Narcissistic Leadership and Project Success in IT Industry: Moderating the role of Risk Management Technology

Abstract

Narcissistic leaders supersede others opinions while dealing with different projects is an area of concern because they create the risk of various projects' success. However, risk management technology can balance this leadership to mitigate the project failure risk. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of narcissistic leadership on project success with the moderating role of risk management technology. A self-administrated questionnaire measured the narcissistic leadership constructs with two dimensions (i) admiration, (ii) rivalry as antecedents, risk management technology as moderating construct, and project success with five dimensions (i) cost (ii) schedule (iii) quality (iv) performance and (v) operating environment as an outcome from 242 IT professionals working in IT firms. Using structural equation modelling, the results reveal that narcissistic admiration has a negative significance, but the narcissistic rivalry has no significant impact on project success. Therefore it suggests that narcissistic admiration associated with positive attributes such as high esteem, envy, forgiveness, etc., with an overall motivation to focus on achievements may benefit in success of the project. The results further reveal that risk management technology has no moderating role between narcissistic admiration and rivalry with project success, which suggests risk management technology is not enough to reduce the narcissism leadership to contribute to project success. Further, the results do show the positive impact of risk management technology on project success. The study is helpful for organizational development (OD) professionals, project leaders, and IT firms. The study also provides a new avenue of investigation for academic researchers to tighten up the gap in narcissistic leadership.