The Effects of Other‐Oriented Perfectionism and Conscientiousness on Helping at Work

Abstract

Workers high in other‐oriented perfectionism have unreasonable standards for others and place considerable importance on others meeting these standards. Although other‐oriented perfectionism is thought to be maladaptive, we investigated whether other‐oriented perfectionists might help others achieve the high standards that they set for them by engaging in task‐focused interpersonal citizenship behaviors (ICB). We suggest that the relationship between an individual's other‐oriented perfectionism tendencies and his or her task‐focused ICB is non‐linear. Furthermore and in line with trait interactionist theory, we argue that an individual's conscientiousness moderates the other‐oriented perfectionism–task focused ICB relationship. As hypothesised, data from 154 employees of a public sector organisation, using self‐reports of personality and supervisor reports of task‐focused ICB, revealed that increases in other‐oriented perfectionism for workers high in conscientiousness generally led to those employees engaging in greater levels of task‐focused ICB. However, there were diminishing returns at high levels of other‐oriented perfectionism. The opposite was found amongst workers low in conscientiousness. Thus, we conclude that conscientiousness brings out a bright side of other‐oriented perfectionism.

Dark Personality in the Workplace: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…Sutton () argues that there are some positive effects that dark personality can achieve (see also Henning, Wygant, & Barnes, ) and, indeed, some contributions in this special issue do look at the bright side of dark personality (Shoss et al. and Ozbilir et al.). However, we need to keep in mind that there is a difference between dark personality leading to dark behaviour and the strategic use of dark behaviour to achieve goals.…”

“…Two articles look into perfectionism, though from different perspectives. Shoss, Callison, and Witt focus on self‐directed perfectionism, whereas Ozbilir, Day, and Catano investigate other‐oriented perfectionism. Self‐directed perfectionism can be stressful for the individual (Shoss et al.); other‐oriented perfectionism can be harmful to others and is linked to a sense of entitlement (Ozbilir et al.), potentially similar to narcissistic entitlement.…”

“…Shoss et al. differentiate two forms of perfectionism: adaptive and maladaptive. Adaptive perfectionism is defined as having high standards and low discrepancy, whereas maladaptive perfectionism is characterised by high standards and high discrepancy.…”

Beyond the Bright Side: Dark Personality at Work

“…To some degree we were successful in achieving that aim. A number of papers in the special issue expand discussion of dark personality to include feelings of entitlement (Brummel & Parker, 2015), self-enhancement (Cullen, Gentry, & Yammarino, 2015), and perfectionism (Ozbilir, Day, & Catano, 2015;Shoss, Callison, & Witt, 2015).…”

Fearless dominance and performance in field sales: A predictive study

“…Pierce and Aguinis () argued that inverted U‐shaped relations with outcomes should exist when a predictor is an action or a passion (e.g., personality) because elevated levels of a personality trait drive a person to behave in a manner that is inappropriate for the situation (Kaiser & Hogan, ; Shoss, Callison, & Witt, ); therefore, the middle range of the trait should be optimal for the situation. Thus, on the basis of previous research on personality (Kaiser & Hogan, ), psychopathy (Hall & Benning, ), and sales (Grant, ), we suggest that there is an inverted U‐shaped relation between fearless dominance and objective sales performance for people in field sales.…”