Adaptive Narcissism, Maladaptive Narcissism, and the Effectiveness of Managerial Incentives

Abstract

This study examines the effects of narcissism and bonus-based incentive plans on managerial decision-making performance. Using an experiment, the authors first examine decision choices under two levels of an incentive threshold (high and low). Narcissism is measured using the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). Typically, the NPI is used as a single monolithic construct in analyses; however, in this study, the authors subdivide it in two ways to gain more nuanced information about its impact on decision making. First, the authors split the NPI into three levels – high, medium, and low (Hascalovitz & Obhi, 2015), and then decompose it into its adaptive and maladaptive components (Campbell, Hoffman, Campbell, & Marchisio, 2011) to examine how these subdivisions affect performance. Results show that the different levels of incentive thresholds affect performance among narcissistic individuals. Results indicate that individuals higher in narcissism and higher in levels of adaptive and maladaptive narcissism outperform their low-trait counterparts in a lower-threshold environment, but not in a high threshold environment.

Citation

Dworkis, K.K. and Young, S.M. (2023), "Adaptive Narcissism, Maladaptive Narcissism, and the Effectiveness of Managerial Incentives", Akroyd, C. (Ed.) Advances in Management Accounting (Advances in Management Accounting, Vol. 34), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-32. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-787120220000034001