionally drained from my work”,
• depersonalisation or a sense of detachment from work and colleagues, comprising items like “I have become more cynical about whether my work contributes anything”,
• limited accomplishment, comprising items like “At my work, I am not confident that I am effective at getting things done”.

Participants also completed a measure of narcissism, called the Narcissism Inventory 20 (Daig et al., 2010).  This measure comprises four distinct facets:

• threatened self—or the degree to which the self-esteem of individuals is fragile,
• classic narcissistic self—or the extent to which individuals seek attention and overestimate their capabilities (e.g., “I think I might well enjoy being the centre of attention for once”),
• idealistic self—or the degree to which individuals define or associate themselves with their ideals (e.g., “I see every new task as a challenge in which I have to prove myself”),
• hypochondriac self—or the extent to which individuals are preoccupied with their health problems (e.g., “I am sometimes suddenly gripped by the terrible fear that I could become seriously ill”).

Finally, participants also answered questions about their age, gender, socioeconomic status, depression, stress, and sleep quality.  As the findings revealed

• overall narcissism was positively associated with all facets of burnout,
• all facets of narcissism, except idealistic self, were positively related to most if not all facets of burnout,
• even after controlling age, gender, socioeconomic status, depression, stress, and sleep quality, overall narcissism was still positively related to emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation but not limited accomplishment. 

Vulnerable narcissism and burnout

Although Schwarzkopf et al. (2016) did uncover an association between narcissism and burnout, this study did not differentiate the two primary clusters of narcissistic tendencies: grandiose narcissism and vulnerable narcissism.   Arguably, vulnerable narcissism, but not grandiose narcissism, may coincide with burnout.  That is, individuals who experience vulnerable narcissism, in which their perception of themselves significantly depends on the feedback or evaluations they receive from of other people, may be especially susceptible to burnout because of two main reasons:

• First, because these individuals are sensitive to criticism, they often need to conceal and to regulate the shame or distress they feel in response to feedback—a goal that depletes their reserves of mental energy and thus promote burnout.
• Second, because these individuals strive to impress other people, they often need to pursue goals that diverge from their natural inclinations—demanding incessant effort and again depleting their reserves of mental energy.

In a study of 427 staff and 121 of their corresponding leaders, Wirtz and Rigotti (2020) did indeed confirm that vulnerable narcissism often coincides with burnout.  In this study, published in the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, both the staff and leaders completed

• the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale to measure their own levels of vulnerable narcissism, and
• the variant of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory that comprises 16 items to measure their own levels of grandiose narcissism.

Furthermore, the staff

• answered three questions that assess emotional exhaustion, such as “I feel emotionally drained from my work”,
• completed the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003) to measure three facets of work engagement: vigour, dedication, and absorption,
• also responded to other questions about how often they interact with their leader, their workload, their autonomy, and their level of neuroticism. 

The analyses revealed that, after controlling frequency of interactions, workload, autonomy, and neuroticism

• staff who reported elevated levels of vulnerable narcissism were more likely to experience emotional exhaustion and less likely to feel engaged at work,
• if their leaders exhibited grandiose narcissism, the staff who reported vulnerable narcissism were especially unlikely to feel engaged at work (Wirtz & Rigotti, 2020).

Presumably, leaders who exhibit grandiose narcissism often judge staff harshly.  Staff who experience vulnerable narcissism, and are thus especially sensitive to these judgments, may be particularly wary rather than engaged at work if their leaders exhibit grandiose narcissism.

Narcissistic rivalry and burnout

Whereas Wirtz and Rigotti (2020) revealed that vulnerable narcissism, rather than grandiose narcissism, may promote burnout, Rana et al. (2022) utilised another taxonomy—the distinction between narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry—to assess which facets of narcissism may foster burnout.   Specifically,  

• when people exhibit narcissistic admiration, they utilise charm and rhetoric to inflate their achievements, exaggerate their capabilities, and thus attract respect,
• when people exhibit narcissistic rivalry, they strive to denigrate or to undermine other people to be perceived as superior in comparison.   

Grandiose narcissists often exhibit narcissistic admiration and may sometimes exhibit narcissistic rivalry as well.  Vulnerable narcissists are more likely to exhibit only narcissistic rivalry (Maples et al., 2025).  Nevertheless, vulnerable narcissism is distinct from narcissistic rivalry—and, according to the narcissism spectrum model (Krizan et al., 2017), coincides with more pronounced avoidance or caution. 

Rana et al. (2022) explored whether narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry are associated with symptoms of burnout in 352 German surgeons.  Specifically, these surgeons completed German versions of the

• Maslach Burnout Inventory,
• Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire.

As the findings revealed, narcissistic admiration was negatively associated with all facets of burnout, whereas narcissistic rivalry was positively associated with all facets of burnout.  Arguably, narcissistic admiration emanates from extraversion and an approach motivation, in which individuals tend to embrace risks to attract rewards.  This mindset can be energising.  In contrast, narcissistic rivalry may coincide with cynicism towards other people as well as anxieties about the possibility these rivals may thrive.  This incessant cynicism and vigilance may deplete resources of mental energy, culminating in burnout.  win”, are especially likely to enable these individuals to improve their strategies on how to motivate themselves.    

A variety of studies have explored whether narcissism affects the likelihood that staff will suggest creative, novel, and original solutions to problems.  Some research has revealed that narcissism may foster creativity.  For example

• when individuals report high levels of grandiose narcissism, they perceive themselves as more able to solve problems than are other people (Furnham et al., 2013) and often engage in creative activities (Furnham et al., 2013; Martinsen et al., 2019),
• when individuals report high levels of narcissism, they tend to perceive themselves as creative and unique—and this perception increases the likelihood they will suggest creative improvements to products (Mao et al., 2021).

However, as other research suggest, narcissistic people may not actually produce more creative and novel solutions to problems—but may, instead, inflate the originality and quality of their suggestions, occasionally persuading audiences.  To illustrate,

• when asked to identify creative uses of a brick, narcissistic people were no more likely than other people to suggest many novel ideas—yet they believed they proposed more original suggestions than did other people (Goncalo et al., 2010),
• however, when asked to pitch a new movie, narcissistic people outperformed other people on this task (Goncalo et al., 2010).

The effect of leaders

The conditions of a workplace, such as the personality of their leaders, may affect whether narcissism enhances or impairs creativity.  To illustrate, as Liu, Zheng, et al. (2025) suggested, staff who are narcissistic may experience a sense of affiliation or identity with leaders who are also narcissistic—and this sense of affiliation or identity may enhanced creativity.  Indeed, Liu, Zheng, et al. (2025) proposed several reasons to explain why narcissistic staff may experience this sense of identity or affiliation with narcissistic leaders.  To illustrate

• narcissistic staff are likely to share various similarities with narcissistic leaders, such as a bold style or contempt towards unfamiliar communities, and these similarities can foster a sense of trust and affiliation (e.g., Marstand et al., 2018),
• narcissistic staff like to feel a sense of power, influence, and domination—and thus, to achieve this goal, may affiliate themselves with leaders who also exhibit these qualities (e.g., Bachrach et al., 2023).

Staff who experience a sense of affiliation or identity with their leaders may be more likely to pose creative solutions to problems.  To illustrate, these staff may strive harder to please their leaders, promoting effort.  Furthermore, because of this affiliation, these staff may feel their solutions will be supported rather than rejected, enhancing their confidence to propose creative suggestions.    

To explore this possibility, Liu, Zheng, et al. (2025) collected data from 64 branches of a Chinese bank; 421 staff and 54 of their leaders completed an online survey.  All these participants first completed the NPI-16—a measure that has been utilised in China to measure grandiose narcissism (e.g., Carnevale et al., 2018).  Then, a month later,

• the staff completed a scale that gauges the degree to which they feel a sense of identity or affiliation with their leader, comprising items like “When someone criticises my direct leader, it feels like a personal insult” (Mael & Ashforth, 1992),
• the leaders answered questions, derived from Oldham and Cummings (1996), that gauge the extent to which their followers work creatively, such as produce original and practical solutions.

As hypothesised,

• when both staff and leaders reported elevated levels of narcissism, these staff were more likely to feel a sense of affiliation and identity with these leaders,
• in contrast, this level of affiliation and identity was particularly low when leaders were high in narcissism and staff were low in narcissism,
• followers who identified with their leaders were more creative.

The mediating role of cognitive dependency

Although similar levels of narcissism in staff and leaders may boost creativity, in general, narcissistic leaders tend to stem the creative expression of their followers.  That is, as Yang et al. (2021) revealed, when leaders exhibit grandiose narcissism, staff are more inclined to develop a cognitive dependency—in which they feel compelled to seek guidance from these leaders.  This cognitive dependency tends to diminish the likelihood that staff will demonstrate innovative behaviour, such as suggest creative solutions to problems.   from the perspective of someone else.   That is, when people observe themselves from afar, they can more readily ascertain how to change.  Consequently, messages that include second-person pronouns, such as “you can win”, are especially likely to enable these individuals to improve their strategies on how to motivate themselves.    

When leaders exhibit grandiose narcissism, they often pursue courses of action and initiate behaviours that are designed to benefit themselves and not their organisation, called self-serving behaviour.  These behaviours and choices elicit distrust in their staff.  However, some practices and features of organisations can mitigate these deleterious effects of grandiose narcissism.   

An illustration

To illustrate, in one study of 546 teams in a range of Dutch organisations, Braun et al. (2025) uncovered some findings that verify this possibility. In this study, leaders completed some measures, and their followers completed some other measures.  Specifically, the leaders completed a measure of grandiose narcissism: the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. The leaders also answered questions that assess the climate of this organisation, including

• the degree to which the climate encourages staff to compete with each other, called a performance climate, such as “In my organisation, there exists a competitive rivalry among the employees”,
• the degree to which the climate encourages staff to cooperate and to share information, knowledge and ideas, called a mastery climate, such as “In my organization, cooperation and mutual exchange of knowledge are encouraged” (Nerstad et al., 2013).

The followers then evaluated the extent to which these leaders demonstrate self-serving behaviour, such as assume credit for successes.  Finally, these followers assessed the degree to which these leaders are trustworthy and dependable. 

The data were subjected to multilevel moderated mediation models.  Narcissistic leaders were perceived as untrustworthy, partly because they demonstrated self-serving behaviour. The degree to which narcissistic leaders were perceived as self-servicing was more pronounced in a performance climate and less pronounced in a mastery climate.  Presumably, when the climate encourages staff to prioritise learning over performance, narcissistic leaders are not as obsessed with status.  So, these leaders may withhold some of their natural tendencies to prioritise their personal interests over the needs of their company. 

Staff who exhibit grandiose narcissism are especially motivated to boost their status, rank, and reputation in the workplace.  One interesting question, therefore, is whether grandiose narcissists do indeed fulfill this goal.  That is, does grandiose narcissism tend to boost or impair the status of staff.

As Böhm and Blickle (2025) proposed and verified, whether grandiose narcissists boosts or impairs status depends on the degree to which these individuals have developed interpersonal or political skills.  According to Ferris (2005) and Ferris et al. (2007, 2008), political skill comprises four key qualities or capabilities:

• the capacity to interpret the intentions, feelings, or behaviours of other people effectively, called social astuteness,
• the ability to persuade and to influence other people effectively, called interpersonal influence,
• the capacity to establish mutual relationships and to develop a useful network of contacts,
• the ability to appear as sincere, genuine, and trustworthy.

If grandiose narcissists have not acquired these political skills, their attempts to inflate their competence and achievements can appear insincere.  Other people will thus tend to doubt their capabilities and contributions, compromising their status.  In contrast, if grandiose narcissists have acquired these political skills, their attempts to inflate their skills and achievements may be more convincing.  That is,

• because these individuals can interpret the feelings of other people effectively, over time, they learn to adjust their behaviour and to elicit favourable impressions,
• hence, may seem more sincere and thus speak more persuasively.   

Evidence

Accordingly, political skills could mitigate the adverse impact of grandiose narcissism on social status.  To substantiate this hypothesis, Böhm and Blickle (2025) conducted a study in which the participants were 952 German workers.  These individuals completed

• a German version of the Five-Factor Narcissism Short Inventory (Jauk et al., 2023) to measure grandiose narcissism, in which a typical item is “I am willing to exploit others to further my own goals”,
• a German version of the Political Skill Inventory (Lvina et al., 2012) to measure the four facets of political skill, in which a typical item is “I am able to make most people feel comfortable and at ease around me”.

Furthermore, each participant also forwarded a questionnaire to a co-worker.  The co-worker then answered questions that assess the degree to which these participants are deemed as high in status at the workplace.  A sample item is “This person has a great deal of prestige in my organisation” (Djurdjevic et al., 2017).  As the findings revealed and consistent with the hypotheses,

• if participants recognised their political skill is limited, grandiose narcissism was inversely associated with workplace status,
• if participants indicated their political skill was elevated, grandiose narcissism was positively associated with workplace status.

So, grandiose narcissism may compromise status, but only if individuals cannot regulate their behaviour appropriately. 

When staff commence a job, they expect they will receive specific benefits, such as promotions, praise, opportunities, or trust, in response to their efforts at work.  These expectations can be likened to a psychological contract between the staff and the organisation.  Sometimes, staff feel that organisations have violated these psychological contracts.  For example, these staff may not be granted as many opportunities as anticipated, despite their efforts and requests.  In these circumstances, when organisations do not seem to have fulfilled their obligations, the attitudes and performance of staff decline (for mechanisms, see Henderson & O-Leary-Kelly, 2021).  For example, perceived violations of psychological contracts tend to

• diminish the job satisfaction of staff (Tekleab & Taylor, 2003),
• decrease the extent to which staff feel committed to the organisation (Lester et al., 2002),
• impair the performance of staff (Turnley et al., 2003).

The leadership style and behaviour of managers affects the likelihood that staff believe that psychological contracts have been violated.  Specifically, if these managers exhibit the signs of narcissism, their priority is to boost their personal status rather than fulfill promises or enhance their relationship with staff.  Consequently, they may often reach decisions or pursue courses of action that seem unfair or unpredictable to staff, violating expectations and breaching psychological contracts.

Evidence

Srivastava et al. (2025) published a study that verifies this possibility that narcissistic managers often violate the psychological contract of staff.   Specifically, 376 staff in India completed an online survey at two times.  On the first occasion, staff completed two main scales:

• a scale that assesses the narcissism of leaders, comprising items like “My leader has a sense of personal entitlement” (Hochwarter & Thompson, 2012),
• a scale that measures the resilience of staff, typified by questions like “I tend to bounce back quickly after hard times” (Smith et al., 2008).

On the second occasions, staff completed two different scales:

• a measure that assesses psychological contract violation that comprises questions like “I feel a great deal of anger towards my organisation” (Robinson & Wolfe Morrison, 2000), and
• a measure that gauges emotional suppression, such as “I control my emotions by not expressing them” (Gross & John, 2003).

As hypothesised, when staff perceived their managers as narcissistic, they were more likely to feel their psychological contract had been violated (Srivastava et al., 2025).  These violations of psychological contract seemed to coincide with a specific problem: If staff felt the psychological contract had been violated, they were more inclined to suppress rather than express their emotions—a tendency that may compromise wellbeing and relationships. 

Interestingly, in this study, if participants reported elevated levels of resilience, the narcissism of their leaders was not strongly associated with violations of psychological contract.  Somehow, resilient individuals are not as sensitive to the unpredictable behaviour of narcissistic managers.  

Introduction

As research indicates, narcissism and similar traits tend to foster academic misconduct in both students and academics. To illustrate, Brunell et al. (2011) published one simple but pioneering study on this topic. In this study, 199 psychology students completed a survey.  The survey included the following measures:

• the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, comprising 40 items; this measure can be divided into three factors: exhibitionism or the need to attract attention, special person or the believe they deserve special treatment, and power or the need to lead and be perceived as influential and important (Kubarych et al., 2004),
• a question that assesses the guilt these participants would feel if they cheated on an exam (cf., Agnew & Peters, 1986),
• three question that assesses this level of guilt if the exam was unreasonably difficult, classmates had refused to share notes on the topic, and they felt pressure from friends to cheat (Agnew & Peters, 1986),
• three questions that measure academic dishonesty, such as the number of times they cheated on exams during the past 12 months and the likelihood they will cheat over the next month; however, half the participants instead specified the degree to which other students have cheated or would cheat as well.

Overall, individuals who reported elevated levels of narcissism were not as likely to feel guilty about cheating but more likely to perpetrate this academic dishonesty.  Specifically

• as a regression analysis revealed, one factor of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory in particular—exhibitionism or the need to attract attention—was positively associated with academic dishonesty and negatively associated with guilt over this dishonesty,
• these results were observed after controlling gender, age, and grade point average,
• narcissistic students were no more likely to believe that other students would cheat.

Overall, these results are consistent with the premise that narcissistic individuals can readily justify to themselves the decision to cheat (see Brown et al., 2009, Study 3).  That is, if students are narcissistic and like to be the centre of attention, they want to cheat partly to thrive in the class and to attract respect and admiration.  Because of their narcissism, they can readily bias their thoughts to justify this behaviour.  For example, to achieve this goal, they may convince themselves that perhaps the circumstances were unfair. These justifications diminish their guilt and thus encourage the perpetration of academic dishonesty.

Grandiose narcissism versus vulnerable narcissism

Conceivably, grandiose, but not vulnerable, narcissism may be positively related to academic misconduct or dishonesty.  Specifically, according to Schroeder-Abe and Fatfouta (2019), when people exhibit grandiose narcissism, they strive to boost their status, often unconcerned about the potential costs, drawbacks, or complications of these behaviours.  Because they are not as sensitive to costs, drawbacks, or complications, grandiose narcissists are not as susceptible to feelings of shame or guilt—feelings that often curb dishonesty.  Accordingly, grandiose narcissists, unfettered by these emotions, should be more inclined to cheat.  These individuals are likely to justify these dishonest behaviours to themselves rather than experience shame or guilt (Brown et al., 2009).

In contrast, when people exhibit vulnerable narcissism, they often criticise or undermine other people, often to curtail feelings of personal shame.  Accordingly, vulnerable narcissists may be more susceptible to shame.  They may, for example, experience shame when behaving dishonestly.  This shame might thus prevent or limit the likelihood they will cheat.

At the University of Potsdam, Schroeder-Abe and Fatfouta (2019) conducted a pair of studies that corroborate these premises.  In one study, 140 university students first completed a series of scales, such as

• the German version of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Schütz et al., 2004) to measure grandiose narcissism, in which a sample item is “I really like to be the centre of attention”,
• the German version of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (Morf et al., 2017) to measure four facets of vulnerable narcissism—entitlement rage, devaluing, contingent self-esteem, and hiding the self—in which a typical item is “Sometimes I avoid people because I’m concerned that they’ll disappoint me”,
• the Test of Self-Conscious Affect to measure susceptibility to shame and guilt, in which participants indicate the degree to which they would exhibit signs of shame and guilt—such as “You would feel like you wanted to hide”—in response to 15 scenarios including “You make a big mistake on an important project at work…”.

Finally, participants completed a task in which they were subtly granted an opportunity to cheat.  Specifically, the individuals attempted to solve 20 mathematical equations, such as “1+8+18 − 12+19 −7+17−2+8−4”.  After the question appeared, participants were instructed to press the space bar so the response box would materialise.  Purportedly, because of a bug in the software, if participants did not press the space bar swiftly enough, the answer would materialise accidentally.  Participants who delayed this action were assumed to be cheating.  As the findings revealed,

• grandiose narcissism was positively and strongly associated with cheating behaviour whereas vulnerable narcissism was positively, but only modestly, related to the inclination to cheating behaviour,
• specifically, grandiose narcissism was negatively associated with susceptibility to shame or guilt—feelings that curbed the propensity to cheat,
• in contrast, vulnerable narcissism was positively associated with susceptibility to shame, but not guilt,
• after controlling these emotions, however, both grandiose narcissism and vulnerable narcissism were positively associated with this propensity to guilt.

In short, for a range of reasons, narcissistic people may be inclined to cheat.  However, vulnerable narcissism may elicit feelings of shame, and these feelings may partly offset this inclination to cheat.

Dark triad

Other research has explored which facets of the dark triad—comprising narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—are related to academic dishonesty.  For example, Esteves et al. (2021) administered a survey that 343 undergraduate students completed. First, these participants completed the Dirty Dozen scale: 12 items that assess

• narcissism, such as “(I) want attention from others”,
• Machiavellianism, such as “(I exploit) others for (my) benefit”,
• psychopathy, such as “There is a lack of remorse”.

Next, to assess academic dishonesty, participants completed the Self-Report Cheating Admission Scale that Paulhus et al. (2004) developed, comprising 16 items, such as “I paid more to help me cheat in the test” or “I copied other people’s answers with their acknowledgment”.  As multiple regression analyses revealed, narcissism and Machiavellianism, but not psychopathy, were significantly and positively associated with academic dishonesty (Esteves et al., 2021).

Subsequent research has revealed that entitlement mediates this association between the dark triads and academic dishonesty.  Specifically, students who exhibit the dark triad, including narcissism, may assign responsibility to other people. They feel entitled to receive assistance or support because they are special.  For example, they do not feel they should be responsible for garnering information or notes if they miss a class (for a measure, see Chowning & Campbell, 2009). 

As Curtis et al. (2022) showed, this variant of entitlement, in which students assign responsibility to other people, mediated the association between all three dark traits and academic dishonesty.  These results were observed even after a measure of social desirability, developed by Stöber (2001), was controlled, suggesting the tendency to conceal dishonesty does not explain the results.  Presumably, because of this entitlement, narcissistic students may feel that other people, such as lecturers, did not feel their responsibilities.  Consequently, they feel they are granted the license to cheat.. 

Introduction

Leaders who are narcissistic are not as likely to naturally embrace leadership approaches or styles that have been shown to benefit organisations.  For example, as research has revealed, when leaders exhibit narcissism, they are less inclined to adopt a leadership style called servant leadership (Brouns et al., 2020). 

Servant leadership refers to an approach in which the primary motivation of leaders is to serve their stakeholders (Greenleaf, 1977; Greenleaf, 1998; Greenleaf, 2003), such as their staff.  That is, a servant leader strives to ascertain and to fulfill the needs of other people, thus enabling these individuals to develop and to thrive, ultimately improving wellbeing, motivation, and performance. 

Scholars have not reached a consensus on the defining features, practices, or facets of servant leadership. Instead, researchers have developed several taxonomies and scales to delineate this leadership style.  For example, Spears (2010) delineated 10 characteristics that servant leaders should exhibit or develop, including awareness, community building, empathy, listening, foresight, and persuasion.  Barbuto and Wheeler (2006) developed questions that measure these characteristics.  A factor analysis, however, reduced these characteristics to five sub-scales:

• an altruistic calling or fundamental motivation to improve the lives of people,
• emotional healing or capacity to facilitate the recovery of other people from hardship,
• wisdom or an awareness of cues, such as an ability to decipher the needs of individuals,
• persuasive mapping in which leaders utilise sound reasoning to influence staff,
• organisational stewardship in which leaders demonstrate altruism, such as participate in community programs.

In contrast, Van Dierendonck and Nuijten (2011) developed a measure of servant leadership that comprises eight dimensions or facets.  These facets include the tendency of leaders to

• empower staff, motivating these individuals to proactively seek development opportunities,
• ensure accountability, in which followers are aware of the expectations they should fulfill,
• stand back—that is, acknowledge the contribution of other staff,
• show humility—an awareness of their strengths and limitations as well as a willingness to seek advice to overcome these limitations,
• display authenticity—that is, to show their true emotions and motivations,
• replace obsolete practices with novel alternatives, epitomising courage,
• forgive people,
• role model actions that benefit the workplace over personal interest, called stewardship

For several reasons, narcissism may be inversely related to a servant leadership style.  For example, narcissism coincides with antagonism—such as contempt or hostility towards other people—rather than an agreeable personality.  Yet, as a comprehensive review shows, an agreeable personality is one of the main determinants of servant leadership (Eva et al., 2019).  Likewise, narcissistic leaders tend to prioritise their own concerns over the needs of other people (Peterson et al., 2012), impeding servant leadership.  Finally, narcissistic people are not as likely to exhibit humility (Bak & Kutnick, 2021).  Consequently, narcissistic leaders may not be as likely to demonstrate humility—an attribute has been shown to foster servant leadership in younger leaders (Krumrei-Mancuso & Rowatt, 2023).

Evidence

To explore this association between narcissism and servant leadership, Brouns et al. (2020) administered a survey to 170 German university students who were also working full time.  These individuals also distributed a link to either their leader or subordinate, generate 170 pairs of leaders and subordinates.  Specifically

• the subordinates completed the Servant Leadership Survey (Van Dierendonck & Nuijten, 2011) to evaluate the extent to which the leaders demonstrate servant leadership, such as prioritise the needs of staff,
• the leaders then completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory to evaluate the degree to which they exhibit grandiose narcissism as well as a measure of compassion.

As hypothesised, narcissism was inversely associated with servant leadership and compassion, whereas compassion was positively associated with servant leadership. 

Implications of these findings

Accordingly, because servant leadership can enhance the collaboration and productivity of workgroups, narcissistic leaders may diminish these qualities. Indeed, as research has uncovered, servant leadership can generate many benefits that narcissism might nullify. For example 

• when staff believe their supervisors embrace servant leadership, these staff feel more engaged at work—especially if they trust their leader (Zhou et al., 2022)—and are thus more inclined to voice recommendations on how to improve the workplace (Song et al., 2022),
• when staff perceive their supervisors as servant leaders, they feel obliged to reciprocate the support they receive and thus are more inclined to suggest and to implement creative improvements to the workplace as well as help their colleagues (Aboramadan et al., 2022),
• if their leaders adopt a servant leadership style, staff feel confident they can uncover and implement novel innovations, enhancing the extent to which the team is innovative (Ren & Shen, 2024)—even after controlling other leadership behaviours, such as transformational leadership (Iqbal et al., 2023),
• whenever leaders embrace the philosophy of servant leadership, staff tend to experience greater resilience (Bartool et al., 2022)—as measured by the brief resilience scale (Smith et al., 2008), comprising items like “I tend to bounce back quickly after hard times”; over time, these individuals learn to associate challenging settings with support or success,
• if their leaders embrace a servant leadership style and thus model attempts to assist other individuals, staff are more likely to collaborate effectively and to share their knowledge openly (Nauman et al., 2022),
• when the CEO exhibits service leadership, the profitability and performance of the organisation improves, at least in firms in which customer service is vital (Huang et al., 2016).

Despite these purported benefits of servant leadership, researchers have also raised several concerns about the legitimacy of these findings.  For example, as Schowalter and Volmer (2023) underscored, few studies have manipulated servant leadership—and then compared the effects of servant leadership with a suitable control on some work outcome.  Thus, some of the purported benefits, such as staff engagement, could be a cause rather than consequence of servant leadership.

Furthermore, the benefits of servant leadership may be amplified or nullified in specific conditions and circumstances (for a systematic review, see Lu et al., 2024).  To illustrate,

• servant leaders are more likely to inspire staff to cooperate effectively when these leaders share many characteristics with other members of the workgroup—because staff are especially inclined to emulate these leaders (Michel et al., 2024),
• servant leaders are more likely to enhance the creativity of staff and teams in egalitarian, rather than hierarchical, workplaces in which staff can question their managers and thus develop trusting relationships (Yang et al., 2017),
• servant leaders tends to enhance the performance of organisations, such as sales, profit, market share, and growth—but this benefit of servant leadership diminishes in workplaces that strive to minimise costs, formalise procedures, and thus diminish the capacity of leaders to interact effectively with staff (Eva et al., 2018).

Rationale

Disparities in power between leaders and staff—sometimes called power distance—could affect or moderate the relationship between leadership humility and various outcomes.  To illustrate,

• some workplaces attempt to cultivate a culture in which all staff are granted opportunities to shape, or even to challenge, the decisions of managers, called low power distance
• in these workplaces, staff feel these opportunities to question managers and to express concerns about existing practices are a right rather than privilege,
• if their leaders are narcissistic and thus do not like to be challenged, these staff will feel this right is impeded,
• consequently, these staff will not develop a trusting relationship with a narcissistic leader, diminishing the degree to which they feel supported. 

In contrast, when power distance is high, a different sequence of events may unfold.  That is

• some workplaces are hierarchical in which leaders are granted the right to reach decisions without significant consultation,
• in these workplaces, staff are more accustomed to relinquishing their power to a leader,
• if their leaders are narcissistic and thus seem powerful, these staff may feel more empowered by proxy,
• consequently, these staff may develop a trusting relationship with a narcissistic leader, increasing the degree to which they feel supported. 

Evidence

Zhang et al. (2024) conducted a study that corroborates these arguments, showing that power distance moderates the degree to which narcissism leadership undermines a sense of trust and support.  In this study, 228 Chinese adults completed a series of online measures including

• six items that assess power distance, such as “I believe that subordinates should not oppose the decision of the leader” and “I believe that leaders should avoid interacting with subordinates outside of work”,
• six items that gauge narcissistic leadership, such as “My leader often boasts about himself in front of us” and “My leader wants to be the focus no matter what the situation”,
• eight items that measure the degree to which staff trust and identify with their leader, such as “I have complete trust in my leader” and “I am proud to be his or her subordinate”,
• seven items that assess the extent to which staff feel supported by the organisation, such as “The company cares about me very much” or “When I have difficulties, the company will help me”.

As hypothesised,

• when power distance was low, common in Western nations, narcissistic leadership was inversely associated with the extent to which staff feel supported by the organisation—a relationship that was fully mediated by limited trust and identification with the leader,
• when power distance was high, narcissistic leadership was positively associated with the extent to which staff feel supported by the organisation—a relationship that was partly mediated by trust and identification with the leader.