Employee narcissism and online workplace interpersonal capitalization: insights from trait activation theory

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the associations between employee narcissism and online workplace interpersonal capitalization, and to examine the mediating role of online impression management motivation and the moderating role of social media affordances. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on empirical analysis of 353 valid questionnaires. Findings Narcissism is positively correlated with employees' online workplace interpersonal capitalization. In this relationship, online impression management motivation acts as a mediator. Furthermore, social media affordances positively moderate the relationship between employee narcissism and online workplace interpersonal capitalization. Additionally, they positively moderate the relationship between narcissism and online impression management motivation. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to examining only WeChat as a public social platform and does not cover enterprise-specific platforms. Future research might extend to multiple types of enterprise social media for comparative validation. Practical implications The findings suggest that recognizing narcissism's positive potential and encouraging constructive online expression may benefit organizations. Leveraging social media affordances and balancing supervision with empowerment may help channel self-presentation motives into positive workplace behaviors. Originality/value The paper empirically examines narcissism's effect on online workplace interpersonal capitalization, testing trait activation theory in digital contexts. It identifies online impression management motivation as a mediator and explores social media affordances as a boundary condition, testing a mediated moderation model to advance understanding of how technological contexts interact with personality traits in shaping online workplace behavior.