Sujatha Balakrishna is a senior lecturer, program coordinator, writer, reviewer, online module leader and current PhD in Management student. Sujatha holds an MBA from Universiti Malaya (2007) and a BA (Hons) degree from Nilai College and Oxford Brookes University (2001). She has more than 17 years of teaching experience in higher education. She has vast experience in teaching in areas like organizational behaviour, interpersonal skills, professional development, management, and business ethics. Sujatha has also supervised more than 20 international postgraduate and undergraduate students’ project papers. She has around 10 research publications. Sujatha is also serving various other roles such as reviewer, advisory member, session chair, jury member etc. She is also a writer who writes for various international educational magazines and news sites on topics such as Gen Z, higher education, sustainable education, child depression and mental health. She has given keynote speeches and guest lectures on various topics internationally. She was awarded with Global Faculty Award, the Most Exemplary Educator and Researcher Award 2023 and the Distinguished Teacher Award: Management in 2024.
Education sector is becoming more competitive than ever with the emergence of more and more narcissists in the industry. Narcissism can be defined personal characteristics that are driven by personal superiority and expectation of a preferential treatment. (Grapsas et al.,2020) People with this personality will always lodge for extreme praise, acknowledgement and seek for continuous attention. They would prefer to stand out among the crowd and would do anything for it. There are many literatures that often associates narcissism with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). Melinda (2019) highlighted that narcissistic personality disorder involves a pattern of self-centered, arrogant thinking and behavior, a lack of empathy and consideration for other people, and an excessive need for admiration. Narcissistic personality disorder is usually diagnosed through clinical evaluation. (Rhodewalt, 2019)
We would probably think about people who keep talking about their career out of insecurity, or could be more precisely called as having high sense of hunger for appreciation or admiration, a desire to be the center of attention, never realizing that they are narcissist. Narcissist main focus would be to be the best among rest regardless of place and time. Psychology Today (2019) also reports that “narcissist” is commonly used to describe individuals who seem excessively self-absorbed. This is more widely evident in the newer generations. According to Saxena (2021), a narcissist who has a huge need to be admired and constant thoughts about being better than others, often does not realize the negative impact of their actions or words on other people.
In academia, narcissism takes tolls in many different forms. Especially in the higher education sector, we could see the academicians who are very much into popularity seeking behavior. They tend to assume that academic field is a race which demands for their credibility to be constantly proven. Many academicians would agree that they are engaging in a scholarly race to prove their efficiency in publication. This can be related to the act of marginalizing teaching and students as a result of over attention given to research. Narcissistic educators often prioritize their self-image and personal satisfaction over fostering a supportive and constructive learning environment (Our Mental Health,2024) It would be appropriate to say that academically, narcissism is taught as a negative personality trait. Wallace et al. (2022) have highlighted in their research findings that there are elements of narcissism in academics who are active in scholarly excellence. Their main findings indicate that narcissism does not present if professors are viewed as teachers, helpers or as introverted bookworms.
Sharon (2016) also stressed that narcissists are more expected to experience satisfaction with jobs that they believe to represent high status and opportunities for self-development. Narcissism may turn into a positive trait when an academician shows their interest in exerting more power in an organization, work hard to raise the glory of the organization, strive for praise and continuously looks for opportunities to prove their skills. Most of the symptoms can be associated with grandiose narcissism. A university lecturer who seeks for self-importance and admiration, believes that he/she is special and should be associated with high status people, exploitative, lack of empathy and often envious of others are among the symptoms that can be related to the narcissistic behaviors due to the obsession towards scholarly excellence. This is often referred to grandiose narcissism.
Çimşir & Tümlü (2021) have found in their research that workaholism and narcissism can be linked. They have also mentioned that academicians are often seen as more workaholics than non-academic workers. According to them, the opportunities and advancements, recognition received through publications, citations, peers and students do make the academic jobs more attractive to those who have high narcissism traits. Some academicians are trapped in the culture of publishing or perish in the higher education. Lecturers take part in the publishing race to prove themselves and for some, this is a matter of survival. Some authors referred this scenario as “publish or perish ”. Publish or perish is a culture of forcing lecturers to publish papers to meet KPIs and eligible for rewards or else have to risk being overlooked. This particular situation in academia is what is feared to create a sense of narcissism in the lecturers. Elements of narcissism can be detected among professors who prioritize scholarly productivity over teaching excellence. They are more focused on developing themselves to achieve the career success that they are aiming or even forced to achieve. This situation can make the university lecturers to be more self-centered, looking for recognition and approval. One should always know that a noble profession like teaching must always put the duty to others or students to be more précised, first before any other duties. The act of marginalizing teaching for research and publication is certainly an act of self-importance without thinking about the impact it creates on students.
It is evident that nowadays higher education itself has become are becoming a racing track with academicians seeking attention in terms of publications, evaluations, awards and recognition, positions and titles, speaking engagements and etc. We cannot deny that even classrooms are becoming a racing platform where lecturers are seeking student’s attention and admiration. As Buasu (2025) stated, “Narcissistic teachers don’t teach. They perform. They crave admiration, not connection”. This is also creating a competitive environment in the universities. Seeing fellow colleagues as competitors will create the tendency to outshine one another. According to Blessing (2025), academia is becoming highly competitive which creates an environment which forces individuals to outperform their peers. On the positive viewpoint, competition may drive progress. But on the dark side, it can also encourage narcissistic traits. One should always know that a noble profession like teaching must always put the duty to others or students to be more précised, first before any other duties.
The presence of narcissism can be curbed by creating a healthy culture, developing good relationships and promoting unity. However, the personality trait is not easily erasable. It may change over time after the sense of admiration and attention has been fulfilled. Many people out there are still not aware that they narcissist. While, it is said that everyone will have some narcissism traits in them, some may have a higher dosage of it and eventually makes it an epidemic.