The Paradox of Perfection: Organizationally‐Prescribed Perfectionism, Pro‐Environmental Behavior, and the Buffering Role of Corporate Social Responsibility

Organizations increasingly face a dual challenge of promoting sustainability while simultaneously demanding flawless performance from their employees. However, the pressure inherent in organizationally‐prescribed perfectionism (OPP) may inadvertently undermine the very pro‐environmental behavior at work (PEBW) that organizations seek to promote. Drawing on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study investigates this paradox by proposing that OPP directly diminishes PEBW through the structural monopolization of cognitive bandwidth, rendering sustainability a survival‐irrelevant resource expenditure. We further propose that this withdrawal is mediated by employee burnout, which reflects a state of chronic energetic bankruptcy resulting from the extreme resource asymmetry of perfectionistic demands. Furthermore, we conceptualize corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a macro‐level resource caravan passageway that dilutes employees' vulnerability to this severe resource loss spiral. Using a three‐wave, time‐lagged design with data from 401 employees, we tested a moderated mediation model. The results support the partial mediation of burnout. Importantly, high levels of CSR act as a systemic buffer, attenuating the lethality of OPP and preserving the overall energetic reservoir required for discretionary efforts. These findings contribute to the literature by revealing that in the absence of a robust macro‐level resource infrastructure, the uncompromising pursuit of perfection structurally eradicates an employee's capacity for environmental initiative.