Bored, angry, and overqualified? The high- and low-intensity pathways linking perceived overqualification to behavioural outcomes

Unveiling the nexus between perceived overqualification and knowledge hiding: Moderated mediation analysis of job crafting and job boredom

Purpose

Grounding on relative deprivation theory, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between perceived overqualification (POQ) and knowledge hiding. Furthermore, this study investigated the mediating role of job boredom and the moderating effect of job crafting.

Design

/Methodology/Approach: This study employs Hayes' PROCESS model to analyze data obtained from 374 employees working in the hospitality and tourism industry.

Findings

The results indicate a positive relationship between POQ, job boredom, and knowledge hiding. These findings suggest that job boredom mediates the relationship between POQ and knowledge hiding. Furthermore, the study showed a moderated mediation path wherein the interaction effect of POQ and job crafting on knowledge hiding was mediated by job boredom.

Research limitations/implications

Data were collected from the hospitality and tourism industry, limiting the generalizability of the findings to other sectors. Additionally, the study relied on self-reported measures, which may have resulted in a bias.

Practical implications

Conduct thorough job fit assessments during the hiring process to ensure that candidates' qualifications align closely with job requirements. By matching employees' skills and experiences to their job, organizations can reduce perceived overqualification, which may lower job boredom and knowledge hiding tendencies.

Originality/value

This study's focus on person-job misfits adds a new layer of insight into employee experiences in the workplace. By examining how mismatches between individuals and their roles contribute to job boredom and knowledge hiding, this study highlights the importance of aligning job responsibilities with employee skills, qualifications, and preferences.

Cross Culture Examination of Perceived Overqualification, Psychological Well-Being and Job Search: The Moderating Role of Proactive Behavior

Purpose

This study delves into the intricate interplay between perceived overqualification, job search behavior, psychological well-being, and proactive behavior, within two distinct and diverse work settings.

Methods

Drawing upon the Person-Job Fit theory, we investigated these dynamics in two unique samples: Sample 1 encompassed corporate sector employees in the United Arab Emirates (N=409), while Sample 2 comprised IT sector workers in Pakistan (N=337). Hayes PROCESS macro were used to examine the proposed hypotheses and AMOS (Version 28) were conducted to examine model fitness.

Results

In Study 1, we established a positive association between perceived overqualification and job search behavior among employees in the UAE corporate sector. Notably, this relationship was mediated by psychological well-being, suggesting that the impact of perceived overqualification on job search behavior is, in part, channeled through its effects on individuals' psychological well-being. Study 2 showed that proactive behavior exhibited a moderating effect on the negative link between perceived overqualification and psychological well-being. Specifically, employees displaying higher levels of proactive behavior demonstrated a less adverse influence of perceived overqualification on psychological well-being. Importantly, this adaptive effect of proactive behavior was found to indirectly influence job search behavior.

Discussion

The findings highlight the nature of perceived overqualification in the workplace and its varying impact on employee behavior and well-being across different cultural and work settings. The mediation by psychological well-being and moderation by proactive behavior in these relationships underscores the importance of individual responses to perceived job fit issues. These insights are crucial for understanding employee behavior in diverse work environments and can inform practices for managing perceived overqualification.

Does Overqualification Play a Promoting or a Hindering Role? The Impact of Public Employees' Perceived Overqualification on Workplace Behaviors

Drawing upon the conservation of resource theory, we offer a framework for understanding the mechanism underlying the effect of public employees' overqualification on their cognitive and behavioral outcomes, through both positive and negative paths. We propose that perceived overqualification elicits two subjective cognitions, namely, perceived control and psychological entitlement, which further lead to public employees' behaviors through approach (organizational citizenship behavior) and avoidance (workplace deviance behavior) tendencies. A total of 421 public employees participated in the three-stage time-lag investigation. The findings indicated that public employees' perceived overqualification is positively related to perceived control, and perceived control is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior. Perceived control completely mediates the relationship between perceived overqualification and organizational citizenship behavior. Perceived overqualification is positively related to psychological entitlement, and psychological entitlement is positively related to workplace deviance behavior. Psychological entitlement completely mediates the relationship between perceived overqualification and workplace deviance behavior. This study constructed a double-edged sword model of perceived overqualification based on the public sector, discussing the influence of public employees' perceived overqualification on their workplace behaviors from the perspective of resource assessment and self-evaluation, and providing theoretical guidance for the practice of human resource management within the public sector.

Perceived overqualification and deviant innovation behavior: The roles of creative self-efficacy and perceived organizational support

Employees' perceived overqualification (POQ) is prevalent in organizations and has drawn increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners. Drawing from social cognitive theory, the purpose of this study is to extend existing understanding of the consequences of POQ by examining how and when POQ leads to deviant innovation behavior. This study hypothesizes that employees' POQ indirectly impacts deviant innovation through enhanced creative self-efficacy (CSE), and that perceived organizational support (POS) strengthens this indirect relationship. Using data collected from 286 employees in China at two time points, this study found support for our hypotheses that POQ is positively related to CSE, and that CSE mediates the relationship between POQ and deviant innovation behavior. In addition, this study found that POS moderates the relationship between POQ and CSE, as well as the indirect effect of POQ on deviant innovation behavior via CSE. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings and future research directions are discussed.

Reacting to Perceived Overqualification: Uniting Strain-Based and Self-Regulatory Adjustment Reactions and the Moderating Role of Formal Work Arrangements

Thus far, research on perceived overqualification has focused on either maladaptive, strain-based versus more adaptive, self-regulatory reactions in isolation. Following person-environment fit theory, we seek to advance this one-sided focus by uniting both types of adjustment reactions and to consider their implications for perceived person-job fit, and performance and wellbeing outcomes. In line with theory, we also examine contextual boundary conditions in the form of indicators of formal work arrangements (i.e., permanent vs. temporary employment contract and job tenure). Utilizing three-wave data from 453 employees, we found that perceived overqualification indirectly and sequentially related to decreases in task performance, organizational citizenship behavior and job satisfaction via anger toward employment situation and lower levels of perceived person-job fit-thus reflecting the strain-based pathway. For the self-regulatory pathway, findings did not align with our initial proposition that the positive relationship between perceived overqualification and work organization (a form of structural job crafting whereby employees improve their work processes) would be weaker among temporary employees and those with longer tenure. Instead, having a temporary employment contract or having longer job tenure resulted in a negative relationship between perceived overqualification and work organization, which further contributed to a decrease in performance and satisfaction via lower levels of perceived person-job fit. Our study highlights the demotivating role of a temporary employment contract and long job tenure for overqualified employees to reorganize their work. In discussing our findings, we point to the importance of job stage and develop recommendations for managing overqualified employees.

The influence of employees' perception of over-qualification on career compromise: Mediated by role conflict and sense of relative deprivation

In the external environment with the increasing level of education, there is a general phenomenon of excess qualification in the employment market. This research discusses employee career compromise from the perspective of employee over-qualification based on resource conservation theory and self-regulation theory. Combined with the survey data, a structural equation model (SEM) is constructed, and the mediation effect of relative deprivation and role conflict is analyzed according to the causal mediation model. The research find that employees' perception of over-qualification has three ways to affect employees' career compromise. First, employees' perception of over-qualification has a significant positive impact on their career compromise behavior through employees' emotions and self-cognition. Second, role conflict plays a partial intermediary role between the perception of over-qualification and career compromise by positively affecting career compromise behavior. Third, the sense of relative deprivation plays a partial intermediary role between the perception of over-qualification and career compromise by negatively affecting career compromise behavior. According to the research conclusions, the following suggestions are put forward. Enterprises need to establish a scientific employment mechanism to achieve talent-post matching and fundamentally reduce the phenomenon of over-qualifications. The company should pay attention to employee training, actively guide employees' career planning, instruct employees to correctly understand the sense of over-qualification and play a positive role in guiding employees' career planning.

Person–Job Misfit: Perceived Overqualification and Counterproductive Work Behavior

Grounding on person–job fit theory, we examined perceived overqualification relation with counterproductive work behavior (CWB) by identifying job boredom as a mediator and job crafting as a moderator. Hierarchical linear regression and Hayes’ PROCESS macro-method were used to assess hypotheses in a three-wave survey of 317 textile sector employees. The findings show that perceived overqualification is positively related with CWBs. This study further examined the mediating function of job boredom and the moderating impact of job crafting in the association between perceived overqualification and CWB. The findings suggest that job crafting moderates the positive relation between perceived overqualification and job boredom and the indirect connection between perceived overqualification and CWB via job boredom. The model was tested using 3-wave data; however, since the data were attained from a single source, questions of common method bias cannot be ruled out. Managers should look for changes in employee attitudes and promptly modify employees’ positions when they indicate that they have more experience, abilities, and talents required for their roles in their organizations.