Standing out or Singing alone: Examining Outcomes of “Solo Perfectionist” in a team, the Role of LMX

Abstract

Solo perfectionist refers to employees with the remarkably highest level in perfectionism comparing to other team members—the more “solo” they are, the larger the difference between their perfectionism and others’ (Li & Liao, 2014; Seo, Nahrgang, Carter, & Hom, 2018). Therefore, a high level of perfectionism “solo-ness” could be associated with both prominence and isolation. Drawing upon expectation status theory (EST) and leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, the current research examines the effects of perfectionism “solo-ness” on their status attainment, loneliness and distal workplace outcomes under different LMX quality. Results from a pilot study using scenario experiment show that the third party would attribute highest status, leader emergence and promotability to the highest perfectionist when both their “solo-ness” and LMX are high. Furthermore, results from main study using a time-lagged multi-source field survey show that when LMX is high, perfectionism “solo-ness” is positively related to status and further results in leader emergence and promotability. When LMX is low, such effects become weaker. In contrast, when LMX is low versus high, perfectionism “solo-ness” is positively related to loneliness and further results in burnout. Implications and future directions are discussed.