Leader Other-Oriented Perfectionism, Team Emergent States, and Team Performance

Abstract

Although discussed in both academic studies and management practice, research on perfectionism is mainly limited to its intrapersonal influence at the individual level. To explore the interpersonal effect of perfectionism, this paper studied the influence of leader other-oriented perfectionism (OOP) at the team level in an organizational context. Combining the information processing theory (IPT) and the social information processing (SIP) theory, we argue that the interactive effect of leader OOP and leader task helping influence team shared mental model (SMM) and team in-role performance while the interactive effect of leader OOP and team power mutability influence team trust and both team in-role and extra-role performance. A dual path model is developed using a three-wave survey with a sample of 633 employees and their leaders from 91 teams. This study demonstrates a potential bright side to other-oriented perfectionism and how this leader trait may interact with other factors to influence team emergent states and work outcomes through both task-related and relationship-related information processing.