Perfectionism unfolding: the mutual reinforcement of employee perfectionism and work goal attainment and the moderating role of psychological capital
研究了员工完美主义与工作目标达成之间的双向关系，发现完美主义担忧会阻碍目标达成进而强化担忧，而完美主义努力通过目标达成对后续努力的间接效应仅在高希望和低自我效能的员工中显著。
Perfectionism, a common phenomenon among employees, is deemed to have its costs and benefits. Recent research has shifted towards understanding which experiences shape perfectionism; however, little is known about the interplay between perfectionism and work experiences. Drawing on the high performance cycle and the corresponsive principle, we proposed reciprocal relationships between perfectionism and work goal attainment. We expected perfectionistic strivings at T1 to be positively related to work goal attainment at T2 (two months later), which, in turn, should be associated with perfectionistic strivings at T3 (four months after T1). Perfectionistic concerns should relate to a lack of work goal attainment at T2, which should be associated with perfectionistic concerns at T3. Furthermore, we assumed that psychological capital would moderate the relationship between perfectionism and work goal attainment. Data from 260 employees were analysed using structural equation modelling. Results supported that perfectionistic concerns undermine work goal attainment, which then reinforces perfectionistic concerns. The indirect effects of perfectionistic strivings on subsequent perfectionistic strivings via work goal attainment were significant only for employees with high hope and low self-efficacy. We discuss the role of work goal attainment for the development of employee perfectionism and the finite adaptive nature of perfectionistic strivings.