Leader Perfectionism and Subordinate Turnover Intention: An Attribution Theory Perspective

As perfectionism exploration in the workplace began to emerge, existing research on leader perfectionism have both positive and negative effects on subordinates' behavior. From the perspective of attribution theory, this paper attempts to propose a dual-path moderated mediating model for the influence of leader perfectionism on employees' turnover intention. We examined how employees' attributions of leader perfectionism influenced their responses. The results showed that a high subordinate's self-serving attribution will make employees believe that the leader's perfect requirements are in line with their own qualifications, perceived as over qualifications, thereby promoting their turnover intentions. However, subordinates with a low self-serving attribution would see leader perfectionism as a good characteristic of the leader, thus increasing their identification with the leader in terms of values, further enhancing their desire to stay in the organization. Our research has crucial implications for the application and practice of perfectionism in the field of management.