Organizational Narcissism and Virtuous Behavior

Authors

Dennis Duchon, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Brian Drake, University of Texas at San AntonioFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2009

Citation

Journal of Business Ethics 85 (2009), pp. 301–308; doi: 10.1007/s10551-008-9771-7

Comments

Copyright © 2008 Springer. Used by permission.

Abstract

Extreme narcissistic organizations are unable to behave ethically because they lack a moral identity. While such organizations are not necessarily unethical intentionally, they become self-obsessed and use a sense of entitlement, self-aggrandizement, denial, and rationalizations to justify anything they do. Extreme narcissistic organizations might develop formal ethics programs, but such programs will have little effect on behavior.