The symbiosis of narcissistic leaders and low-self-esteem followers: Dominance complementarity in childhood.

Abstract

Narcissistic leaders are on the rise globally. Although research has documented the harmful consequences of narcissistic leadership, little is known about the interplay between narcissistic leaders and their followers. Building on the dominance-complementarity theory, we theorized that the dominance and confidence of narcissistic leaders would match well with the submissiveness and insecurity of followers with low self-esteem. We conducted an observational-experimental study (N = 332; 46% boys; 96% born in the Netherlands) in childhood (ages 7-14), a period that is considered critical for the formation of leader-follower relationships. Children completed a collaborative decision-making task in three-person groups. Within each group, one child was randomly assigned as leader; others were followers. We combined self-reports, informant reports, and observer-coded behaviors to provide a rigorous test of our hypotheses. Consistent with dominance-complementarity theory, in groups with a more narcissistic leader, followers with lower self-esteem perceived their leader as more effective, endorsed the leader more strongly for future leadership roles, experienced more inclusion and less bullying from the leader, felt better about themselves, perceived greater group cohesion, and showed less antagonistic behavior. This complementarity effect generalized to observer-coded leader behavior: In groups with lower self-esteem followers, more narcissistic leaders showed less aggression and less social exclusion toward their followers. Overall, findings were more pronounced in younger children and did not depend on the sex composition of groups. Our research reveals childhood manifestations of leader-follower dynamics, underlines the importance of leader-follower complementarity, and uncovers conditions under which narcissistic leadership can benefit versus harm the group. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).