The bright and dark sides of CEO narcissism for ESG performance: evidence from Indonesia

Purpose Existing research suggests that CEO personality traits, including narcissism, can significantly affect a firm's performance and strategic decision-making. This study evaluates the direct outcome of CEO narcissism on ESG performance in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach This research is using non-financial firms listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange from 2017 to 2022, a total of 132 firm-year observations, and the data are processed by ordinary least squares (OLS) regression fixed effect. Findings Empirical results exhibit that narcissistic CEO significantly influences a firm's social performance positively, whilst indicating insignificance towards overall ESG performance, environmental and governance performance in Indonesia. Originality/value While many empirical works have assessed the relationship of CEO narcissism and ESG performance in other countries, very few studies have been conducted in Indonesia and none is using LinkedIn profiles to measure CEO narcissism levels.