Journal of Social Psychology Research 56 | Virgil Zeigler-Hill, et al.
Research Article
Narcissistic Personality Features and Perceptions of Social Worth at
Work: Implications for Job-Related Attitudes
Virgil Zeigler-Hill
1*
, Cynthia Barlow
1
, Avi Besser
2
1
Department of Psychology, Oakland University, USA
2
Department of Communication Disorders, Hadassah Academic College, Israel
E-mail: zeiglerh@oakland.edu
Received: 4 April 2023; Revised: 27 May 2023; Accepted: 1 June 2023
Abstract: We examined the role that perceptions of social worth played in the connections that narcissistic personality
features had with job-related attitudes in a sample of Israeli community members (N = 814). Our results showed that the
positive associations that the extraverted aspect of narcissism had with each of the job-related attitudes were mediated
by status-based social worth. In contrast, the neurotic aspect of narcissism was negatively associated with job-related
attitudes – with the exception of the perceived quality of alternative jobs – and these associations were mediated by
status-based social worth. Antagonistic narcissism was negatively associated with job-related attitudes, but perceptions
of social worth seemed to play little role in these associations. The discussion is focused on the role that perceptions of
social worth may play in the connections between narcissism and job-related attitudes.
Keywords: narcissism, job commitment, job satisfaction, investment, social worth
1. Introduction
A large body of literature is devoted to narcissism, but relatively few of these studies have considered how
narcissism is connected with job-related attitudes. The studies that have considered the link between narcissism and
outcomes in the workplace have shown that narcissistic individuals often report more negative attitudes at work than
other people (e.g., Choi, 2019; Kopelman & Mullins, 1992; Mathieu, 2013). This suggests that narcissistic grandiosity
and feelings of entitlement may lead individuals to adopt unfavorable views of their jobs (e.g., Maynard et al.,
2015). However, studies that have considered particular narcissistic personality features have revealed more complex
connections between narcissism and job-related attitudes. For example, antagonistic forms of narcissism have negative
associations with job commitment (i.e., the psychological or emotional attachment that an individual has to their job
or employer), whereas extraverted forms of narcissism tend to have positive associations with job commitment (e.g.,
Lehtman & Zeigler-Hill, 2020). The goal of this study was to clarify what role – if any – perceptions of social worth (i.e.,
the value that an individual believes is accorded to them in a particular situation; Rothers & Cohrs, 2023) may play in
the job-related attitudes experienced by individuals with narcissistic personality features.
Copyright ©2023 Virgil Zeigler-Hill, et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37256/jspr.2220232776
This is an open-access article distributed under a CC BY license
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Journal of Social Psychology Research
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