How team leader narcissism influences team task performance: the mechanisms of team identification, team member narcissism and task initiative

Introduction In contemporary organizational contexts, leader narcissism has received increased scholarly attention because of its complex impact on team effectiveness. Given the critical role of team level performance, understanding the mechanisms by which leader narcissism influences team outcomes is of paramount importance. From the perspective of social identity theory, we examined the mediating effect of team identification and moderating roles of member narcissism and task initiative. Methods Survey data were collected from 640 employees and their leaders across 160 teams in China. Results The primary findings are as follows. First, leader narcissism negatively impacted team task performance. Second, team identification played a significant mediating role in the relationship between leader narcissism and team task performance. Third, member narcissism moderated the leader narcissism and team identification relationship, such that higher member narcissism intensified this negative association. While team member task initiative enhances the positive impact of team member team identification on team task performance, the effect may instead exacerbate the risk of performance decline in leader narcissism contexts.