Narcissistic Leadership: the Influence of Gender and Leader-Member Exchange on Evaluations of Effective Leadership
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Master Thesis Narcissistic Leadership: The influence of gender and leader-member exchange on evaluations of effective leadership Student Stella van Hoenselaar Student number 6228658 Supervisor Prof. Dr. D. N. Den Hartog June 2016 MSc in Business Administration - Leadership & Management track i Statement of Originality This document is written by Student Stella van Hoenselaar who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents. ii Abstract Based on social role theory, this study tests the proposition that female narcissistic leaders are rated as less effective than their male counterparts, because of the violation of their traditional communal gender role. Furthermore, leader-member exchange (LMX) is studied as a possible mediator in the relationship between narcissism and perceived leader effectiveness. Research was done with the recently developed NARQ scale as a measure of narcissism, which allows for the distinction between two different dimensions; narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry. Data of 123 leader-follower dyads shows that narcissism in leaders has a negative effect on perceived leader effectiveness and that specifically the rivalry dimension accounts for this effect. This negative effect, which is found for narcissism and narcissistic rivalry, is partly mediated by LMX. A moderating effect of gender is found for the narcissistic rivalry dimension, with women being rated as less effective than men, but only when LMX is controlled for. Further exploratory analysis finds that this moderating effect of gender specifically takes place at low levels of LMX, meaning that women that score high on narcissistic rivalry are rated as less effective than men, but only when quality of LMX is low. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. Key words: Leadership; Narcissistic Leadership; Gender; NARQ; narcissistic rivalry; narcissistic admiration; Perceived Leader Effectiveness; LMX; Social Role Theory iii Table of Contents Page 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………… 1 2. Theoretical Background……………………………………………………………......... 4 2.1 The development of Narcissism as a trait……………………………………… 4 2.2 Narcissism & Leadership…………………………………………………......... 5 2.3 Narcissism & leader- member exchange………………………………………. 9 2.4 Narcissism & Gender …….……………………………………………………. 11 2.5 Narcissism, Gender & LMX…………………………………………………… 14 3. Research Method………………………………………………………………………... 15 3.1 Procedure…………………………………………………………………......... 15 3.2 Sample…………………………………………………………………………..16 3.3 Measures……………………………………………………………………….. 16 4. Data analysis & Results……………………………………………………………......... 17 4.1 Data Analysis……………………………………………………………........... 17 4.2 Descriptive Statistics…………………………………………………………… 18 4.3 Regression……………………………………………………………………… 20 4.4 Mediation………………………………………………………………………. 22 4.5 Moderation………………………………………………………………........... 24 4.6 Moderated mediation…………………………………………………………... 26 4.7 Exploratory analysis…………………………………………………………….30 5. Discussion……………………………………………………………………………….. 32 5.1 Implications……………………………………………………………………..34 5.2 Limitation & directions for future research……………………………………. 36 6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………. 37 Literature…………………………………………………………………………………… 39 Appendix A………………………………………………………………………………… 44 iv 1. Introduction Successful companies always strive to improve business, enhance performance and maximize profit. As a result, a vast amount of research is done towards discovering ways that can help them achieve these goals and identify factors that can contribute to their success. Leadership is one of those factors. Studies suggest that effective leadership influences several aspects of firm performance (Thomas, 1988). Ever since, research is interested in what attributes make up a successful leader. A fairly new topic of interest in this field is leader narcissism, which in the context of leadership, is seen as an attribute or trait that includes grandiosity, entitlement, dominance, and superiority (Raskin & Hall, 1979). Narcissism is found to be prevalent in leaders, but is also associated with leader emergence (Campbell, Hoffman, Campbell & Marchisio, 2011). Consequently, a discussion is held among management theorists about the effects of narcissism on effective leadership. No consensus is reached so far, however most research indicates more negative than positive effects of narcissism on leader effectiveness. (Rosenthal & Pittinsky, 2006). The underlying factors that are responsible for the effect have remained largely unstudied. However, one factor that is associated with both leader narcissism and perceived leader effectiveness is leader-member exchange (LMX). In business theory, this term is often used to denote the quality of the relationship between leader and follower. LMX is low when relationships are characterized by downward influence and role-defined relationships. When LMX is high, relationships are characterized by mutual trust, respect, liking and reciprocal influence. High quality of LMX is associated with both high performance ratings and high leader effectiveness ratings (Kacmar, Witt, Zivnuska & Gully, 2003; Deluga & Perry, 1991). Shuns (2015, p.131) also theorizes that leaders that score high on narcissism are unlikely to form positive LMX relationships, as the leader will not accept the followers’ relevance and therefore will not seek out a positive relationship. At the same time, the followers are also 1 unlikely to seek out a positive relationship as this would imply almost complete submission to the leader. Therefore, narcissism in leaders possibly has a negative effect on perceived leader effectiveness, through a low quality of LMX. As with several other (leadership) attributes, an age independent gender difference exists in the prevalence of narcissism, with men generally being more narcissistic than women (Grijalva, Newman, Tay, Donnellan, Harms, Robings and Yan, 2015). The research about gender differences in leadership roles does not limit itself to the topic of narcissism. Men still largely outnumber women in top management positions despite increased awareness and efforts to change this fact (Eagly & Carli, 2007). These inequalities cannot be addressed to actual differences in the leadership behavior of men and women, which raises the question why they actually exist (Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, & Van Engen, 2003). The most recognized explanation is based upon the social role theory, which explains how the same behavior is interpreted differently depending on whether it is enacted by a male or female. According to this theory, women are expected to be communal, where men are expected to be agentic (Eagly, 1987). When a person does not behave consistent with these expectations, they are evaluated more negatively, especially when showing undesirable qualities associated with the other gender. This means that because male gender roles are more related to typical leadership roles than those of women, it is easier for men to be perceived more positively than women when they engage in leadership behavior (Eagly & Karau, 2002). The behavioral expressions associated with narcissism also mainly resemble the masculine sex role, including physical expression of anger, strong need for power and an authoritative leadership style (Corry, Merritt, Mrug, & Pamp, 2008, p. 593 Grijalva, 2015). It is therefore expected that women engaging in narcissistic behavior, will be perceived more negatively than men engaging in the same behavior. This is consistent with results found in practice (De Hoogh, Den Hartog, & Nevicka, 2015). 2 This effect possibly takes place in two forms. It can influence evaluations of leader effectiveness directly, but it could also have in indirect effect by influencing the quality of LMX which in its turn influences perceived effectiveness. Evaluations of leader effectiveness are thought to depend mainly on perceived credibility and trustworthiness (Campbell, 1991; Harris & Hogan, 1992; Lombardo, Ruderman & McCauley, 1988) whereas quality of LMX includes different factors of evaluation, under which member affect about the relationship (Liden, 1985; Day & Cram, 1992). Social role theory however states that violations of the traditional gender role leads to negative evaluations, but whether these are evaluations of likeability, capability or even something else is not yet clear. Therefore, both possibilities are tested. The aim of this study is twofold. Firstly, LMX as a possible explanation for the relationship between leader narcissism and perceived leader effectiveness is studied. Secondly, the influence of gender on this relationship is examined. Hereby, the research determines different factors influencing leader effectiveness, which can have important consequences for organizational performance. At the same time, it provides more insight in the factors that entail this relationship. Lastly it provides insight in a possible source of gender inequality in leadership whilst providing a probable means to compensate for this inequality. See figure 1. For the complete research model Figure 1. Research model 3 2. Theoretical Background 2.1 The Development of Narcissism as a Trait. The term narcissism, derived from the Greek