Olsen and Stekelberg (2016, hereafter Olsen and Stekelberg) examine the relation between CEO narcissism and tax avoidance. They hypothesize that since narcissism is associated with being exploitative, arrogant, boastful, and vain, firms with narcissistic CEOs will be more likely to engage in tax avoidance, particularly aggressive tax avoidance. To examine this hypothesis, Olsen and Stekelberg construct a composite measure of narcissism based on the prominence of the CEO's photograph in the firm's annual report and the CEO's cash and noncash pay relative to the second highest paid executive at the firm. In cross-sectional analysis, they find evidence that narcissism is associated with a variety of tax avoidance and tax uncertainty measures including long-run cash ETRs, predicted tax shelter use, tax haven use, permanent book-tax differences, and uncertain tax benefits.
Olsen and Stekelberg's research addresses an interesting nontraditional topic that I think should have broad appeal among researchers, teachers, practitioners,...
