Cross-cultural and gender differences as predictors of workaholic and perfectionist attitudes during the Covid-19 pandemic

This cross-cultural study examines the phenomena of workaholism and perfectionism across European and Asian cultures during the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 2617 recipients aged 18–70 years from Asia (China, India and Indonesia) and Europe (Bulgaria, Germany and Hungary) completed questionnaires about workaholism (DUWAS) and perfectionism (MPS). The study’s goal was to reveal whether Asian and European cultures mediate differently the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on these phenomena, and change their psychological dimensions in a different way. The results were processed with SPSS-25 and analysis of the data revealed that the way in which Covid-19 affects workaholics’ and perfectionists’ attitudes depends on cultural and gender differences. For example, the cultural differences affect the dimensions of workaholism (workaholism excessive / workaholism compulsive) in such a way that in the Asian sample, unlike the European, there is a significant increase in the level of workaholism compulsive. Concerning perfectionism, the analysis reveals that when comparing the two samples, the representatives of Asian culture, unlike European participants, show a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the levels of the three dimensions self-oriented, other-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism. Particularly remarkable are the differences concerning socially prescribed perfectionism in the Asian sample (d = 0.56; d = 0.55), which reflects the individual’s desire to be perfect in order to meet the expectations of others.