Between facilitation and hindrance: linking CEO Machiavellianism, top management team collective organizational engagement and new ventures performance

Purpose Based on upper echelons theory, this paper aims to explore the mixed impacts of chief executive officer (CEO) Machiavellianism on new venture performance. At the same time, this paper tests the mediating and suppression effect of top management team (TMT) collective organizational engagement, and the moderating effect of entrepreneurial orientation. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a three-wave survey of a sample of 1,550 enterprises established within three years, finally retained the full sample of 216 companies (216 CEOs, 733 vice presidents) with complete responses in all surveys. By using SPSS 26.0 and Amos 26.0 software to conduct data analysis, the authors empirically tested the hypothesized relationships. Findings Regression results show that CEO Machiavellianism negatively affects new venture performance through TMT collective organizational engagement, whereas there is a direct positive relationship between CEO Machiavellianism and new venture performance when TMT collective organizational engagement is controlled for. In addition, entrepreneurial orientation plays a boundary role in this mechanism, which can weaken the negative effect of CEO Machiavellianism on TMT collective organizational engagement. Originality/value By expanding the application contexts of the upper echelons theory, this paper enriches the research on Machiavellianism in the organizational research and further clarified the simultaneous positive and negative effects of CEO Machiavellianism on new venture performance.