ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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Maybe the companies actually want narcissists.
Using words or phrases such as "results-oriented," "ambitious" and "persuasive" attracts applicants who are more willing to engage in unethical behavior to get results, according to a study published in Management Science by a University of Mississippi-led team.
"That's what you would expect a narcissist to do—be willing to bend the rules, at least for themselves," said Jonathan Gay, assistant professor of accountancy, who led the research effort. "And it starts with your job posting. Who are you attracting with your job postings?"
Narcissists have been shown to be poor leaders. For accounting firms and many other businesses, narcissistic employees are more likely to engage in fraud and earnings management, which is when employees bend rules to make businesses seem to perform better than they actually do.
Earnings management is controversial in the field because, despite often being legal, it could be considered a dishonest representation of a company's performance or worth.
"Narcissism, for whatever reason, has proven to be the dominant personality trait that is associated with earnings management, fraud and manipulation," said Scott Jackson, professor of accounting at the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business.
"A narcissist would be more likely to get entangled in serious accounting infractions than someone who doesn't have that personality trait."
Outside the accounting field, however, hiring a narcissist isn't always a bad thing, Gay said.
"If you want salesmen that are going to go be innovative and sell a bunch of your goods, you may want a narcissist for that," the Ole Miss professor said. "It's been shown that executives are typically high in narcissism."
https://phys.org/news/2024-12-reveals-companies-unknowingly-narcissists.html
Using words or phrases such as "results-oriented," "ambitious" and "persuasive" attracts applicants who are more willing to engage in unethical behavior to get results, according to a study published in Management Science by a University of Mississippi-led team.
"That's what you would expect a narcissist to do—be willing to bend the rules, at least for themselves," said Jonathan Gay, assistant professor of accountancy, who led the research effort. "And it starts with your job posting. Who are you attracting with your job postings?"
Narcissists have been shown to be poor leaders. For accounting firms and many other businesses, narcissistic employees are more likely to engage in fraud and earnings management, which is when employees bend rules to make businesses seem to perform better than they actually do.
Earnings management is controversial in the field because, despite often being legal, it could be considered a dishonest representation of a company's performance or worth.
"Narcissism, for whatever reason, has proven to be the dominant personality trait that is associated with earnings management, fraud and manipulation," said Scott Jackson, professor of accounting at the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business.
"A narcissist would be more likely to get entangled in serious accounting infractions than someone who doesn't have that personality trait."
Outside the accounting field, however, hiring a narcissist isn't always a bad thing, Gay said.
"If you want salesmen that are going to go be innovative and sell a bunch of your goods, you may want a narcissist for that," the Ole Miss professor said. "It's been shown that executives are typically high in narcissism."
https://phys.org/news/2024-12-reveals-companies-unknowingly-narcissists.html
