National and gender collective narcissism and pursuit of gender equality

Three studies (one validation, two pre-registered) employing independent, nationally representative, cross-sectional samples (total N= 3260), examined the associations among national and gender collective narcissism, ingroup satisfaction, and attitudes towards gender equality among men and women. Study 1 established the measurement equivalence of all predictors among women and men. Study 2 showed that among women (but not among men) gender collective narcissism predicts support for normative activism, non-normative, radical collective action and a specific social movement for gender equality (All-Poland Women’s Strike). Study 3 found that gender moderated the association between gender collective narcissism and endorsement of egalitarian values (women supported them, men did not), political conservatism and beliefs legitimizing gender inequality (women rejected but men endorsed both). In contrast, among men and women, gender ingroup satisfaction predicted rejection of egalitarian values and rejection of collective action for gender equality, but endorsement of political conservatism and beliefs legitimizing gender inequality. National collective narcissism predicted rejection of collective action for gender equality, endorsement of anti-egalitarian outlook and beliefs legitimizing gender inequality especially among women. The association between gender and national collective narcissism was stronger among men than among women. The results point to the importance of differentiating collective narcissism with reference to intersecting social identities (national, gender) to clarify the inconsistent findings regarding the role of positive ingroup identification in system legitimization vs. support for collective action among advantaged and disadvantaged groups.