Too arrogant for their own good? Why and when narcissists dismiss advice. (2015)

“…narcissists eschew advice … because they think others are incompetent and because they fail to reduce their self-enhancement…”

Edgar E. Kausel, University of Chile; Satoris S. Culbertson, Kansas State University; Pedro I. Leiva, University of Chile; Jerel E. Slaughter, University of Arizona; Alexander T. Jackson. Kansas State University
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 131, 33-50.

“Managerial decisions often involve assessing inputs from others. Executives and managers frequently receive advice from consultants before making strategic, financial, or human resource decisions….

“Despite its ubiquity, people are often unwilling to use the advice they receive. After making an initial estimate and receiving advice, individuals tend to favor their own judgements. This is unfortunate, because using advice often leads to better judgment and choice

“Given that the incorporation of advice is central to making better decisions… researchers have begun examining factors that increase the likelihood of advice…

“In this paper, we focus on a personality trait that has received fairly limited attention in judgment and choice research: Narcissism

“…In three studies, we found that narcissism and advice taking were negatively related, but only when measuring narcissism at the state level or when controlling for extraversion at the trait level. We also tested two mechanisms and found that confidence did not mediate the relationship; disregard for others did

“…results suggest that narcissists eschew advice not because of greater confidence, but because they think others are incompetent and because they fail to reduce their self-enhancement when expecting to be assessed.”

Access the full paper here: Too arrogant for their own good?