When Administrative Ego Becomes Institutional Risk
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54878/enyx9m70Keywords:
higher education governance, narcissistic leadership, abuse of power, organizational justice, psychological safety, organizational silence, academic freedom, faculty well-being, turnover intention, modeled dataAbstract
Universities require administrative coordination, yet concentrated authority can become a governance liability when leaders treat criticism as disloyalty and institutional achievements as personal assets. This study reframes perceived administrative narcissism as an institutional risk and evaluates a chain linking leadership conduct to power misuse, fairness, psychological safety, silence, academic freedom, faculty well-being, and intention to leave. The analysis uses 118,009 modeled records drawn from the HEGov-172K governance repository. Forty reflective indicators representing eight constructs were assessed with confirmatory factor analysis and partial least squares structural equation modeling; path uncertainty was estimated with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. The modeled results support eleven direct hypotheses and the proposed sequential mechanism. Perceived narcissistic leadership predicts abuse of power (β = .741) and organizational silence (β = .311). Power misuse reduces organizational justice (β = −.612); justice strengthens psychological safety (β = .684) and academic freedom (β = .412); safety reduces silence (β = −.577). Silence, in turn, constrains academic freedom (β = −.643) and faculty well-being (β = −.391). Academic freedom improves well-being (β = .706), while well-being (β = −.681) and academic freedom (β = −.284) reduce turnover intention. Because the records are simulated, these estimates demonstrate internal model behavior rather than population prevalence or causal effects in real universities. The study nevertheless offers a testable governance architecture and identifies accountability, procedural justice, protected voice, and academic freedom as complementary safeguards.
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