The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) is one of the most popular measures of trait narcissism. However, its use of a forced-choice response set may be problematic, not only for participants in terms of user experience, but also for researchers in terms of the psychometric properties of the measure. The purpose of the current research was to create and validate a new Likert version of the NPI. Study 1 investigated whether the Likert NPI differed from the original with regard to socially desirable responding, participant experience, and response time. The Likert NPI was no easier to fake than the original and was evaluated as being equally valid by participants. In addition, the Likert NPI proved faster to administer, offering a time savings over the original. Study 2 examined the reliability, validity and factor structure of the two formats. The Likert NPI manifested superior reliability and complementary construct validity to the original, and exhibited similar model fit with existing factor structures. Together these studies provide initial evidence that the Likert NPI can justifiably be used in place of the original.
