CEO Narcissism and Internationalization by Indian Firms

This study investigates the impact of CEO narcissism on the internationalization of emerging market firms (EMFs) caused by the CEO’s propensity for high risk and resource commitment. Despite the well-established significance of a CEO’s narcissism on a firm’s risky strategic decisions, this personality aspect has not received any attention in the literature on EMFs. This is an especially important topic because internationalization is riskier for EMFs than for developed market multinationals. This study further investigates the moderating impact of CEO power and celebrity status on the relationship between the CEO’s narcissism and the firm’s internationalization. The study specifically examines a sample of 218 Indian firms for the period 2010 through 2015, and the results support the hypotheses.