The magnificent “I” in business education: Evidence from Greece

Abstract

The goal of this research study has been twofold. First, to examine the level of narcissism and its individual traits in students who study business, in the particular context of a regional country such as Greece and second, to test how several demographic variables are related to narcissism levels. The study consists of a theoretical part on narcissism in business education and an empirical part that was based on a survey conducted with the use of a questionnaire. The analysis includes hypothesis testing and basic statistical tests. Findings suggest that sex, study levels, years of business experience and (personal/family) income do impact specific narcissistic dimensions, which may be cause for concern both for employers and higher education providers. The study was conducted in a regional country, the participants were students of public higher education institutions only, and the questionnaire was self-reported, and this could lead to likely social desirability effects. The investigation of narcissism in the Greek business education might be of interest to: (a) business education providers (for providing curriculum that help future managers/leaders to deploy the positive characteristics of narcissism and avoid or not to develop the negative ones) and (b) to future employers to apply more effective human resource practices, i.e. selection, training, rewarding. The study at hand aimed to investigate the presence of narcissism and its individual (narcissistic) behavioral dimensions in students studying business in Greece.