Small and family business (SIMA)

Narcissistic CEOs in Family Firms and their Role in Innovation

Paola Rovelli, Alfredo De Massis, Louis Gomez-Mejia

Narcissism consists in “the degree to which an individual has an inflated sense of self and is preoccupied with having that self-view continually reinforced” (Chatterjee & Hambrick, 2011, p. 204). This personality trait entails “an exaggerated sense of self-importance, fantasies of unlimited success or power, need for admiration, entitlement, lack of empathy, and exploitation of others” (Blair et al., 2008). The increasing prevalence of narcissistic individuals covering top management positions contributed to make this personality trait a relevant and timely topic in both academic and practitioner literatures (Campbell & Campbell, 2009; Chatterjee & Pollock, 2017; Maccoby, 2012; Tang et al., 2018). Anecdotal evidence shows that, generally, one of the most visible characteristics of CEOs is indeed a high level of narcissism (Chatterjee & Hambrick, 2007, 2011; Vogel, 2006). Narcissism is nowadays considered a necessary component for individuals who aim at reaching the apex of firms (Kets de Vries, 2004). However, despite on average CEOs might emerge from the population because of their relatively higher narcissistic personality, there is still heterogeneity among them (Buyl et al., 2012). In fact, narcissism is a personal dimension on which all individuals, with different extents, can be placed (Emmons, 1987; Raskin & Terry, 1988)

#CEO #family firms #narcissism #top executives #upper echelons