When the Goal is Perfection: Exploring Leadership Styles and Perfectionism

When the Goal is Perfection: Exploring Leadership Styles and Perfectionism

Kristen Marie Estorge | 2022

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the relationship between leadership styles and perfectionism among coaches, gym owners, and judging officials at public and private gymnastics clubs throughout the Southeast region of the United States. The participants were considered leaders according to standards implied by Gandolfi and Stone (2016). The Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) Form 5XShort (Bass & Avolio, 1995) and the Multi-Dimensional Perfectionism Scale (Hewitt & Flett, 1991) were administered to 31 male and female individuals active in the gymnastics community in the southeastern United States. Gender, organizational tenure, organizational type (public or private), organizational profit orientation, for-profit and nonprofit organizational status, and organizational status/role were also obtained. Positive significant relationships (p < .05) were found between transactional leaders and other-oriented perfectionism and the transactional leadership subscales of contingent reward and management by exception (active). Moreover, negative significant relationships (p < .05) were also found between the leader’s identification with self-oriented perfectionism and one of the subscales of passive–avoidant leadership, namely laissez-faire. In conclusion, transactional leaders (Bass & Avolio, 1995) are more likely to possess other-oriented perfectionism (Hewitt & Flett, 1991), whereas self-oriented perfectionists are less likely to perform as transactional (laissez-faire) leaders in their gymnastics role.