Relationship between emotional intelligence and narcissism: a meta-analysis

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and narcissism, including its possible moderators. Design/methodology/approach A meta-analytic investigation of 32 studies was conducted to check hypotheses. Both uncorrected sample-size-weighted and corrected sample-size-weighted mean correlation coefficients were calculated. Meta-regression was used to assess moderation from EI and narcissism measures. Findings The results indicated that the relationship between EI and narcissism varied, depending on how EI and narcissism were constructed and measured. Specifically, EI was positively related to grandiose narcissism (GN) and negatively related to vulnerable narcissism (VN). EI was also positively correlated with “composite measures” of narcissism when the measures focused on GN, and negatively correlated when the measures focused on VN. Furthermore, some EI and narcissism measures moderated the correlation between EI and narcissism. Originality/value The current study enriches theory by synthesizing the literature to examine whether, and under which conditions, EI fosters or inhibits narcissism. By using the self-regulatory process of narcissism, carefully considering the multifaceted nature of narcissism and updating more data in the meta-analysis, this study contributes to explaining the inconsistency in the relationship between EI and narcissism.