Determining the Effect of Narcissistic Leadership on Employee Performance: An applied Study in a Private College in Iraq

The narcissism of leaders has been studied as a negative trait. It is a personality disorder related to the constant aspiration for power, superiority over others, and a lack of empathy with others and their exploitation to achieve personal ends. Narcissists often seek leadership and work for their interests, and these behaviors affect workers' lower levels of performance, creativity, and productivity. This, in turn, leads to higher levels of burnout, job turnover, and other organizational diseases because the traits of leaders and their actual behavior complement each other. Therefore, this research aims to study the relationship between narcissistic leadership with its dimensions (arrogance, authority) and workers' performance (organizational commitment, job satisfaction, creativity, productivity). The research sample was represented in Baghdad College of Economic Sciences University / Iraq, and the research sample amounted to (77) individuals. The research relied on the questionnaire as the main tool to collect data to conduct statistical analyses. As (87) questionnaires were distributed to the employees of the researched college, the number of retrieved questionnaires was (77) valid for analysis. The data was analyzed using (SPSS V.25) and (Amos V.25). Many statistical methods were used to achieve the research objectives, represented by (arithmetic mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, Pearson correlation coefficient, and simple linear regression). The most important findings of the research are the adverse effect of narcissistic leadership on workers' performance. The more there is narcissistic leadership in the college understudy, the more it negatively contributes to the performance levels of employees.