The Relationships of Leaders’ Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry with Nurses’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior towards Leaders: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Aim. The aim of this study is to investigate the unique contributions of two distinct dimensions of leaders’ narcissism—admiration and rivalry—to nurses’ organizational citizenship behavior towards the leader and the mediating role of nurses’ challenge appraisal and hindrance appraisal based on the transactional stress theory. Background. Leaders’ narcissism is widespread in hospitals, so whether nurses will show organizational citizenship behavior to narcissistic leaders is related to the harmony and stability of the team. Thus, clarifying the positive or negative relationship between leaders’ narcissism and nurses’ organizational citizenship behavior towards leaders has become a priority. Methods. A cross-sectional survey was conducted at two-time points with 280 Chinese nurses. We used the structural equation model to analyze our data. Results. We found that leaders’ narcissistic admiration was positively correlated with nurses’ organizational citizenship behavior towards the leader; however, leaders’ narcissistic rivalry was negatively correlated with nurses’ organizational citizenship behavior towards the leader. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed that leaders’ narcissistic admiration had a significant indirect effect on nurses’ organizational citizenship behavior towards leaders via challenge appraisal, and leaders’ narcissistic rivalry had a significant indirect effect on nurses’ organizational citizenship behavior towards leaders via hindrance appraisal. Conclusion. By introducing two dimensions of narcissistic admiration and rivalry, we resolve previous contradictory findings about the relationship between leader narcissism and organizational citizenship behavior towards the leader. Implications for Nursing Management. Nursing managers need to understand that there are both positive and negative relationships between leaders’ narcissism and nurses’ organizational citizenship behavior towards the leader, and we can promote the positive effects of leaders’ narcissistic admiration and curb the negative consequences of leaders’ narcissistic rivalry by taking some specific steps, such as promoting the loving cooperative atmosphere and punishing disruptive behaviors.