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

Abstract 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.