Narcissism and entrepreneurship: Evidence from six datasets

Yik Kiu Leung, Ingmar Franken, Roy Thurik, Martijn Driessen, Katsuyuki Kamei, Olivier Torrès and Ingrid Verheul

Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 2021, vol. 15, issue C

Abstract: Widespread attention is being paid to the alleged rise of narcissism in people in general and business leaders in particular. Surprisingly, hardly any studies have focused on the link between narcissism and entrepreneurship. Using self-reported data from 4798 respondents from three countries, we explore the associations between trait narcissism and six different entrepreneurial aspects that represent the entire entrepreneurial process. Overall, our findings suggest that a positive link exists between narcissism and entrepreneurship that is particularly salient in the early stage of the entrepreneurial process (e.g., entrepreneurial intention) and in the individual aspects of entrepreneurship (e.g., entrepreneurial orientation, well-being of the entrepreneur). Our additional analyses reveal that the adaptive aspect of narcissism (i.e., leadership/authority) is most consistently linked to entrepreneurship and that the links between narcissism and entrepreneurship are predominately linear. Finally, our findings are largely robust when different sets of controls are added.

Keywords: Narcissism; Entrepreneurship; Well-being; Mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 J24 L21 L25 L26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:15:y:2021:i:c:s235267342030072x

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2020.e00216

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