Western Undergraduate Psychology Journal
Article Title
Effects of Perfectionistic Striving on Employee Goal Achievement
Abstract
Hewitt and Flett’s Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale identifies different types of perfectionism: self-oriented perfectionism (SOP), and socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP), These may be divided into further facets, such as Campbell and Di Paula’s perfectionism subscales. One of the SOP facets, Perfectionistic Striving, captures adaptive aspects of perfectionism. This facet may thus be the reason why SOP has been found to positively correlate with goal achievement. Little research has been conducted with these subscales, though, as well as with the relationship between SOP and goal achievement in the domain of work, despite many referring to work as the domain they are most perfectionistic in. This study therefore investigated the hypothesis that the Perfectionistic Striving subscale score would correlate higher with supervisor ratings of employee goal achievement in comparison to the correlations between the other subscales’ scores and supervisor ratings. One hundred and fifteen employees at a call centre filled out the MPS, afterward, deciding upon a work performance-related goal to try and reach within six months. Their supervisors, at the end of the six months, then rated the incumbents’ goal achievement. A hierarchal multiple regression using the incumbents’ MPS subscale scores and the supervisors’ ratings demonstrated support for the hypothesis.