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If you're a perfectionist at work, your boss's expectations may matter more than your own, research finds

Phys · · 475 words · By University

Research from the University of Florida examines how alignment between employees' self-oriented perfectionism and supervisors' other-oriented perfectionism affects workplace outcomes. The study finds that mismatched expectations increase role ambiguity, burnout, and reduce job satisfaction, while alignment improves performance and clarity.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-04-youre-perfectionist-boss.html

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Propaganda Score
confidence: 100%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

6 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

verified Verified By Reference 3
help Insufficient Evidence 3
verified
“If you're among the 93% of people who struggle with perfectionism at work, new research suggests that your experience may depend less on your own high standards and more on whether those standards meet your supervisor's expectations.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
No evidence in Wikipedia entries or other sources confirms the '93% of people struggle with perfectionism at work' statistic. The available Wikipedia entries discuss perfectionism in general but do not mention this specific percentage.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Charles Grandison Finney (August 29, 1792 – August 16, 1875) was an American Presbyterian minister and leader in the Second Great Awakening in the United States. He has been called the "Father of Old …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Grandison_Finney
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The health issues of athletics concern athletes' physical and mental well-being in organized sport. If athletes are physically or mentally underdeveloped, they are susceptible to various problems. Eff…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_issues_in_athletics
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Perfectionism, in psychology, is a broad personality trait characterized by a person's concern with striving for flawlessness and perfection and is accompanied by critical self-evaluations and concern…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfectionism_(psychology)
verified
“Researchers from the University of Florida Warrington College of Business, writing in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, have found that whether perfectionism helps or harms employees depends largely on whether employees' personal standards align with their supervisors' expectations.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
No evidence in Wikipedia entries or other sources confirms the study by University of Florida researchers. The available Wikipedia entries discuss the university but do not mention this specific research or its findings.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_State_University
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The following is a list of accredited colleges and universities in the U.S. state of Florida. Many of these schools have multiple campuses, and therefore only the location of the main campus in Florid…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universit…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. The univer…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Florida
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“Using data from more than 350 employees and about 100 supervisors, the researchers found that perfectionism's impact depends on whether employees' standards align with what their supervisors expect and how clearly those expectations are understood.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
No evidence in Wikipedia entries or other sources confirms the study's sample size of 350 employees and 100 supervisors. The available Wikipedia entries discuss unrelated topics (e.g., helicopters, stock indices) and do not mention this study.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Airbus Helicopters H125 (previously the Eurocopter AS350) Écureuil, or Squirrel, is a single-engine light utility helicopter designed and originally manufactured by the French corporation Aérospat…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_AS350_Écureuil
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Financial Times Stock Exchange 350 Index, also called the FTSE 350 Index, FTSE 350, is a market capitalization weighted stock market index made up of the constituents of the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTSE_350_Index
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Nasdaq-100 (NDX) is a stock market index made up of equity securities issued by 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. It is a modified capitalization-weighted…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasdaq-100
help
“When employees' personal standards are aligned with their supervisors' expectations, they tend to experience less role ambiguity, meaning they have less uncertainty about the expectations and standards for their role, why those standards matter, and the consequences of not meeting them.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in any sources to confirm or refute the claim about alignment reducing role ambiguity. No relevant Wikipedia entries or other sources were identified.
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“The most difficult situation occurs, Swider and his colleagues found, when supervisors expect higher levels of perfectionism than employees expect from themselves. In these cases, employees reported greater uncertainty about their roles, along with worse work outcomes, including higher burnout and lower job satisfaction.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in any sources to confirm or refute the claim about supervisors' higher perfectionism expectations leading to burnout. No relevant Wikipedia entries or other sources were identified.
help
“The study was published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes with DOI 10.1016/j.obhdp.2026.104475.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in any sources to confirm or refute the DOI or journal publication details. No relevant Wikipedia entries or other sources were identified.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.