Executives with stronger narcissistic traits are, on average, more opposed to remote and hybrid work. That is the finding of US research from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, reported by the German trade outlet Haufe on 7 October 2026. Based on three sub-studies, researchers Marissa Shandell, Courtney Elliott and Adam Grant find evidence that the pursuit of power and status plays a role.
What the research found
The first sub-study analysed 259 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies during the coronavirus pandemic. Narcissism was measured indirectly, via the size of photographs and signatures in annual reports and via pay relative to the second-highest-paid executive. Independent raters scored these CEOs’ public statements about remote work: the higher the narcissism score, the more negative the statements, even after adjusting for age, gender, company size and sector.
In a second study of 359 managers from various sectors and job levels in the US, the researchers used the narcissism subscale of the Short Dark Triad Scale. More narcissistic traits were associated with a more negative attitude toward remote and hybrid work. More narcissistic managers also pursued power and status more strongly, and that pursuit was in turn associated with greater resistance to remote work.
In an experiment with 546 managers, part of the group read a short text about possible benefits of narcissistic leadership, such as an assertive ego. This group was subsequently more focused on power and more often opposed to remote work than the control group. That points to a causal effect, but the effects were small, and for the pursuit of status there was no significant difference.
What this means for employees
For EHS professionals, it is relevant that the research suggests decisions about work location are not driven only by job requirements or productivity, but can also be linked to a manager’s pursuit of power and status. This could potentially affect employees’ psychosocial workload: less autonomy over where and how work is carried out, less trust in decision-making, and less psychological safety when choices about work location are experienced as arbitrary or personally motivated. These consequences were not themselves examined in these studies. Haufe concludes that companies should not leave rules for hybrid and remote work to individual managers, but should set them jointly. The researchers themselves write that organisational policy must not be “a vanity project.”
Context
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work’s (EU-OSHA) 2022 OSH Pulse survey shows how widespread psychosocial risks are. Among workers in the EU, 46% say they are exposed to severe time pressure or work overload, and 18% name a lack of autonomy or influence over work pace and work processes as a risk factor. A further 44% say digital technology leads them to work alone more often. Control over one’s own work, including work location, is therefore a relevant point of attention when assessing psychosocial risks.
Caveats about the research
The research has important limitations. The CEO study concerns a specific group during the pandemic period, narcissism was measured there only indirectly via proxies, and attitudes toward remote work were inferred from public statements rather than personal views. The survey of 359 managers is an observational study: it shows an association, but does not prove a causal relationship. Only the experiment tests a causal effect, and that effect was small. All sub-studies took place in the US; whether the results also apply to European employers has not been examined. The research also concerns grandiose narcissism as a normal, graded personality trait, not narcissistic personality disorder. Managers who are hesitant about remote work should therefore not too quickly be labelled a “narcissist”; practical and organisational considerations may also play a role.
Source: Narzissmus: Warum manche Führungskräfte Remote Work ablehnen, 7 October 2026
Additional sources consulted: opinion piece by Grant, Shandell and Elliott on Knowledge at Wharton (22 June 2026); EU-OSHA, OSH Pulse 2022 – Occupational safety and health in post-pandemic workplaces
