IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jadmsc/v15y2025i10p387-d1765370.html

When Does a Narcissistic Leader Force You Out? The Mediating Role of Psychological Capital

Author

Listed:
  • Eva Petiz Lousã

    (Centre for Organizational and Social Studies of Polytechnic of Porto (CEOS.PP), Polytechnic of Porto, 4465-004 Porto, Portugal
    Research Center in Business Sciences (NECE-UMAIA), University of Maia, 4475-690 Maia, Portugal
    Research Center in Business Sciences (NECE-UBI), University of Beira Interior, 6200-209 Covilhã, Portugal)

  • Marta Pereira Alves

    (Research Center in Business Sciences (NECE-UBI), University of Beira Interior, 6200-209 Covilhã, Portugal)

Abstract

Narcissistic Leadership has been associated with negative organizational and individual outcomes, including employee intention to leave. However, the mechanism by which this leadership influences this intention to leave still needs to be further elucidated. This study investigates the mediating role of psychological capital (PsyCap) (comprising hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism) in the relationship between the narcissistic leadership and the intention to leave. A non-probabilistic sample of 266 Portuguese employees from various organizational sectors, aged 18 to 53 ( M = 29.13; SD = 7.53), predominantly women (62%), completed a self-administered online questionnaire. Results, calculated through the estimation of OLS regressions-based models, indicated that narcissistic leadership was positively related to turnover intention (Hypothesis 1) and that PsyCap significantly mediated that association (Hypothesis 2), particularly self-efficacy showed to be negatively associated with turnover intention, and optimism positively predicted the intention to leave the organization. Overall, the findings point to the key role of narcissistic leadership and psychological capital as antecedents of turnover intention, highlighting the opposite mediating effects of self-efficacy and optimism in the association between narcissistic leadership and turnover intention. The study’s findings are discussed, as well as their theoretical and practical implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Eva Petiz Lousã & Marta Pereira Alves, 2025. "When Does a Narcissistic Leader Force You Out? The Mediating Role of Psychological Capital," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-14, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:15:y:2025:i:10:p:387-:d:1765370
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/15/10/387/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/15/10/387/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Muhammad Asrar-ul-Haq & Talha Anjum, 2020. "Impact of narcissistic leadership on employee work outcomes in banking sector of Pakistan," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Theresa Fehn & Astrid Schütz, 2021. "What You Get is What You See: Other-Rated but not Self-Rated Leaders’ Narcissistic Rivalry Affects Followers Negatively," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 549-566, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Murat Ocak & Emrah Arıoğlu, 2025. "Narcissism, Audit Market Competition and Audit Quality: Evidence from the Chairpersons of Audit Firms," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(4), pages 21582440251, October.
    2. Chen, Ning & Li, Diwan & Lv, Hui & Zheng, Chuhao & Zhao, Xingxin, 2025. "More helpful or less ethical: The dilemma between “desire to gain to face” and “fear of losing face” for narcissistic employees," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    3. Steven E. Kaszak & Eric N. Johnson & Philip M. J. Reckers & Alan Reinstein, 2025. "Narcissism Dynamics and Auditor Skepticism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 197(1), pages 99-116, February.
    4. Gan, Xiaoyu & Topakas, Anna & Hildenbrand, Kristin & Ng, Kara & Patterson, Malcolm, 2026. "After-work unhealthy eating, work-induced ego depletion, and abusive supervision: the moderating role of narcissistic admiration and rivalry," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 138907, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Yanghao Zhu & Lirong Long & Yannan Zhang, 2026. "Fear of Failure in the Fast Lane: How Stretch Goals Fuel Unethical Leadership and Employee Misconduct," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 203(2), pages 357-376, January.
    6. Marwah Badr Zaya Yousif & Taicir Moalla Loukil, 2022. "Determining the Effect of Narcissistic Leadership on Employee Performance: An applied Study in a Private College in Iraq," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 11, September.
    7. Liu, Ethan Xin & Du, Chenxi, 2026. "How do narcissistic CEOs decide their firms’ debt maturity? An analysis based on the SPIN model," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:15:y:2025:i:10:p:387-:d:1765370. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.