Walking a fine line: Dual effects of team narcissism on new venture idea quality

Abstract

The success of new ventures often hinges on the generation of high-quality new venture ideas (NVIs), with new venture teams playing a crucial role in this creative process. Despite the pivotal role of these teams, research on the factors influencing NVI quality within these teams remains limited. To address this gap, this study leverages Social Interdependence Theory to examine how team narcissism of new venture teams influences NVI quality through its dual effects on team resilience and team-level role conflict. The findings suggest that the relationship between team narcissism and NVI quality is positively mediated by team resilience and negatively mediated by team-level role conflict. While team narcissism promotes both team resilience and team-level role conflict, these mediating variables exert opposing effects on NVI quality: team resilience enhances it, whereas team-level role conflict diminishes it. This paper contributes to the literature on NVI generation, a component of broader entrepreneurship literature, by examining how new venture team dynamics shape the teams' creative output. It also provides practical guidance, urging practitioners to foster team resilience and reduce team-level role conflict to enhance the creativity of new venture teams.