Are narcissists always bad apples? The relationship between employee narcissism and creative deviance

Abstract

This study aims to advance the understanding of the effect of employee narcissism on creative deviance through creative self-efficacy and the moderation of this effect through transformational leadership. Research data were collected using a three-wave lagged model (n = 446) from 446 employees of 6 Chinese companies to test our moderated mediation model. The findings show that narcissism positively and significantly predicted creative self-efficacy (β = 0.42, p < 0.001) and creative deviance (β = 0.64, p < 0.001), and that creative self-efficacy partially mediated that relationship. Transformational leadership strengthens the effect of narcissism on creative self-efficacy, and there is a positive indirect relationship between employee narcissism and creative deviance through creative self-efficacy when transformational leadership is high. These findings extend the understanding of the antecedents of creative deviance by showing the relations between employee narcissism and creative deviance. The study also contributes to the literature of mediating role of creative self-efficacy and the moderating role of transformational leadership to explain the relationship between employee narcissism and creative deviance.