개인의 성격 특성은 일상생활뿐 아니라 조직에서 개인의 다양한 행동과 성과를 설명하고 예측하는 데에도 유용하다. 그 중에서도 완벽주의는 심리학 분야에서 오랫동안 지속적으로 연구관심이 제기되어 온 성격 특성 중 하나이다. 그럼에도 아직까지 경영학 분야에서 완벽주의에 대한 연구가 부족하였다. 더욱이 완벽주의가 순기능 및 역기능을 모두 포함한 개념임에도 불구하고 선행연구들은 대부분 인간의 심리 및 행동에 미치는 완벽주의의 부정적 측면에 초점을 맞춤으로써 완벽주의에 대한 포괄적 이해가 제한된 실정이다. 본 연구는 다양한 완벽주의 구성개념 중 철저한 업무 수행에 대한 열의, 완벽한 일 처리 등 본질적 특성상 조직 내에서의 개인의 과업성과와 관련성이 높을 것으로 예상되는 자기지향적 완벽주의를 선택하여 과업성과에 미치는 긍정적인 효과를 검증하고자 하였다. 또한 특성활성화 이론에 따라 성격 특성인 자기지향적 완벽주의가 과업성과에 미치는 효과를 상황적 요인인 조직지원인식 및 상사의 모욕적 행동이 어떻게 조절하는지를 확인하고자 하였다.
연구 결과, 성실성을 통제한 상태에서 자기지향적 완벽주의는 과업성과와 유의한 정적 관계를 가지는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 이 관계는 높은 조직지원인식, 낮은 상사의 모욕적 행동 하에서만 유의하게 나타나는 반면, 낮은 조직지원인식, 높은 상사의 모욕적 행동 하에서는 자기지향적 완벽주의와 과업성과는 유의한 관계를 보이지 않았다. 본 연구는 네 가지 시사점을 가지고 있다. 첫째, 심리학에 국한된 완벽주의 연구 영역을 경영학 분야로 확장시키면서 조직 내에서 개인의 과업성과에 대한 이해의 폭을 넓혔다는 것이다. 둘째, 과업성과에 미치는 자기지향적 완벽주의의 정적 효과를 실증함으로써 완벽주의의 부정적인 측면에 치중된 선행연구들의 한계점을 보완하려 했다는 것이다. 셋째, 자기지향적 완벽주의와 조직지원인식의 상호작용효과를 검증함으로써 자기지향적 완벽주의가 낮은 사람들이 높은 성과를 낼 수 있도록 조직이 해야 할 역할은 무엇인가라는 질문에 일부의 해답을 제시하였다는 것이다. 넷째, 자기지향적 완벽주의와 상사의 모욕적 행동의 상호작용효과를 검증함으로써 긍정적 리더십에 편중된 선행연구들의 미비점을 보완하는 한편, 자기지향적 완벽주의가 낮은 사람들로 하여금 높은 성과를 낼 수 있도록 하는데 상사 행동의 중요성을 부각시켰다는 것이다.
Research has demonstrated that personality characteristics can be useful for predicting individual behavior and performance at work as in ordinary life. Among these, the concept of perfectionism has been a topic of widespread interest in the psychological literature. Nevertheless, very little research has examined the role of perfectionism in predicting individual’s performance in management. Although there is considerable agreement that perfectionism has positive aspect as well as negative one, many researchers have focused on dysfunctional and neurotic aspects of perfectionism. This trend limits our comprehensive understanding of perfectionism. The purpose of this article is to examine positive aspects of perfectionism in organizational settings. Specifically, we first investigate the relationship between self-oriented perfectionism and task performance. Self-oriented perfectionism reflects a strong motivation for the self to be perfect, setting exacting standards for oneself, and evaluating one’s own behavior stringently. Therefore, we expect that self-oriented perfectionism may have potential relation with task performance at work because it includes motivational components of striving to attain perfection in one’s own performance as well as behavior. Following trait activation theory, we then examine the extent to which perceived organizational support and abusive supervision affect the self-oriented perfectionism-task performance relationship. Out of the process, we developed and empirically tested the following hypotheses:H1: Employee’s self-oriented perfectionism is positively related to task performance.
H2: Perceived organizational support moderates the positive relationship between self-oriented perfectionism and task performance such that the relationship is stronger when perceived organizational support is low than when perceived organizational support is high.
H3: Abusive supervision moderates the positive relationship between self-oriented perfectionism and task performance such that the relationship is stronger when abusive supervision is high than when abusive supervision is low.
Surveys were distributed to 160 employee-supervisor dyads from 9 organizations in Seoul. The organizations represented 3 service and 6 manufacturing organizations. Participants were assured of the confidential of their responses. The employee survey contained demographic questions and questions assessing self-oriented perfectionism, perceived organizational support, and abusive supervision. While employees were completing their surveys, supervisors completed questionnaires on employee task performance in a separate room. All of the items except demography were measured on a seven-point Likert scale(ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). A total 121 matched dyadic data were used for analysis. In the employee sample, 58% were men and the average age was 30.6 years(S.D.= 4.8). Around 59% of the respondents had at least bachelor’s degree and their average tenure was 5.3 years(S.D. = 4.9). In the supervisor sample, 68% were men and the average age was38.2 years(S.D.= 5.9). Approximately 60% of the respondents had at least bachelor’s degree and their average tenure was 10.8 years(S.D. = 5.9). Hierarchical regression analysis was used for testing hypotheses.
As predicted, results confirmed that employee’s self-oriented perfectionism was positively related to task performance after conscientiousness was controlled. Although not hypothesized, perceived organization support and abusive supervision had positive and negative relationship with task performance, respectively, like previous researches.
In addition, we found that perceived organizational support and abusive supervision moderated the effect of self-oriented perfectionism on task performance, respectively. Specifically, the relationship between self-oriented perfectionism and task performance was stronger when perceived organizational support was low and abusive supervision was high. Therefore, all hypotheses were supported.
This research has derived several theoretical and practical implications. First, we attempted to extend perfectionism studied in psychology to management and enhance our understanding of individual’s task performance in organization. Second, we intended to make up for the prior research with focus on the negative aspects of perfectionism by showing the empirical evidence of positive effect of self-oriented perfectionism on task performance. Third, our findings revealed that task performance was influenced by the interaction of employee’s self-oriented perfectionism and perceived organizational support. The results implied that although those who have low self-oriented perfectionism exhibit relatively low task performance, high organizational support can make them show task performance commensurate to those in high self-oriented perfectionism. Finally, this research found that abusive supervision is important leader behavior in understanding the relationship between self-oriented perfectionism and task performance. Further, this research contributes to extant leadership literature in which the center of attention has been on the positive and effective leadership aspect by raising the negative leader behavior on stage.
This research is not free from limitations. First, social desirability problem due to self-report assessing perfectionism may exist. Second, the cross-sectional research design precluded any inference of causality. Third, other variables that are potential moderators or may have impact on task performance were omitted in research design. Future research should examine various variables expected to influence the relationship between the self-oriented perfectionism and task performance. Also, the effect of other perfectionism constructs(e.g. other-oriented perfectionism, socially-prescribed perfectionism) on various organizational behavior variables seem to be warranted to advance our knowledge of perfectionism in organizations.
