How does social media improve enterprise innovation performance? The mediating role of CEO narcissism

Although social media platforms hold immense potential for driving innovation within companies, there remains a lack of understanding regarding how companies can maximize the advantage of their social media engagement for innovation performance. Therefore, this research empirically explores how social media influences enterprise innovation performance and examines the mediating effect of CEO narcissism on this relationship. By analyzing 15,696 firm-year observations from A-share capital markets in China over 2012–2022, our findings show that higher social media presence led to better innovation performance for listed companies. We also find a greater degree of CEO narcissism is associated with lower quality of enterprise innovation performance; increased social media activity is related to a more potent suppression of CEO narcissistic behavior, resulting in improved enterprise innovation performance. This study provides important insights into a thorough understanding of the interplay between social media, CEO narcissism, and enterprise innovation performance. Furthermore, in practical terms, it offers valuable insights that can serve as a reference for enhancing the innovation performance of Chinese listed companies.