The Relationship of Narcissism with Workaholism, Work Engagement, and Professional Position

Abstract

We examined scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Terry, 1988) in relation to drive to work, enjoyment of and engagement in work, and professional position. A sample of 235 Norwegian bank employees completed a cross-sectional survey. We found that managers scored higher than subordinates on all measures. NPI scores correlated significantly and positively with drive, enjoyment of and engagement in work. Multiple regression analyses controlling for demographic and work variables showed that narcissism was significantly related to enjoyment of work and work engagement but unrelated to drive. Although the associations were rather weak, our findings support previous clinical observations of narcissistic traits in workaholics as well as findings in empirical research on narcissistic traits in managers.