Pathways From Narcissism to Leadership Emergence in Social Groups

Abstract

Narcissists successfully emerge as leaders. However, the processes by which this occurs are mostly unknown. Following a dual-pathway approach and differentiating between agentic (narcissistic admiration) and antagonistic (narcissistic rivalry) narcissism, we investigated the behavioral processes underlying narcissists’ leadership emergence in social groups. We applied data from a multimethodological laboratory study ( N = 311) comprising three groups of variables: personality traits, expressed interaction behaviors, and interpersonal perceptions. Prior to the laboratory sessions, participants provided self-reported answers to various narcissism measures. Interpersonal perceptions were obtained from round-robin ratings after participants completed the Lost on the Moon task in small groups. Participants’ behaviors during the group discussion were videotaped and coded by trained raters. Results supported the notion of a pathway from agentic narcissism to leadership (measured as target effects of being seen as a leader) determined by narcissistic admiration, dominant-expressive behavior, and being seen as assertive. To clarify narcissism’s relationship to leadership emergence, the effects were (a) contrasted with narcissism’s effects on popularity and (b) set in relation to process pathways leading from intelligence and physical attractiveness to leadership. The findings underscore the benefits of a behavioral pathway approach for unravelling the impact of narcissism on leadership emergence.

When and Why Do Individuals High in Narcissistic Rivalry Attain Social Status?

“…This design had the advantage of eliminating many potential alternative paths from narcissistic rivalry to social status and thus we can rule out many alternative explanations for the observed relations between narcissistic rivalry and social status. However, the highly controlled setting comes at the cost that it is unclear how generalizable the current findings are to naturally occurring face-to-face groups in which many other verbal and nonverbal behavioral processes and cues might impact the link between narcissistic rivalry and social status (e.g., Back et al, 2010;Härtel et al, 2023;Leckelt et al, 2015). We believe that contributing and punishing behavior are crucial behavioral manifestations of narcissistic rivalry that can at least partly explain why individuals high in narcissistic rivalry attain or do not attain status and popularity in naturally occurring groups.…”

On How to Be Liked in First Encounters: The Effects of Agentic and Communal Behaviors on Popularity and Unique Liking

“…Similarly, it is unclear what the effects would be in a different culture with a more collectivistic focus. Other ideas for future research include studying the consequences of nervousness or emotionally unstable behavior (e.g., Breil et al, 2022; Leising & Bleidorn, 2011) for being liked as well as the effects of social behavior on more agentic outcomes, such as being chosen as a leader (e.g., Härtel et al, 2021).…”

On How to be Liked in First Encounters: The Effects of Agentic and Communal Behaviors on Popularity and Unique Liking

“…Similarly, it is unclear what the effects would be in a different culture with a more collectivistic focus. Other ideas for future research include studying the consequences of nervousness or emotionally unstable behavior (see, e.g., Breil et al, 2021;Leising & Bleidorn, 2011) for being liked as well as the effects of social behavior on more agentic outcomes, such as being chosen as a leader (see, e.g., Härtel et al, 2021).…”