Wisdom and narcissism as predictors of transformational leadership Claire E. Greaves and Hannes Zacher School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, and Bernard McKenna and David Rooney Business School, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia Abstract Purpose – Although leadership and organizational scholars have suggested that the virtue of wisdom may promote outstanding leadership behavior, this proposition has rarely been empirically tested. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between transformational leadership, narcissism, and five dimensions of wisdom as conceptualized by the well-established Berlin wisdom paradigm. General mental ability and emotional intelligence were considered relevant control variables. Design/methodology/approach – Interview, test, and questionnaire data were obtained from 77 employees of a high school and from two or three colleagues of each employee. Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression analyses. Findings – After controlling for general mental ability and emotional intelligence, narcissism and the wisdom dimension relativism of values and life priorities were negatively related to transformational leadership, and the wisdom dimension recognition and management of uncertainty was positively related to transformational leadership. The other three wisdom dimensions, rich factual knowledge about life, rich procedural knowledge about life, and lifespan contextualism, were not significantly related to transformational leadership. Research limitations/implications – Limitations to be addressed in future studies include the cross-sectional design and the relatively small and specialized sample. Practical implications – Tentative implications for leadership training and development are outlined. Originality/value – This multi-method and multi-source study represents the first empirical investigation that examines links between well-established wisdom and leadership constructs in the work context. Keywords Transformational leadership, Emotional intelligence, Wisdom, General mental ability, Narcissism Paper type Research paper Wisdom is an individual virtue that has been characterized as “the pinnacle of insight into the human condition and about the means and ends of a good life” (Baltes and Staudinger, 2000, p. 122). Wise people have been described as well-balanced, interpersonally competent, concerned with the well-being of themselves, others, and society, and as possessing superior knowledge, judgment, and advice-giving skills (Ardelt, 2004; Baltes and Staudinger, 2000; Sternberg, 1990). While wisdom is an ancient topic that has been discussed by philosophers and theologians for many centuries, behavioral researchers have become interested in wisdom only relatively recently, particularly in the context of increased research on lifespan development (Baltes and Smith, 1990; Clayton and Birren, 1980) and in relation to the emerging positive psychology movement (Peterson and Seligman, 2004; Schwartz and Sharpe, 2006). The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-7739.htm Received 26 July 2012 Revised 19 December 2012 24 December 2012 Accepted 2 January 2013 Leadership & Organization Development Journal Vol. 35 No. 4, 2014 pp. 335-358 r Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0143-7739 DOI 10.1108/LODJ-07-2012-0092 The authors thank Angelika Bock for helping with this study. 335 Wisdom and narcissism