“Perfectionism is a debacle” how a perfectionist leader hinders in business processes? A multiple mediated model

Purpose The current study highlights the dark side of a perfectionist leader hindering in business processes and also investigates its impact on procrastination through workplace incivility, psychological distress, and psychological detachment by using the tenet of conservation of resource theory. Positivism research philosophy was adopted, followed by a deductive approach. Design/methodology/approach The survey technique was used to collect the quantitative data from the employees working in public sector organizations. 364 samples were collected and analyzed using SEM-Mplus techniques, where structured and measurement models were produced and interpreted accordingly. Findings The results suggested that perfectionist leaders become a source for their followers to involve in procrastination because of depletion of ego and psychological resources. The results supported the chain of mediation and both paths of perfectionist leaders, workplace incivility, psychological detachment, and procrastination and perfectionist leaders, workplace incivility, psychological distress, and procrastination. Originality/value The results and dynamics of the current study provided some meaningful managerial and theoretical implications and future research directions for the researchers. The study contributes significantly to the body of literature since it captures and analyzes the overlooked elements in the context of perfectionist leaders.