Narcissism personality trait and performance: task-oriented leadership and authoritarian styles as mediators

Abstract

Purpose

The present study explored the direct as well as indirect relationships between narcissism personality trait and performance. Two leadership styles (task oriented and authoritarian styles) were identified as possible mediators.

Design/methodology/approach

Narcissism was measured by using Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Ames et al., 2006), performance was measured by performance scale (Greene-Shortridge, 2008). Sinha's leadership scale (Sinha, 2008) was used to measure task-oriented and authoritarian leadership styles. 273 senior-level managers of a big public sector Indian organization participated in the study. SPSS 22 and SmartPLS 2.0 were used to analyze the data.

Findings

Correlation result shows that narcissism personality trait was positively related to authoritarian leadership style and negatively to task-oriented leadership style, task performance and teamwork dimensions of performance. Task-oriented leadership style mediated the relationship between narcissism and task performance and teamwork more than the authoritarian leadership style.

Originality/value

The study attempts to empirically test the behavioral manifestation of narcissism personality trait as positive or negative and has considered the whole measure of performance which has not been previously explored. Practical implications were also highlighted beside the theoretical concerns.

Citation

Sakkar Sudha, K. and Shahnawaz, M.G. (2020), "Narcissism personality trait and performance: task-oriented leadership and authoritarian styles as mediators", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 41 No. 2, pp. 280-293. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-09-2019-0399