Wealth, Narcissism and Leadership
THE INCOME DISPARITY between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ is greater today than at any time since the Great Depression. As a result, children are spending their formative years in vastly different environments: Some grow up in resource-rich environments; others, in poverty. Research indicates that these differences matter: Parental income has important consequences for people’s lives. Individuals with higherincome parents exhibit better health and lower mortality rates, but were found to be less generous than individuals with lower-income parents.
These findings suggest an interesting possibility that has received little attention in the management literature: Growing up in a rich or poor environment may have implications for how people interact in organizations. In particular, parental income may be important for leadership.
In my recent paper with Sean Martin of Boston College and Todd Woodruff of the United States Military Academy at West Point, we developed and tested a theory about how parental income relates to the behaviour and effectiveness of leaders. In this article I will summarize our results.
Parental Income and Narcissism
Because the basic life conditions of higher and lower-income parents differ in fundamental ways, the set of behaviours that parents model and encourage likely depends somewhat on their income. Research regarding
