Abstract
This paper investigates the impact of narcissistic Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) on the quality of corporate climate-related financial disclosure as required by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework. Using a sample of S&P 1500 firms, the analysis tests the association between principal component-based two-dimensional CEO narcissism measure and generative Natural Language Processing (NLP) measures of disclosure quality across the four TCFD pillars. The results reveal that firms led by more narcissistic CEOs produce significantly weaker, less decision-useful climate disclosures, consistent with impression management preferences over substantive transparency. The impact is amplified in financially unconstrained firms but diminishes when external disciplining pressures are strong. Pillar-level analysis reveals weaknesses in strategy, risk management, and metrics disclosures, whereas symbolic governance remains largely unaffected. The findings remain robust after addressing endogeneity using instrumental variable estimation, propensity score matching, and Heckman selection models. The study extends the CEO narcissism literature to TCFD-aligned climate-related financial disclosure, a distinct disclosure setting requiring managers to communicate forward-looking, financially material climate risks and strategic resilience. The findings suggest that narcissistic leadership is associated with lower-quality TCFD disclosure, especially in the more substantive reporting dimensions.