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Linking grandiose and vulnerable narcissism to managerial work performance, through the lens of core personality traits and social desirability

Dåderman, Anna M. and Kajonius, Petri J. LU (2024) In Scientific Reports 14(1).
Abstract

While grandiose narcissism is well-studied, vulnerable narcissism remains largely unexplored in the workplace context. Our study aimed to compare grandiose and vulnerable narcissism among managers and people from the general population. Within the managerial sample, our objective was to examine how these traits diverge concerning core personality traits and socially desirable responses. Furthermore, we endeavored to explore their associations with individual managerial performance, encompassing task performance, contextual performance, and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Involving a pool of managerial participants (N = 344), we found that compared to the general population, managers exhibited higher levels of grandiose narcissism... (More)

While grandiose narcissism is well-studied, vulnerable narcissism remains largely unexplored in the workplace context. Our study aimed to compare grandiose and vulnerable narcissism among managers and people from the general population. Within the managerial sample, our objective was to examine how these traits diverge concerning core personality traits and socially desirable responses. Furthermore, we endeavored to explore their associations with individual managerial performance, encompassing task performance, contextual performance, and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Involving a pool of managerial participants (N = 344), we found that compared to the general population, managers exhibited higher levels of grandiose narcissism and lower levels of vulnerable narcissism. While both narcissistic variants had a minimal correlation (r =.02) with each other, they differentially predicted work performance. Notably, grandiose narcissism did not significantly predict any work performance dimension, whereas vulnerable narcissism, along with neuroticism, predicted higher CWB and lower task performance. Conscientiousness emerged as the strongest predictor of task performance. This study suggests that organizations might not benefit from managers with vulnerable narcissism. Understanding these distinct narcissistic variants offers insights into their impacts on managerial performance in work settings.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
HEXACO (Mini-IPIP6), Individual work performance (IWPQ), Narcissism (SD3, HSNS), Socially desirable responding (BIDR 6)
in
Scientific Reports
volume
14
issue
1
article number
12213
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:38806513
  • scopus:85194875496
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
10.1038/s41598-024-60202-7
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b9bae8ef-6e9e-430a-98a6-95f99250da7b
date added to LUP
2024-08-23 15:48:22
date last changed
2024-09-06 17:03:50
@article{b9bae8ef-6e9e-430a-98a6-95f99250da7b,
  abstract     = {{<p>While grandiose narcissism is well-studied, vulnerable narcissism remains largely unexplored in the workplace context. Our study aimed to compare grandiose and vulnerable narcissism among managers and people from the general population. Within the managerial sample, our objective was to examine how these traits diverge concerning core personality traits and socially desirable responses. Furthermore, we endeavored to explore their associations with individual managerial performance, encompassing task performance, contextual performance, and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Involving a pool of managerial participants (N = 344), we found that compared to the general population, managers exhibited higher levels of grandiose narcissism and lower levels of vulnerable narcissism. While both narcissistic variants had a minimal correlation (r =.02) with each other, they differentially predicted work performance. Notably, grandiose narcissism did not significantly predict any work performance dimension, whereas vulnerable narcissism, along with neuroticism, predicted higher CWB and lower task performance. Conscientiousness emerged as the strongest predictor of task performance. This study suggests that organizations might not benefit from managers with vulnerable narcissism. Understanding these distinct narcissistic variants offers insights into their impacts on managerial performance in work settings.</p>}},
  author       = {{Dåderman, Anna M. and Kajonius, Petri J.}},
  issn         = {{2045-2322}},
  keywords     = {{HEXACO (Mini-IPIP6); Individual work performance (IWPQ); Narcissism (SD3, HSNS); Socially desirable responding (BIDR 6)}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Scientific Reports}},
  title        = {{Linking grandiose and vulnerable narcissism to managerial work performance, through the lens of core personality traits and social desirability}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-60202-7}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41598-024-60202-7}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}