Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy of top managers: Can Entrepreneurial Orientation secure performance?

Ricarda Bouncken, Beate Cesinger and Victor Tiberius

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, 273-302

Abstract: Numerous studies show that high levels of Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) in firms positively influence firm performance. Yet, high levels of Dark Triad (DT) traits - narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy - of managers might work detrimental to EO. Our study empirically tests if top managers who score high on Dark Triad traits have a negative influence on firm performance, reducing the merits of EO. Results of a survey study on 191 firms show that all three dimensions of the DT, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, suppress the positive effects that EO has on firm performance. Accordingly, selfish behaviour, emotional coldness, propensity for duplicity, and top managers' quest for self promotion, status, and dominance lead to behaviour that reduces the positive influences around innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking of EO.

Keywords: dark triad; entrepreneurial orientation; firm performance; Machiavellianism; narcissism; psychopathy; upper echelons. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=107932 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijeven:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:273-302

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().