TY - JOUR

T1 - Narcissists and their influence on firm performance and reporting practices – a systematic literature review and future research agenda

AU - Zeppenfeld, Jennifer

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - We synthesize the literature on how narcissism affects organizational outcomes in terms of performance and reporting and provide a future research agenda. A systematic literature review (SLR) is conducted, starting with an initial sample of 35,349 papers. After applying a reproducible selection process, 62 seminal studies in the field of accounting published between 2007 and 2024 are discussed. The literature is structured based on an extended version of upper echelons theory. We find that narcissists are neither exclusively productive nor unproductive for an organization. They can be considered productive in times of crisis and/or growth, or as pioneers in corporate social responsibility (CSR) as they tend to present their company in a positive light and manipulate their (non-)financial reports to do so. However, when manipulation becomes illegal, narcissists become unproductive for a company. The study’s main contribution is a structured map of contemporary knowledge, and a future research agenda pointing to research gaps and potential topics and methods for future research. This holds especially for mechanisms that can restrain the expression of negative aspects of narcissism in organizations.

AB - We synthesize the literature on how narcissism affects organizational outcomes in terms of performance and reporting and provide a future research agenda. A systematic literature review (SLR) is conducted, starting with an initial sample of 35,349 papers. After applying a reproducible selection process, 62 seminal studies in the field of accounting published between 2007 and 2024 are discussed. The literature is structured based on an extended version of upper echelons theory. We find that narcissists are neither exclusively productive nor unproductive for an organization. They can be considered productive in times of crisis and/or growth, or as pioneers in corporate social responsibility (CSR) as they tend to present their company in a positive light and manipulate their (non-)financial reports to do so. However, when manipulation becomes illegal, narcissists become unproductive for a company. The study’s main contribution is a structured map of contemporary knowledge, and a future research agenda pointing to research gaps and potential topics and methods for future research. This holds especially for mechanisms that can restrain the expression of negative aspects of narcissism in organizations.

KW - Corporate social responsibility

KW - Firm performance

KW - Narcissism

KW - Reporting

KW - Upper echelons theory

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105009737171&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11301-025-00538-0

DO - 10.1007/s11301-025-00538-0

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:105009737171

JO - Management Review Quarterly

JF - Management Review Quarterly

SN - 2198-1620

ER -