When Does a Narcissistic Leader Force You Out? The Mediating Role of Psychological Capital

Abstract

Narcissistic Leadership has been associated with negative organizational and individual outcomes, including employee intention to leave. However, the mechanism by which this leadership influences this intention to leave still needs to be further elucidated. This study investigates the mediating role of psychological capital (PsyCap) (comprising hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism) in the relationship between the narcissistic leadership and the intention to leave. A non-probabilistic sample of 266 Portuguese employees from various organizational sectors, aged 18 to 53 (M = 29.13; SD = 7.53), predominantly women (62%), completed a self-administered online questionnaire. Results, calculated through the estimation of OLS regressions-based models, indicated that narcissistic leadership was positively related to turnover intention (Hypothesis 1) and that PsyCap significantly mediated that association (Hypothesis 2), particularly self-efficacy showed to be negatively associated with turnover intention, and optimism positively predicted the intention to leave the organization. Overall, the findings point to the key role of narcissistic leadership and psychological capital as antecedents of turnover intention, highlighting the opposite mediating effects of self-efficacy and optimism in the association between narcissistic leadership and turnover intention. The study’s findings are discussed, as well as their theoretical and practical implications.