From the "Ideal" Employee to the Burned-Out Worker. The Hidden Costs of Perfectionism, Failure Avoidance and Overcommitment
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Burnout remains one of the major challenges faced by contemporary organizations, as it is associated with health-related, psychological, occupational and economic consequences. While burnout has been widely analysed in relation to organizational demands, psychosocial working conditions and job resources, less attention has been given to selected person-level factors that may increase employees’ vulnerability to burnout. This raises an important question: which mechanisms explain the transition from the well-functioning, ambitious and high-performing “ideal employee” to the burned-out worker? The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between burnout and selected factors, including maladaptive perfectionism, heightened sensitivity to external pressure, overcommitment, fear of failure, and limited capacity for recovery and psychological detachment from work. The study was conducted using a quantitative survey design. The empirical analysis included descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, linear regression models and Mann–Whitney U tests. Among the examined variables, heightened sensitivity to external pressure showed the strongest and most consistent relationship with burnout. Maladaptive perfectionism had a weak but statistically significant positive effect on burnout in the regression analysis, whereas group comparisons did not confirm significant differences. Overcommitment showed a weak positive tendency in regression and significant differences in group comparison. The findings suggest that burnout may be associated not only with formal job demands, but also with the way employees internalize expectations, respond to pressure, invest effort and recover from work. The study contributes to burnout research by examining several person-level factors within one empirical context and highlights the need for further research on hidden psychological mechanisms that may intensify burnout vulnerability.
Author: Wilk, Agnieszka
Language: English
Topic: Stress and Burnout Research
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7162853930
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