Refugees unwelcome: Narcissistic and secure national commitment differentially predict collective action against immigrants and refugees

Abstract

Two studies (N1 = 193; N2 = 598) were conducted in Poland to examine the role of two types of ingroup commitment (i.e., national narcissism and national identification) as predictors of attitudes towards immigrants and refugees (disadvantaged groups) and intentions to engage in collective action against them. As predicted, national narcissism (but not national identification) was related to more hostile intergroup attitudes and greater willingness to engage in collective action against refugees and immigrants. The positive effect of national narcissism on intentions to engage in collective action against immigrants and refugees was mediated by attitudes towards those groups. These results show that applying a more fine-grained approach to ingroup commitment (e.g., national narcissism vs. national identification) among advantaged group members allows for a better understanding of their intergroup attitudes and behavioral intentions to actively oppose the rights of disadvantaged social groups via collective action.