Leadership & Organization Development Journal

Leaders behaving badly: the relationship between narcissism and unethical

leadership
Carrie A. Blair, Katherine Helland, Bill Walton,
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38 Issue: 2, pp.333-346, https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-09-2015-0209
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Narcissism and
Leaders behaving badly: the unethical
relationship between narcissism leadership

and unethical leadership

Carrie A. Blair 333
School of Business, College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Received 24 September 2015
Katherine Helland Revised 11 March 2016
13 March 2016
Defense Manpower Data Center, Alexandria, Virginia, USA, and Accepted 13 May 2016
Bill Walton
Fors Marsh Group, LLC, Arlington, Virginia, USA
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Abstract
Purpose – Narcissism is often cited as a construct that is likely related to unethical leadership. Still, only a
handful of empirical studies have examined the relationship between narcissism and workgroup outcomes,
and practically none have linked narcissism to leader behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to use
narcissism scores to predict behaviors associated with unethical leadership in a controlled setting.
Design/methodology/approach – Participants completed a measure of narcissistic personality.
Participants also completed an administrative assessment center (AC). Qualitative analysis was used to
code the behaviors in the AC into dimensions associated with unethical leader behavior.
Findings – Narcissism was related to the display of unethical behaviors during the AC. Scores on the
narcissism scale correlated positively with behaviors associated with unethical leadership, including one-way
communication, control of power, insensitivity to others, an unrealistic assessment of the environment,
manipulative communication, and pseudo-transformational behaviors.
Originality/value – This is one of only a few studies that demonstrate a relationship between narcissism
and observed unethical “bad” leader behaviors. Quantifying this relationship suggests that measures of
narcissism could be used in leadership selection. Quantifying this relationship could also be used by coaches
as they work to improve leader behavior.
Keywords Leadership, Narcissism, Leader development, Assessment center, Leader derailment,
Unethical leadership
Paper type Research paper

Historically, researchers have attempted to understand leadership by understanding what

makes successful leaders “good.” More recently, there has been an emergence of articles
examining the “dark” side of leadership with titles such as “The bright and dark side of
leader traits […]” ( Judge et al., 2009) and “The bright and the dark side of CEO personality
[…]” (Resnick et al., 2009). In particular, scholars have attempted to identify personality
variables that contribute to a leader’s tendency to engage in unethical behaviors
(e.g. Conger, 1990; Conger and Kanungo, 1998; Howell, 1988; House and Howell, 1992;
Kanungo and Mendonca, 1996). Historically, researchers have frequently attributed
leaders’ proclivity to behave unethically to narcissism (Conger and Kanungo, 1998;
Hogan et al., 1990; Kets de Vries and Miller, 1985; House and Howell, 1992), and recent
literature in this area has continued to support the claim that understanding narcissism is
key to understanding unethical leadership (Campbell et al., 2010; Higgs, 2009; Judge et al.,
2009; Rosenthal and Pittinsky, 2006). However, very few empirical studies have
corroborated the literature, and most of the empirical research that does exist examines
Leadership & Organization
outcomes rather, such as turnover (Resnick et al., 2009). With the exception of several Development Journal
studies utilizing multisource ratings (Blair et al., 2008; Judge et al., 2006; O’Boyle et al., Vol. 38 No. 2, 2017
pp. 333-346
2012), the authors does not know of any studies examining the relationship between © Emerald Publishing Limited
0143-7739
narcissism and objective observations of unethical leader behaviors. Therefore, the DOI 10.1108/LODJ-09-2015-0209
 LODJ purpose of this study is to expand the current stream of literature by assessing whether
38,2 narcissism is related to a leader’s proclivity to engage in behaviors associated with
unethical leadership.

Narcissism
Narcissism is a broad personality syndrome that includes a grandiose sense of
334 self-importance, fantasies of unlimited power, entitlement, weak self-control, an inability to
tolerate criticism, lack of empathy, and interpersonal exploitativeness (American Psychiatric
Association (APA), 1994). According to Kets de Vries and Miller (1985), narcissism is key to
understanding unethical leadership. Narcissists tend to be attracted to leadership positions
(Hogan et al., 1990). Indeed, even in short, superficial, small group encounters, narcissism
predicts which individuals emerge as leaders (Brunell et al., 2008). Thus it is not surprising
that there is a high incidence of narcissism in the ranks of leadership.
Narcissism is recognized as a paradox for leadership research. Narcissists have a tendency
to make self-serving decisions (House and Howell, 1992), yet these decisions can result in
positive outcomes for the organization (Maccoby, 2004), especially during situations that are
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chaotic or require bold change (Campbell and Campbell, 2009). Indeed, narcissism is
associated with broad and positive outcomes including corporate acquisitions (Chatterjee and
Hambrick, 2007) and overall firm performance (Wales et al., 2013). Nevertheless, even though
the narcissist can drive outcomes that are initially good for the narcissist and even the
organization, these outcomes come at the expense of those who work closely with the
narcissist and the culture of the organization (Campbell et al., 2010; Hogan and Kaiser, 2005).
Empirical research points to the evidence that these negative outcomes include follower
alienation (Hogan and Hogan, 2001), fluctuations in firm performance (Chatterjee and
Hambrick, 2007), and managerial turnover (Resnick et al., 2009).
Multiple recent theoretical pieces across publications have called for continued research
to understand the role of narcissism in both effective and ineffective leadership
(Campbell et al., 2010; Higgs, 2009; Judge et al., 2009; Rosenthal and Pittinsky, 2006).
These calls collectively note that there have been fewer studies that examine narcissism and
leader behaviors that lead to negative outcomes. The majority of the studies that exist use
multisource ratings. For example, Judge et al. (2006) observed a negative relationship
between narcissism and supervisor ratings of organizational citizenship behaviors, but not a
negative correlation between narcissism and self-ratings of organizational citizenship
behaviors. Similarly, Blair et al. (2008) used multisource ratings to observe a negative
relationship between narcissism and supervisor ratings of integrity and interpersonal
performance, even though subordinate ratings did not reflect a negative correlation with
integrity or interpersonal performance. In addition, O’Boyle et al. (2012) used meta-analysis
to demonstrate that narcissism is related to counterproductive work behaviors, but that this
relationship is moderated by factors including culture and hierarchy across research
studies, but not job performance.
What is noteworthy is that all of these studies examining the relationship between
narcissism and leader behavior are based on multisource and self-report measures of
behavior. The purpose of the current study is to expand the current stream of literature by
assessing whether narcissism is related to a leader’s proclivity to engage in behaviors
associated with unethical leadership with objective observations of leader behaviors.

Unethical behavior
While it is important to understand ethical and unethical behavior at all levels of
organizations, understanding these behaviors in the context of leadership is especially
important as leaders have the opportunity to shape organizational culture and follower
behaviors (Bass and Steidlmeier, 1999; Conger and Kanungo, 1998; Howell and Avolio, 1992).
 Several frameworks outline behaviors associated with unethical leadership. According to Narcissism and
Kanungo and Mendonca (1996), leaders are considered unethical if they frequently operate unethical
with an egotistic intent, utilize controlling as opposed to empowering strategies to influence leadership
followers, and fail to abstain from vices. Additionally, leaders are typically regarded
as unethical if their actions are grounded in manipulation and exploitation (Bass and
Steidlmeier, 1999). Leader behaviors that are usually considered unethical include falsifying
information, provoking distrust among others, blaming followers for their own mistakes, and 335
showing favoritism in exchange for self-serving actions (Yukl, 2002). In distinguishing ethical
from unethical charismatic leaders, Howell and Avolio (1992) noted that unethical leaders use
power for personal gain, promote their own personal vision, censure opposing views, demand
their own decisions be accepted without question, engage in one-way communication, show
insensitivity to followers’ needs, and rely on convenient external moral standards to
satisfy self-interests. Similarly, Conger (1990) highlights some of these same behaviors
(e.g. make exaggerated claims for the vision), but also highlights other leader behaviors
related to narcissism including using anecdotes to distract from statistical information and
making exaggerated claims regarding information.
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Importantly, the goal of the current study is to understand the relationship between
narcissism and the display of unethical behavior with objective observations of leader
behaviors. While some of the behaviors described in the above frameworks could not be
observed through mere glimpses of interactions (e.g. operating with an egotistical intent;
Kanungo and Mendonca, 1996), others could be observed during brief encounters (e.g. one-way
control of communication). As a result, components of each of the above frameworks were used
to categorize the leader behaviors observed during the interactions. These behaviors include
one-way communication, one-way control of power, insensitivity to others, an unrealistic
assessment of the environment, manipulation, and pseudo-transformational behaviors.

Hypotheses
One-way communication
In a qualitative study on ethical and unethical charismatic leadership, Howell and Avolio
(1992) found that unethical charismatic leaders are one-way communicators. That is, they
frequently censure negative information concerning their ideas, and they are often
intolerant of others who voice opposing opinions (Conger, 1990; Howell and Avolio, 1992).
Furthermore, these leaders react in a defensive manner when criticized and withhold
negative information from their followers (Howell, 1988). They also typically expect that
their decisions will be accepted without question and thus fail to provide rationale for their
decisions (Howell and Avolio, 1992). One-way control of communication is a behavior often
associated with unethical leadership.
It is likely that narcissistic individuals display one-way control of communication in the
workplace. Narcissistic individuals tend to see themselves as superior to others, thus, they do
not believe that others have anything useful to tell them (Hogan et al., 1990), and they think
that it is fully within their rights to demand whatever they want (Dimaggio et al., 2002).
Moreover, narcissistic individuals commonly externalize or discount criticism or negative
feedback, and react to such information with anger and rage (APA, 1994; Kernis and Sun, 1994;
Rhodewalt and Morf, 1995). Accordingly, it is hypothesized:
H1. Narcissism is positively related to one-way communication.

One-way control of power

In addition to one-way communication, Howell and Avolio (1992) also found that the
unethical charismatic leaders in their study exercised power in a dominant and controlling
manner to serve their own self-interests (i.e. one-way control of power). More specifically,
 LODJ these leaders tended to assert themselves in an extremely authoritarian manner.
38,2 Furthermore, research on abusive leaders suggests that they frequently undermine others’
authority, and they have difficulty delegating or sharing power (Wright and Smye, 1996).
Dominance and control of power are also important behavioral characteristics of
narcissism (Bennett, 1988; Biscardi and Schill, 1985; Carroll, 1987). Indeed, one of the reasons
for understanding narcissism and leadership is that it is widely thought that narcissists
336 are attracted to leadership positions in order to gain power over others (Glad, 2002;
Raskin et al., 1991; Rosenthal and Pittinsky, 2006). Therefore, it is hypothesized:
H2. Narcissism is positively related to one-way control of power.

Insensitive to others
Unethical leaders also have a proclivity to be insensitive to the needs of their followers
(Howell, 1988; Howell and Avolio, 1992). According to Howell and Avolio (1992),
“Unethical charismatic leaders are insensitive and unresponsive to followers’ needs and
aspirations” (p. 47). Additionally, Wright and Smye (1996) found that abusive leaders
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persistently criticize followers, use sarcasm to belittle others, and repeatedly refuse
reasonable requests. Such behaviors appear to overlap substantially with narcissistic
behaviors. In particular, narcissistic individuals tend to devalue others (Kernbert, 1989)
and treat others as objects (Dimaggio et al., 2002) because they lack the ability to recognize
how others feel (APA, 1994; Watson et al., 1984). In an organizational setting, Gardner and
Pierce (2011) found a relationship between narcissism and elevated levels of hostility.
Hence, it is hypothesized:
H3. Narcissism is positively related to insensitivity toward others.

Unrealistic assessment of the environment

Another behavior that unethical leaders frequently engage in is offering an unrealistic
assessment of the environment, seeking to win another party over through the distortion of
reality (Zanzi et al., 1991). Self-serving leaders commonly present a distorted assessment of
situations (Conger and Kanungo, 1998), make exaggerated claims for their
recommendations, focus on the superficial to draw attention away from flaws in their
ideas, and provide an unrealistic evaluation of the resources needed to follow through with
a plan (Bass and Steidlmeier, 1999; Conger and Kanungo, 1998). Narcissists have a tendency
to present an overconfident assessment of the environment (Wallace and Baumeister, 2002).
It is hypothesized:
H4. Narcissism is positively related to an unrealistic view of the environment.

Manipulating others
Unethical leaders also blatantly manipulate others. More specifically, unethical leaders
have a tendency to exaggerate their past actions or make false promises for the future
(Bass and Steidlmeier, 1999; Conger and Kanungo, 1998). Narcissists have a tendency to
engage in deceitful and manipulative behaviors (Glad, 2002), and to make exaggerated
claims of their own abilities and performance (Campbell et al., 2004; Paulhus et al., 2003).
Akhtar and Thomson (1982) argued that narcissists have a value system that obliges them
to distort events in order to justify their choices and actions. In particular, the values that
contribute to a narcissist’s need to engage in manipulative behaviors include
valuing “getting ahead” rather than “getting-along” and valuing power over intimacy
(Emmons, 1989). It is hypothesized:
H5. Narcissism is positively related to manipulating others.
 Pseudo-transformational behaviors Narcissism and
The last set of behaviors involved the actions used by influential leaders to transform the unethical
needs of their followers to pursue ends that satisfy the leader’s personal interests rather leadership
than collective interests. According to Bass and Steidlmeier (1999), leaders who display
transformational leadership behaviors (i.e. idealized influence, intellectual stimulation,
inspirational motivation, and individual consideration), but whose leadership is not
grounded in moral foundations are considered pseudo-transformational leaders. 337
These leaders are unethical because their leadership is based on exploitation. Specifically,
these leaders give the impression that they are concerned about the collective unit, but
privately they are concerned about the good they can achieve for themselves.
They influence others by fostering favoritism and competition among followers.
Furthermore, their inspirational appeals focus on the worst in people rather than the best
in people. They also intellectually stimulate others through emotional persuasion rather
than rational argument and by substituting anecdotes for hard evidence
(Bass and Steidlmeier, 1999). These pseudo-transformational behaviors appear similar to
the behaviors of narcissistic individuals. As previously mentioned, narcissists view life as
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competition (Raskin et al., 1991) and see everything as good or bad (Kets de Vries and Miller,
1985). Furthermore, Raskin and Terry (1988) found that a major component of narcissism is
exploitativeness (persuading others to reach goals for the narcissists own personal gains).
Given these findings, it is hypothesized:
H6. Narcissism is positively related to pseudo-transformational behaviors.

Method
Participants and procedures
Professionals enrolled in MBA programs for senior executives, physicians, and engineers
offered at a large university were asked to complete a number of leadership assessments,
including self-evaluation forms, personality measures, and a one-day assessment center (AC).
Complete data were available for 162 individuals (80 percent males and 20 percent females).
The professionals involved with this study represented a variety of industries including
banking, insurance, manufacturing, health, and military. Furthermore, the participants held
a wide variety of managerial positions including vice president of sales, chief of staff, head
controller, safety manager, and company president. The university is located in the
southeastern region of the USA. The executive MBA programs include participants from
different regions of the USA, and a small portion of the participants are international.

Measures
Narcissism. Wink and Gough’s (1990) narcissism scale for the California Psychological
Inventory (CPI) was used in this study. This scale was developed to capture narcissism in
nonclinical populations and demonstrates construct validity (Wink and Gough, 1990).
Sample items include: “I would be willing to describe myself as a pretty strong personality,”
“If given the chance I could do some things that would be of great benefit to the world,” and
“I think that I feel more intensely than most people do.” Respondents answer “true”
or “false” for each of the 49 items. After reverse scoring the appropriate items, “1s” were
assigned to the narcissistic responses. The total narcissism score is derived from simply
totaling the items for each individual, thus higher scores are associated with narcissism, and
a maximum possible score of 49. The mean for narcissism in the current study is 24.65
(SD ¼ 6.28). An example item is “I have often met people who were supposed to be experts
who were no better than I.” The reliability of this scale was acceptable (α ¼ 0.78).
Furthermore, Wink and Gough (1990) have demonstrated construct validity for the
 LODJ narcissism scale. Participants in the executive MBA programs received feedback on the
38,2 traditional CPI dimensions. Because the narcissism scale is considered a “folk” dimension
rather than a dimension included in the CPI feedback (Wink and Gough, 1990), participants
did not receive feedback on narcissism.
Unethical leadership behaviors. The participants also took part in a one-day managerial
AC consisting of role-playing exercises, an in-basket exercise, and a leaderless group
338 discussion. The behaviors recorded in the AC were later examined to determine the
display of unethical leader behavior. ACs generally demonstrate criterion-related validity
(Arthur et al., 2003) and show longitudinal stability in predicting performance
( Jansen and Stoop, 2001). While an AC is not a perfect replica of the workplace, ACs are
associated with high psychological and physical fidelity for assessing behaviors displayed
in the workplace (Blair et al., 2016; Lievens and Patterson, 2011).
The initial AC raters were doctoral psychology students who had received frame-of-reference
training that followed the requirements set forth in the “Guidelines and ethical considerations for
assessment center operations” (International Task Force on Assessment Center Guidelines,
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2009). The training content included general assessment skills of observing, recording,
categorizing, and evaluating behaviors. Each assessor recorded specific behaviors as they
observed the participants engaging in the interpersonal exercises and recorded critical incidents
from completed written exercises. For the purpose of participant development and feedback, the
behaviors were categorized into traditional AC dimensions (e.g. oral communication, delegation,
leadership, coaching, team building, confrontation, and sensitivity). Participants in the AC
received AC feedback based on these dimensions.
Two AC subject matter experts (SMEs) reexamined the archival AC rating sheets to capture
a measure of unethical behavior displayed during the AC. More specifically, the two SMEs each
had at least four years of experience administrating the AC, working as raters, role players,
coordinators, and assessment exercise designers. Upon reviewing the archival sheets, the two
SMEs determined six categories of unethical behavior observable in the context of the AC.
Although the framework does not fit neatly into an existing framework of unethical behavior,
it draws across several existing frameworks that describe behaviors displayed by unethical
leaders (e.g. Conger, 1990; Conger and Kanungo, 1998; Howell and Avolio, 1992). The behaviors
include one-way communication, one-way control of power, insensitivity to others, unrealistic
assessment of the environment, manipulation, and pseudo-transformational behaviors.
Using the archival AC rating sheets, the two SMEs each independently coded all relevant
behaviors listed on the sheets into the six categories of unethical behavior. For instance, the
SMEs coded behaviors like ignoring input from others during the group discussion as
one-way communication. When a rating sheet indicated that a statement like “I’m your boss,
so you’ll follow my instructions,” the SME coded the behavior as one-way control of power.
Additional examples of behaviors coded under each behavioral category are presented in
the following list (Unethical leadership behaviors). The number of discrete behaviors for
each category was totaled. Whenever there was a discrepancy between the SME’s total
number of behaviors listed under a category for an individual, the discrepancy was
discussed until a consensus was reached between the two SMEs. Thus each participant
received a score on each of the six unethical leadership behaviors based on the number of
discreet instances that the behavior was displayed during the AC.
Unethical leadership behaviors:
(1) Dimension 1: one-way communication:
• Deliberately ignores or isolates group members:
− Ignores input from other group members during the leaderless group
discussion.
 • Reacts in a defensive manner when criticized: Narcissism and
− Calls an opposing viewpoint stupid. unethical
• Does not provide justification for decisions:
leadership
− Demands that group fund her proposal without question.
(2) Dimension 2: one-way control of power:
339
• Undermines the authority of others:
− In the meeting with the task-oriented role player, suggests that he or she will
meet the role player’s subordinate to resolve the problem.
• Expresses self in an authoritarian manner:
− Refers to his or her own position of authority when seeking compliance from
others.
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(3) Dimension 3: insensitive to others:

• Alienates peers and subordinates:
− Uses sarcasm.
− Escalates meeting tone.
• Insensitive to the welfare of subordinates and customers:
− Terminates an employee without gathering information.
(4) Dimension 4: unrealistic assessment of the environment:
• Attention to the superficial:
− Offers textbook solutions to problems (e.g. empower the employees).
− Makes a detailed chart outlining the rationale for a decision, but ignores
other problems.
• Exaggerated claims for his or her recommendations:
− States that a subordinate with mediocre performance is the best in the region.
(5) Dimension 5: manipulative behaviors:
• Falsifying information:
− States false evidence as factual when supporting a decision.
• Making false promises:
− Tells a role player that he will be suggested for promotion, then does not
follow through with that suggestion.
(6) Dimension 6: pseudo-transformational behaviors:
• Motivates others by focusing on their fears:
− Tells the laid back role player that if he does not improve his sales he will be
terminated.
• Substitutes anecdotes for hard evidence:
− Uses clichés such as “comparing apples to oranges” without specifically
resolving issues.
 LODJ Results
38,2 Table I presents the means, standard deviations, and zero-order correlations for all the
variables. Each of the six hypotheses was supported.
Support was found for H1. Narcissism was positively related to one-way communication
(r ¼ 0.33, p o0.01), exhibited by deliberately ignoring and isolating group members,
reacting in a defensive manner when criticized, and refusing to provide justification for
340 decisions. Support was also found for H2. Narcissism was positively and significantly
related to one-way control of power (r ¼ 0.24, p o0.01), with behaviors like undermining the
authority of others and expressing self in an authoritarian manner.
The data also supported H3. Narcissists showed insensitivity to others (r ¼ 0.31,
p o0.01) by alienating peers and subordinates and demonstrating a lack of care for the
welfare of subordinates and customers. H4 was also supported. Narcissism was related to
an unrealistic assessment of the environment (r ¼ 0.34, p o0.01). In the AC, this was
demonstrated by making exaggerated claims for recommendations, and giving extra
attention to superficial details while ignoring major issues.
Support was also found for H5. In the AC, narcissism was related to manipulative
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behaviors (r ¼ 0.20, p o0.01) including falsifying information and making false promises.
Finally, H6 was supported. Narcissism was positively related to pseudo-transformational
behaviors (r ¼ 0.25, p o0.01), as exhibited by using fear to motivate others and substituting
anecdotal evidence for actual facts, figures, and data.
Across the board, narcissism was related to the exhibition of unethical behavior.

Discussion
Researchers have long assumed that a leader’s propensity to behave in an unethical, self-serving
manner is largely a reflection of his or her level of narcissism (Kets de Vries and Miller, 1985).
However, while researchers have continually maintained that narcissism is related to unethical
leadership behaviors (e.g. Campbell et al., 2010; Conger and Kanungo, 1998; Higgs, 2009; Hogan
et al., 1990; House and Howell, 1992; Judge et al., 2009; Kets de Vries and Miller, 1985; Rosenthal
and Pittinsky, 2006), few have empirically tested this relationship. As far as we know, there is
not precedence for observing the relationship between narcissism and unethical leader behavior
with objective observation in a controlled setting. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to
test the notion that highly narcissistic individuals frequently engage in behaviors that are
associated with unethical leadership.
As expected, the results of the present study empirically support the relationship
between narcissism and a leader’s tendency to engage in behaviors associated with
unethical leadership. The managers in this study who scored high on a narcissism scale
were likely to ignore input from others, censure critical viewpoints, demand that their
decisions be accepted without question, and undermine others’ authority when engaging in
the AC exercises. Furthermore, these individuals also had a tendency to alienate others,

Variable Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Narcissism 24.65 6.28 –

2. One-way communication 1.48 1.48 0.36** –
3. One-control of power 1.36 1.19 0.24** 0.43** –
4. Insensitive to others 1.93 1.45 0.31** 0.53** 0.28** –
Table I.
Correlations, means, 5. Unrealistic assessment 1.85 1.55 0.34** 0.30** 0.14 0.40** –
and standard 6. Manipulation 0.43 0.75 0.20** 0.18** 0.24** 0.16* 0.31** –
deviations among 7. Pseudo-transformational 2.02 1.55 0.25** 0.30** 0.27** 0.28* 0.36** 0.14 –
study variables Notes: n ¼ 162. *p o0.05 (two-tailed); **p o0.01 (two-tailed)
 falsify information to support their actions, make exaggerated claims concerning Narcissism and
their recommendations, substitute anecdotes or analogies for hard evidence, and unethical
persuade others through emotional argumentation rather than rational argumentation. leadership
Thus, these findings offer support for the assumption that narcissism is key to
understanding why some leaders have a propensity to behave in a self-serving, unethical
manner when interacting with and influencing others. This study adds to the literature by
showing a link between narcissism and objective observations of unethical leader behaviors. 341
Future research directions
Hogan et al.’s (1990, 1997) work on narcissistic tendencies is also important for understanding
leader behavior. Hogan and colleagues’ work sheds light on the conflict between narcissism as
a predictor of necessary leader behaviors (e.g. confidence) and negative leader behaviors
(e.g. manipulating others). That is, Hogan notes that characteristics related to narcissism can
be very positive, and often individuals are able to control their negative tendencies. However,
when the person becomes too stressed or even too comfortable, he/she has a tendency to stop
monitoring his/her own performance. It is in such instances that negative characteristics begin
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to be displayed. The behaviors in the current study were collected during a developmental AC.
Based on Hogan and colleagues’ work, one might assume that behaving under observation
might cause stress for the participants, thus the incidence of unethical behavior related to
personality might have been difficult to control (Hogan and Hogan, 1997). With this
assumption, then one would also assume that more incidents of unethical behavior were
displayed here than what might actually be observed in a real work setting. Future research
should observe managers in actual meetings in the context of their actual relationships to see
if similar behaviors are displayed.
On the other hand, one might think that participants in an AC would monitor their own
performance, thus any narcissistic tendencies would be controlled and the behaviors would
be less likely to occur. Indeed, research suggests that narcissism is related to making a
strong first impression (Back et al., 2010; Brunell et al., 2008), and that even behaviors
associated with “dark” traits like narcissism can result in positive outcomes contingent
on the scenario ( Judge et al., 2009). If that assumption is accepted, then one might also
assume that the incident of unethical behavior would actually be higher than what was
recorded, or that the same behaviors that appear unethical when observed objectively and in
isolation for this study might initially be effective when influencing subordinates. Either
way, more work is needed to understand this phenomenon.

Limitations
Only “unethical” behaviors were recorded from the AC. As we see it, this study represents
a small component of understanding how these negative behaviors appear in relation to
positive behaviors as correlated with narcissism. Even though narcissists may be more
likely to display negative behaviors, a certain level of narcissism appears to be good, even
necessary, for effective leadership (Campbell et al., 2010; Grijalva et al., 2015; Rosenthal and
Pittinsky, 2006). Narcissists tend to express confidence, move forward with a certainty for
personal success, and happily take the stage. These characteristics predict the emergence
of leadership.
The use of the CPI narcissism scale is also a limitation of this study. The most popular
measure for narcissism is the narcissistic personality inventory (NPI) (Raskin and Terry,
1988), which includes three subscales: leadership/authority, grandiose exhibitionism, and
entitlement/exploitativeness. There are different versions and lengths of the NPI available
(e.g. Ames et al., 2006; Gentile et al., 2013). The NPI (including versions of the NPI) is the most
common measure used in narcissism research (Campbell et al., 2010). Unlike the NPI, the CPI
narcissism scale does not allow for subscale examination. Although the CPI narcissism scale
 LODJ was originally treated as an encompassing measure of narcissism, it has later been treated
38,2 as most similar to the NPI subscale grandiose exhibitionism. While this is a limitation of the
current study, it is also a common problem. The NPI scale is most frequently used in
research; it is difficult to justify collecting measures that directly measure narcissism when
using an applied population not intended for research (Kearney, 2010). In future research, it
would be especially interesting to examine the relationship between the leadership/authority
342 narcissism subscale and unethical leadership behaviors.
Recent research suggests that the negative impact of narcissism is contingent on the
presence of other personality characteristics (Owens et al., 2015), the climate of the
organization (Hoffman et al., 2013), and follower characteristics (Sosik et al., 2014).
Our current study only focuses on garnering negative behaviors from a larger collection of
AC behaviors. Future research may also examine positive behaviors that emerge in
correlation with narcissism in an AC setting, including confidence and perspective taking,
or examine the specific context of conversation in which the negative behaviors are
displayed. Furthermore, future research should examine whether the negative behaviors
associated with narcissism can be tempered through training, leader development, and
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coaching programs.

Practical implications
Feedback and coaching are often prescribed in order to negate the negative outcomes
associated with narcissism (Lubit, 2002). This study makes a very practical contribution to
coaching and narcissism. The current research demonstrates that there is value in using AC
methodology to evaluate behaviors often associated with narcissism. The nature of the
narcissistic individual poses specific challenges for coaches (Kearney, 2010). First,
the narcissistic individual is likely very difficult to coach, as a well-documented behavior
associated with narcissism is resistance to negative feedback, and narcissists are likely to
explain away negative feedback received from various sources (Kernis and Sun, 1994).
Second, measures that are typically used in coaching, such as 360-degree inventories, can be
challenging because the ramifications of providing negative feedback to the narcissist often
causes subordinates and peers to be fearful of providing honest feedback (Kearney, 2010).
Indeed, research was cited in this study suggesting that multisource feedback reflects a
negative correlation between narcissism and integrity in supervisor ratings, but does not
reflect a negative correlation between narcissism and integrity associated with narcissism in
subordinate ratings (Blair et al., 2008). Maybe this finding is due to the retaliatory nature of
the narcissist. The current study indicates that ACs can be used as an objective and
controlled environment to capture narcissistic tendencies. Providing these observations
from the controlled environment to the narcissist may be particularly effective, especially if
they corroborate information gathered from other sources.
A second contribution of this study is that it confirms the suspicions that narcissists
demonstrate specific unethical behaviors in the workplace, which likely lead to lower job
satisfaction and negatively impact culture. That is, narcissism has long been theorized as
related to unethical leadership, and recent research confirms that narcissism impacts
organizational outcomes (e.g. fluctuations in firm performance; Chatterjee and Hambrick,
2007). This study confirms that narcissists are more likely to demonstrate unethical
behaviors, such as ignoring input from others and creating false data to justify decisions.
This study also confirms that there are specific behaviors a coach or mentor should expect
to see when dealing with someone whom they suspect has a high level of narcissism.

Conclusion
While leadership researchers have long held that narcissism is key to understanding
unethical leadership, until recently there was little empirical support for this assumption.
 The current study is unique in that it isolates the “bad” behaviors of narcissists in a Narcissism and
relatively controlled environment. These findings add to our understanding of the behaviors unethical
displayed by narcissists that likely contribute to larger negative outcomes in organizations. leadership

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Corresponding author
Carrie A. Blair can be contacted at: messalc@cofc.edu
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