Abstract
Despite the growing interest in perfectionism and its many facets, there is a lack of research on this phenomenon in the context of leadership. Attending to this deficit, the present study is the first to investigate the relationship between the three facets of perfectionism (self-oriented, socially prescribed, and other-oriented perfectionism) and three types of self-rated leadership behavior. In Study 1 (N = 182), leaders’ perfectionism and its association to their organizational, goal-oriented leadership behavior—self-rated as transactional (management by exception) and transformational leadership—is explored. In Study 2 (N = 185), the relationship of leaders’ perfectionism to their servant leadership as a people-centered leadership behavior is investigated. In line with the perfectionism social disconnection model (PSDM), we assume other-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism to be positively related to management by exception (i.e., monitoring behavior) and negatively related to transformational and servant leadership, whereas the opposite pattern is primarily predicted for self-oriented perfectionism. Our findings in Study 1 reveal a negative relationship between leaders’ self-oriented perfectionism as well as positive relationships to their other-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism in management by exception, while no substantial correlations with transformational leadership have emerged. In Study 2, a negative association between other-oriented perfectionism and the forgiveness dimension of servant leadership is revealed, indicating a possible barrier to building interpersonal relationships of acceptance and trust. Additionally, self-oriented perfectionism has been proven to be a rather favorable trait in servant leadership.
Highlights
Setting ambitious goals and performing ideally is highly esteemed and desired, in Western society; a certain degree of perfectionism is almost taken for granted (Spitzer, 2016) and substantially relates to engagement and motivation (Harari et al, 2018)
Leadership motives and locus of control (McClelland and Boyatzis, 1982; Howell and Avolio, 1993) are related to leadership effectiveness. We build on these conceptual frameworks and consider personality traits as antecedents of leadership, and we propose that perfectionism is a relevant individual difference in leadership behavior
We assumed that other-oriented (H2a) and socially prescribed perfectionism (H2b) should be negatively correlated with transformational leadership behavior, while self-oriented perfectionism (H2c) should indicate a positive correlation with this positive goal-oriented leadership behavior
Summary
Setting ambitious goals and performing ideally is highly esteemed and desired, in Western society; a certain degree of perfectionism is almost taken for granted (Spitzer, 2016) and substantially relates to engagement and motivation (Harari et al, 2018). As suggested by Hogan and Kaiser (2005), the leader’s personality determines the performed leadership behavior. Recent models by Derue et al (2011) and Zaccaro et al (2018) integrate the leader’s personality in a broader conceptual framework of leadership in which leader traits directly result in specific behaviors. Leadership motives and locus of control (McClelland and Boyatzis, 1982; Howell and Avolio, 1993) are related to leadership effectiveness. We build on these conceptual frameworks and consider personality traits as antecedents of leadership, and we propose that perfectionism is a relevant individual difference in leadership behavior
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