Purpose This study investigates the relationship between CEO narcissism and greenwashing in integrated reports, focusing on differences between the banking and non-banking sectors under different regulatory conditions. Design/methodology/approach This study used Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT)–based text analysis on 105 Turkish firms to create a CEO narcissism and greenwashing index, identifying trends in CEO narcissism and corporate greenwashing across the banking and non-banking sectors from 2020 to 2023. Then, a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was applied to explore configurational pathways and complex combinations of CEO narcissism variables that lead to the greenwashing index, with hierarchical regression analysis used for econometric validation. Findings This study identified a clear link between CEO narcissism and greenwashing in integrated reports. Additionally, it showed that the connection between CEO narcissism and greenwashing changes over time and differs across sectors. While non-banking firms initially exhibited higher levels of CEO narcissism and greenwashing, banks surpassed them by 2023, despite stricter regulations. This shift indicates that regulation may not stop greenwashing but instead shape its form and visibility. Moreover, the study highlighted that different configurations of CEO narcissism have varied impacts on greenwashing across sectors, offering a better explanation of corporate greenwashing than traditional regression analysis. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to a single-country context and relies on secondary data from integrated reports, which may not fully reflect internal sustainability practices. Practical implications This study emphasized the need for sector-specific regulatory mechanisms and independent verification systems to combat sophisticated greenwashing tactics, especially in heavily regulated banking environments, where narcissistic leadership exploits compliance frameworks to boost its reputation. Originality/value This study introduced a comprehensive six-dimensional narcissism framework and demonstrated how executive psychological traits interact with institutional contexts through configurational analysis. The research expands upper echelons and stakeholder theory by uncovering sector-specific contingencies in narcissism-greenwashing links, challenging traditional views on regulatory effectiveness while adopting innovative methods that combine fuzzy logic with multidimensional measurement models.
Akgün et al. (Tue,) studied this question.