When does narcissism matter? Motivation and peer interaction as conditional pathways to social loafing in college physical education

Objective: Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study examined the moderating role of narcissism in the relationships among motivation, peer interaction, and social loafing in college physical education settings. Methods: A total of 454 college students from Taiwan and China completed measures assessing motivation in physical education, peer interaction, narcissistic personality traits, perceived exertion during a team task, and cardiovascular fitness performance. Social loafing was operationalized using perceived exertion in conjunction with fitness performance. Moderated hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the interaction effects, followed by simple slope analyses to probe significant interactions. Results: Bivariate analyses indicated that narcissism was positively associated with motivation, positive peer interaction, and perceived exertion during team tasks. Moderated regression analyses revealed that narcissism significantly moderated the relationships between motivation, positive peer interaction, and social loafing. Specifically, the strength of the associations between motivation, positive peer interaction, and perceived exertion differed across levels of narcissism. Negative peer interaction was associated with poorer cardiovascular fitness performance. Conclusion: These findings suggest that narcissism functions as a conditional factor shaping how motivational and social processes translate into individual effort in team-based physical education contexts. Rather than exerting a uniform effect, narcissism alters the strength of the associations among motivation, peer interaction, and social loafing. The results underscore the importance of considering personality traits when designing instructional strategies to reduce social loafing and promote active engagement in physical education.