Boon and Bane: How Perfectionism Shapes Employee Well-Being Through Health-Impairing and Motivational Processes

It is unsurprising that perfectionism is rising in a world that is increasingly competitive (Curran & Hill, 2019). This multidimensional personality disposition especially affects the domain of work and may place employees at risk for high stress and poor well-being (Ocampo et al., 2020; Stoeber & Stoeber, 2009). The present dissertation aimed to understand the ambivalent role of perfectionism in this specific context with an emphasis on explaining the different associations of self-oriented perfectionism (SOP; exceptionally high demands that people have for themselves) and socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP; the belief that others expect perfection from oneself) with employee well-being. Specifically, the job demands-resources (JD-R, Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Demerouti et al., 2001; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004) model was used as a guiding framework to identify relevant job demands and resources (Research Question 1) that perfectionism may shape. Drawing on this model, this work also aimed to capture health-impairing and motivational processes that may explain by which mechanisms perfectionism relates to employee well-being and possible intervention approaches that build on these processes (Research Question 2). The four manuscripts that are the basis of this dissertation each referred to one or more aspects of these research questions. Each of the manuscripts had a unique focus and related to questions that remained unanswered from previous research. First, Manuscript 1 addressed the question of how perfectionist colleagues are seen by potential team members and to what extent perfectionists experience social disconnection or integration in the workplace. Second, we investigated, in Manuscript 2, whether time pressure as a job demand in combination with the recovery experience of detachment (the mental disconnection from work during leisure time) explains why some perfectionists are vulnerable to impaired sleep. Third, Manuscript 3 focused on whether the three basic needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness represent a crossroad linking the dimensions of perfectionism to either impaired or enhanced well-being of employees. Lastly, in Manuscript 4, we investigated whether a short app-based mindfulness intervention may reduce perfectionistic cognitions and improve detachment and impaired sleep. Concretely, in Manuscript 1 we built on the perfectionism social disconnection model (Hewitt et al., 2006) with its proposition that this disposition may contribute to interpersonal difficulties and examined the role of the perfectionism dimensions in differently shaping social demands and resources. Study 1 concerned the colleagues’ perspective (experimental; N = 184) and indicated that employees would favour working with a non-perfectionist colleague unless they have high demands for their colleagues themselves. In Study 2 (cross-sectional, N = 279), which addressed the perfectionists’ perspective, SPP was the only dimension that displayed a consistent pattern of social disconnection, including social exclusion and interpersonal conflicts as social job demands and a lack of social support as a resource. In Manuscript 2, we linked the perfectionism literature and the stressor-detachment model (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015) and assumed that differences in daily stress generation, operationalised as daily time pressure, and detachment may be relevant health-impairing processes explaining why SPP but not SOP is typically related to poor sleep quality. Findings from the diary study (N = 70) provided support for time pressure, a task-related job demand, and subsequently reduced detachment as a serial process that underlies SPP and impaired sleep. The assumed opposite serial mediation concerning SOP via decreased time pressure and detachment as a separate mechanism were not confirmed, but a direct effect of SOP indicating restful sleep was revealed. In Manuscript 3 we drew on self-determination theory and the concept of autonomy, competence, and relatedness satisfaction (Deci & Ryan, 2000) and examined the three needs as health-impairing and motivational pathways relating the dimensions of perfectionism to employees’ work engagement, job satisfaction, and exhaustion. Results from a two-wave online study conducted over 3 months (N = 328 at T1 and N = 138 at T2) emphasize the unique roles of the three needs in explaining the different relationships of SOP and SPP to employee well-being with autonomy satisfaction being especially relevant for work engagement. Lastly, in Manuscript 4, we considered perfectionism with its more state-like cognitions as an antipode to the personal resource of mindfulness and tested the effectiveness of an app-based mindfulness intervention in reducing perfectionistic cognitions and improving detachment and impaired sleep quality as important concepts related to recovery. As compared to participants in the wait-list control group (n = 45), those in the intervention group (n = 38) reported a temporary increase in mindfulness and a decrease in perfectionistic concern cognitions. No significant changes in the recovery-related outcomes were found. However, findings from the randomised controlled trial provide initial evidence that app-based mindfulness interventions are a possibility to reduce state-like aspects of perfectionism. To conclude, the four manuscripts highlight the duality of perfectionism in shaping various aspects of employees’ working life and their well-being. Whether perfectionism can be considered as a boon or bane, depends on the specific dimension. According to our findings, SPP negatively relates to well-being in that it contributes to job demands and the health impairment process and inhibits resources and the motivational process. By contrast, SOP positively relates to well-being because this dimension hinders, at least to some extent, the health impairment process while it may also foster the motivational process. State-like aspects of perfectionism may be already addressed by low-threshold interventions. The challenge of integrating perfectionism in the JD-R model, avenues for future research to strengthen and extend the conceptual framework of this dissertation, and practical implications are discussed.