Leaders behaving badly: the relationship between narcissism and unethical leadership

Abstract

Purpose

Narcissism is often cited as a construct that is likely related to unethical leadership. Still, only a handful of empirical studies have examined the relationship between narcissism and workgroup outcomes, and practically none have linked narcissism to leader behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to use narcissism scores to predict behaviors associated with unethical leadership in a controlled setting.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants completed a measure of narcissistic personality. Participants also completed an administrative assessment center (AC). Qualitative analysis was used to code the behaviors in the AC into dimensions associated with unethical leader behavior.

Findings

Narcissism was related to the display of unethical behaviors during the AC. Scores on the narcissism scale correlated positively with behaviors associated with unethical leadership, including one-way communication, control of power, insensitivity to others, an unrealistic assessment of the environment, manipulative communication, and pseudo-transformational behaviors.

Originality/value

This is one of only a few studies that demonstrate a relationship between narcissism and observed unethical “bad” leader behaviors. Quantifying this relationship suggests that measures of narcissism could be used in leadership selection. Quantifying this relationship could also be used by coaches as they work to improve leader behavior.

Citation

Blair, C.A., Helland, K. and Walton, B. (2017), "Leaders behaving badly: the relationship between narcissism and unethical leadership", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 38 No. 2, pp. 333-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-09-2015-0209