Narcissistic Leadership and Project Success: The Role of Knowledge Sharing and Collectivism in IT Firms

Abstract Purpose In the quest of exploring specific developments in contemporary management research, this study highlights the prevalence of narcissistic leadership in IT firms. We employed the upper-echelon framework to analyze the impact of narcissistic leadership on project success. This study considered the dark side of a leader’s narcissism while analyzing how narcissistic leadership affects a project’s success through knowledge sharing and collectivism. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modeling is employed to investigate this proposition. Using convenience sampling, approximately 370 questionnaires were dispensed out of which 272 completed questionnaires were utilized for performing the analysis of IT firms. Findings Narcissistic leadership affects project’s success through knowledge sharing and collectivism. The results indicate that narcissistic leadership negatively predicts project success. Moreover, knowledge sharing fully mediated the relationship between narcissistic leadership and project success. Whereas, collectivism moderates the relationship between knowledge-sharing and narcissistic leadership. Originality Our assumptions are based on the upper-echelon theory indicating that narcissistic leadership affects project success through knowledge-sharing and collectivism. This has been proved by the empirical analysis carried out in Pakistan’s IT sector.