The Level of Multidimensional Perfectionism and Motivational Orientation among Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Background. Perfectionism is a multidimensional personality trait related to an individual’s desire to achieve optimal performance. From this perspective, perfectionism plays an important role in students’ motivation and their interpretation of the contexts for achievement. However, perfectionism which is encouraged by the views of others may result in increased performance levels of undergraduate university students. Objective. This study sought to identify the level of multidimensional perfectionism and motivational orientation among a group of undergraduate students in Jordan, while also investigating the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism and motivational orientation. Design. To collect the data, questionnaires measuring multidimensional perfectionism and motivational orientation, were administered to a sample of 406 male and female undergraduate students at Hashemite University and Al-Hussein Bin Talal University during the academic year 2016/2017. Results. It was shown that the level of multidimensional perfectionism and motivational orientation was moderate, with no significant differences between the dimensions of multidimensional perfectionism and motivational orientation attributable to gender. Moreover, the results showed a positive and statistically significant relationship between the multidimensional perfectionism and motivational orientation subscales. Conclusion. Our study provides valuable insight into perfectionist trends and their relationship to motivational orientation in Arab countries. It contributes to the literature by demonstrating that perfectionism contributes to performance and achievement through its relationship to motivational orientation.

Keywords

• Multidimensional perfectionism
• motivational orientation
• intrinsic-extrinsic motivation
• undergraduate students