Can Narcissistic Women Leaders Be Seen as Effective? A Multi-Method Examination

Using both neural and psychometric-based methodologies, we find that leader narcissism is correlated with neural structures that are indicative of taking an instrumental view of other people. Specifically, the convergence of the default mode and task-positive networks in the brain, which reflects cognition that is oriented toward an instrumental view of others, is associated with leader narcissism. However, in line with expectancy violation theory, we demonstrate that despite these cognitive tendencies that are potentially deleterious, women narcissistic leaders are able to realize more effective performance as compared to men narcissistic leaders. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our findings while considering limitations and future research directions.