Navigating the corporate ego: understanding the association between ESG performance and organizational narcissistic rhetoric
Navigating the corporate ego: understanding the association between ESG performance and organizational narcissistic rhetoric
This study investigates the relationship between Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance and the use of narcissistic rhetoric in corporate narrative disclosure. It also examines the moderating effect of board gender diversity on this relationship. Using 1,659 firm-year observations from FTSE 350 companies between 2012 and 2021 through Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, we find that higher ESG performance is significantly associated with increased narcissistic rhetoric, indicating that companies often highlight their ESG achievements in a self-promotional manner. Additionally, our results suggest that higher women representation on board can mitigate this trend, with more diverse boards likely to temper narcissistic expressions. The research also uncovers a positive relationship between financial performance and narcissistic rhetoric. These findings contribute to the literature on organizational behavior and communication strategies, offering theoretical insights and practical implications for corporate leaders and policymakers.
Content analysis, ESG, NLP, legitimacy theory, organizational narcissism;, organizational narcissistic rhetoric, women representation
Mahran, Karim
62741cdd-a5ef-40f0-9f98-4b1408f947e5
A. Elamer, Ahmed
46dd2e58-7d52-46df-a148-2c184909c7b5
Mahran, Karim
62741cdd-a5ef-40f0-9f98-4b1408f947e5
A. Elamer, Ahmed
46dd2e58-7d52-46df-a148-2c184909c7b5
Mahran, Karim and A. Elamer, Ahmed
(2025)
Navigating the corporate ego: understanding the association between ESG performance and organizational narcissistic rhetoric.
Journal of Business Ethics.
(doi:10.1007/s10551-025-06090-x).
Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance and the use of narcissistic rhetoric in corporate narrative disclosure. It also examines the moderating effect of board gender diversity on this relationship. Using 1,659 firm-year observations from FTSE 350 companies between 2012 and 2021 through Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, we find that higher ESG performance is significantly associated with increased narcissistic rhetoric, indicating that companies often highlight their ESG achievements in a self-promotional manner. Additionally, our results suggest that higher women representation on board can mitigate this trend, with more diverse boards likely to temper narcissistic expressions. The research also uncovers a positive relationship between financial performance and narcissistic rhetoric. These findings contribute to the literature on organizational behavior and communication strategies, offering theoretical insights and practical implications for corporate leaders and policymakers.
Text
Accepted manuscript 15.07.2025
- Accepted Manuscript
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s10551-025-06090-x
- Version of Record
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Accepted/In Press date: 14 July 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 4 August 2025
Keywords:
Content analysis, ESG, NLP, legitimacy theory, organizational narcissism;, organizational narcissistic rhetoric, women representation
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 504437
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/504437
ISSN: 0167-4544
PURE UUID: 95d6f279-a69c-47d8-bd90-dc92bb82f00f
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Date deposited: 09 Sep 2025 18:14
Last modified: 11 Sep 2025 03:45
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Author:
Karim Mahran
Author:
Ahmed A. Elamer
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