... The results indicate that CEO narcissism has a statistically significant positive impact on the cost of capital. Additionally, board independence, audit committee independence, and big auditors weaken this relationship. In contrast, institutional ownership strengthens the connection between CEO narcissism...

... career-stage CEOs exhibit greater cost asymmetry than those with early career-stage CEOs suggesting that implicit incentives arising from career horizons drive our main finding. Furthermore, we find that for firms with greater board independence, higher women representation, and a separation of chairman...