To read this content please select one of the options below:

The Interactive Effects of Manager Narcissism and the Framing of the Manager's Incentive Scheme on Employee Effort

Miriam K. Maske (Bundeswehr University Munich, Germany)

Matthias Sohn (European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Germany)

Bernhard Hirsch (Bundeswehr University Munich, Germany)

Advances in Management Accounting

ISBN: 978-1-83608-489-1, eISBN: 978-1-83608-488-4

Publication date: 6 September 2024

Abstract

This paper studies how employee effort depends upon the manager’s level of narcissism and the framing of the manager’s incentive scheme. In an online experiment with 356 employee participants, the authors manipulate the description of the manager narcissism (high or low) and the framing of the manager’s compensation scheme (bonus or penalty) and examine the joint effect of these two factors on employee effort to help the manager reach their objectives. Results show that employees exert less (more) effort when manager narcissism is high (low). This effect is mediated by employees’ feelings of envy toward the manager. In line with recent research on the cascading effect of management compensation, the authors also find that a manager’s penalty contract has a negative effect on employee effort when manager narcissism is high. The results have important implications for compensation design in business practice.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Jeremiah Bentley, Margaret Christ, Isabella Grabner, Lan Guo, Kip Holderness, Khim Kelly, Stefan Linder, Carolyn Morf, Christian Nitzl, Wioleta Olczak, Thomas Vance, Chris Akroyd (editor), and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback. The paper greatly benefited from workshop comments at the 2023 EAA conference, 2021 EIASM conference on performance measurement and management control, MAS 2021, AAA annual meeting 2020, ACMAR 2020, and the VHB conference 2020.

Citation

Maske, M.K., Sohn, M. and Hirsch, B. (2024), "The Interactive Effects of Manager Narcissism and the Framing of the Manager's Incentive Scheme on Employee Effort", Akroyd, C. (Ed.) Advances in Management Accounting (Advances in Management Accounting, Vol. 36), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 85-107. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-787120240000036004

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited