The effects of perfectionism on innovative behavior and job burnout: Team workplace friendship as a moderator

Abstract Perfectionists are known as high-end goal pursuers. In this study, we utilize the concept of personal initiative (PI) to verify that perfectionists who go beyond their assigned tasks, and develop and initiate the accomplishment of their own goals also promote innovative behavior; however, they may also encounter job burnout. To extend research on perfectionism, we distinguish between the effects of healthy perfectionism (perfectionistic strivings) and unhealthy perfectionism (perfectionistic concerns) on innovative behavior as well as job burnout, and test the moderating effect of team workplace friendship utilizing valid matching samples of 112 team sets (112 supervisors and 437 members). The results reveal that healthy perfectionism is positively associated with innovative behavior, while unhealthy perfectionism is positively associated with job burnout; moreover, high team workplace friendship strengthens the positive relationship between healthy perfectionism and innovative behavior, but weakens the positive relationship between unhealthy perfectionism and job burnout. Our findings provide managers with insights into perfectionism to optimize human resource utilization, and highlight the need to initiate a team workplace friendship context to promote innovative behavior and decrease job burnout.