Exploring the moderated mediation relationship between leader narcissism and employees’ innovative behavior

Abstract

Purpose Based on the social information processing theory, the purpose of this study is to propose a conceptualized moderated mediation model for testing the linkage between leader narcissism and employees’ innovative behavior through the mediating effect of employees’ cognitive dependency and the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty between employees’ cognitive dependency and their innovative behavior. Design/methodology/approach In this study, multisource data from 266 employees and their supervisors in 11 large high-tech Chinese companies were collected through a field study and an online survey. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping. Findings The results of this study show that leader narcissism has a negative impact on employees’ innovative behavior and that employees’ cognitive dependency plays a mediating role between leader narcissism and employees’ innovative behavior. Cognitive dependency and environmental uncertainty play moderated mediation roles between leader narcissism and employees’ innovative behavior. Research limitations/implications In the future, longitudinal research and experimental methods can be used to avoid common method bias. Further studies could allow leaders to evaluate environmental uncertainty and explore the emotional path by which leader narcissism has negative effects on followers’ innovation from social information processing theory. In addition, future studies can explore cognitive dependency more deeply from the perspectives of forced obedience and active worship. Practical implications Organizations should warn leaders to control the dark side of narcissism and minimize environmental uncertainty to reduce barriers to innovation. Originality/value This study constructs the path of the effect of leader narcissism on employees’ innovation through employees’ cognitive dependency in a specific context, which enriches theoretical research on the link between leaders’ traits and employees’ innovative behavior. Along with the finding of leader narcissism’s negative effect on employees’ innovative behavior, this study explores the dark side of leader narcissism in the context of China’s high-tech firms and environmental uncertainty.

Leader Narcissism and Employee Organizational Citizenship Behavior Directed Toward the Leader: Roles of Perceived Insider Status and Need for Self-Esteem

“…First, this study explored and tested the negative impact of leader narcissism on employee OCB-L, which enriched our understanding of the outcome variables of leader narcissism in the Chinese context. Prior studies have explored the relationship between leader narcissism and employees’ workplace behaviors, such as helping behavior ( Carnevale et al, 2018 ), voice behavior ( Liao et al, 2019b ; Huang et al, 2020 ; Yao et al, 2020 ), innovation behavior ( Yang et al, 2020 ; Norouzinik et al, 2021 ), and proactive behavior ( Liao et al, 2019a ). However, these employees’ workplace behaviors are either intended to help their colleagues or to promote organizational development and improvement.…”

“…Given that leader narcissism has been shown to substantially impact employees ( O’Boyle et al, 2012 ), there is growing interest in identifying its specific effects. Prior studies have focused on the effects of leader narcissism on employees’ job performance ( Owens et al, 2015 ; Liu et al, 2021 ) and workplace behaviors such as voice behavior ( Liao et al, 2019b ; Huang et al, 2020 ; Yao et al, 2020 ), innovation behavior ( Yang et al, 2020 ; Norouzinik et al, 2021 ), change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior ( Ha et al, 2020 ), and counterproductive behavior ( O’Boyle et al, 2012 ; Braun et al, 2018 ). Although existing studies have provided valuable insights into the ways in which leader narcissism affects employees’ individual-directed and organization-directed behaviors, it does not answer the question of how leader narcissism affects employees’ leader-directed followership behavior.…”

Self-serving leadership and innovative behavior: Roles of psychological entitlement and moral identity

“…Zhang and Yang (2021) revealed that power distance orientation moderates the relationship between spiritual leadership and employee IB from an individual characteristic perspective. Drawing from an environmental characteristic perspective, Yang et al (2020) found that environmental uncertainty moderates the relationship between leader narcissism and employee IB.…”

“…In addition, innovation requires additional time and effort, including tolerance to innovation failure risks (Woods et al, 2018). Studies have indicated that leadership style, as the core part of an organizational environment, significantly influences employee IB, which cannot be ignored (Nevicka et al, 2018); for example, leader narcissism refrains from employee IB (Yang et al, 2020), whereas paternalistic leadership stimulates it (Lu et al, 2022). SL is defined as leaders who put their own well-being and benefits above employee pursuits and organization targets (Camps et al, 2012).…”

“…Studies have revealed that leadership style is a crucial factor affecting employee IB (Grant and Ashford, 2008). Although positive and negative leadership styles exist, employees become vulnerable to the "dark side" of leadership in the long run (Nevicka et al, 2018); for example, abusive supervision (Yuan et al, 2022), leader narcissism (Yang et al, 2020), and authoritarian leadership (Guo et al, 2018) impede employee IB. However, due to the diversity of negative leadership types, their impacts on employees, such as emotional reactions and cognitive changes, are different.…”