The trap of appearing perfect: When servant leaders accidentally intensify follower over-commitment and workaholism

Can striving to look perfect backfire when your leader puts you first? We examine this question through the concept of perfectionistic self-presentation (PSP), an impression management (IM) motivation to appear flawless to others. Drawing on IM theory, we argue that employees high in PSP may feel compelled to appear flawless to their leaders, increasing their tendency to overcommit to them as salient evaluative audiences and, in turn, have higher workaholism. We also propose that servant leadership, a leadership style that emphasizes serving and cultivating followers, amplifies the relationship between followers’ PSP and overcommitment to leaders. Across three time-lagged field studies, two conducted in China and one in the United Kingdom, we find that individuals high in PSP are more likely to report workaholism through overcommitment to the leader, particularly when reporting to servant leaders. Our findings show how a normally positive form of leadership can have unintended costs when interpreted through followers’ self-presentational motives, extending understanding of PSP, IM, and the boundary conditions of positive leadership.