Narcissism and Counterproductive Work Behavior ( CWB ): Meta‐Analysis and Consideration of Collectivist Culture, Big Five Personality, and Narcissism's Facet Structure

Abstract

A recent review of the relationship between narcissism and CWB reported two key results: (a) narcissism is the dominant predictor of CWB among the dark triad personality traits, and (b) the narcissism– CWB relationship is moderated by ingroup collectivist culture ( k = 9; N = 2,708; O ' B oyle, F orsyth, B anks, & M cDaniel, 2012). The current work seeks to enhance understanding of the narcissism– CWB relationship in five ways. First, we update O 'Boyle et al.'s (2012) meta‐analysis to include over 50 per cent more data ( k = 16; N = 4,424), and demonstrate that narcissism remains the largest unique predictor of CWB after controlling for the Big Five personality traits. Second, we reveal that O 'Boyle and colleagues' inference of cross‐cultural moderation hinges on a single dataset from B angladesh. Third, based on an original international dataset of on‐line respondents, we reaffirm that ingroup collectivist culture does moderate/weaken the narcissism– CWB relationship. Fourth, we show that the narcissism– CWB relationship is stronger in published (corrected r = .48) versus unpublished studies (corrected r = .15). Finally, we propose a new moderator of the narcissism– CWB relationship: narcissism's facets. One facet (Entitlement/Exploitativeness) relates positively to CWB , whereas another facet of narcissism (Leadership/Authority) relates negatively to CWB .