Comprehensive Meta-Analyses Of Perfectionism And A Synthesis For Work Psychology

Abstract

Research on perfectionism has flourished amidst growing evidence of its positive and negative influences across different domains in life. Past research on perfectionism relied on a variety of models of perfectionism and there is still no consensus on the content and structure of this construct. This represents a major barrier to our understanding of perfectionism and how it is related to important work outcomes. This dissertation presents a comprehensive meta-analysis of perfectionism to clarify the nomological net of the construct and provide evidence of perfectionism constructs’ criterion-related validities for work-related well-being, performance and motivational variables. Study 1 identified five facets of perfectionism: Perfectionistic Strivings, Orderliness, Perfectionistic Concerns, Socially-Prescribed Perfectionism (SPP) and Other-Oriented Perfectionism (OOP), and found two higher-order factors of perfectionism: Adaptive and Maladaptive perfectionism, as well as a general factor of perfectionism. Study 2 found that perfectionism is most strongly related to Conscientiousness and Neuroticism, with Perfectionistic Strivings and Adaptive perfectionism having stronger ties to Conscientiousness, and Perfectionistic Concerns and Maladaptive perfectionism having stronger ties to Neuroticism. In Study 3, sex differences in perfectionism were found to be negligible and age was weakly related with certain perfectionism constructs for adult samples only. Study 4 found that individuals with higher Adaptive perfectionism tend to have higher positive well-being (e.g. positive affect), academic performance, engagement and active coping styles; while those higher in Maladaptive perfectionism tend to have worse well-being (e.g. stress, burnout), procrastinate more and have avoidant coping styles. Perfectionism facets had incremental validity over the Big Five in predicting happiness, quality of life, job satisfaction, burnout, primary coping, broad disengagement, academic performance, engagement and procrastination. Finally, Study 5 identified the criterion profile patterns of perfectionism facets and found that individuals’ perfectionism facet patterns accounted for significantly more variance in nearly all of the criteria examined compared to perfectionism’s level effect (i.e., overall perfectionism). In sum, this dissertation provided evidence for an empirically validated taxonomy of perfectionism constructs that can guide future research on this personality trait. The comprehensive quantitative summary of perfectionism constructs’ nomological nets related perfectionism to a range of important criteria and work outcomes, and thus contributed to knowledge and potential usage of this construct in practical applications.