On the association between perceived overqualification and adaptive behavior

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer an autonomous motivation perspective to explore the relationship between perceived overqualification and adaptive work behavior and examine job autonomy as a factor that may moderate the association. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses were tested in two culturally, demographically, and functionally diverse samples: sample 1 was based on North American community college employees (n=215); sample 2 was based on full-time workers, employed in a Chinese state-owned enterprise specializing in shipping (n=148). Findings In study 1, perceived overqualification was negatively related to self-rated adaptive behavior. A follow-up study 2 extended these findings by demonstrating that perceived overqualification was negatively related to supervisor-rated adaptive work behavior when job autonomy was low, rather than high. Research limitations/implications The results of this research offer an autonomous motivation perspective to explain why perceived overqualification relates to adaptive behavior and suggests a job design approach to encourage adaptive behaviors of people who feel overqualified – a sizable segment of the current workforce. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to explore adaptive behavior of workers who feel overqualified – an outcome that has not been examined in this domain. The findings further point out what can be done to encourage adaptive behaviors among overqualified employees.

Perceived overqualification and task performance: Reconciling two opposing pathways

“…A close examination of the literature suggests that researchers have proposed two alternative and opposing theoretical perspectives to explain the relationship between POQ and task performance (Erdogan, Bauer, & Karaeminogullari, 2017;Harari et al, 2017;Wu, Tian, Luksyte, & Spitzmueller, 2017). On the one hand, the ability-based explanation views POQ as an advantage.…”

Studying on the Impact of Perceived Overqualification on Work Engagement: The Moderating Role of Future Work Self Salience and Mediating Role of Thriving at Work

“…Among them, the controlling envents reduces the internal motivation by influencing the individual's autonomy, and the demotivational environment reduces the internal motivation by influencing the individual's competence [12]. Individuals with high POQ believe that they are in a dismotivated environment and most of the work they do is not challenging [19], Individuals are unable to effectively influence the environment, unable to display their excessive qualification and improve their confidence by completing challenging tasks, and lack of competent needs; They also think they are restricted by rules or orders in a controlled environment, and lack autonomy in choosing the content of their work [20], and lack of autonomous needs; After the completion of the work, they can't get the correct evaluation and support from their superiors or colleagues, so they can't maintain meaningful contact with others, and lack of related needs [21]. As a peripheral factor, the related needs are also an important condition for the development of intrinsic motivation [8].…”

“…Situational factors that affect basic psychological needs include feedback, decision-making discretion, climate of trust/respect, and broad information sharing etc. In the interaction with the working environment, individuals with a high POQ believe that their qualifications exceed the work requirements, and they cannot control their work autonomously, cannot get reasonable feedback, cannot make independent decisions and share information, so the needs for competence and autonomy are lacking [19] [20]. Without the approval and support of others, the atmosphere of trust and respect cannot be perceived, and the needs for relatedness will be correspondingly lacking.…”

Review and Prospect of the Overqualification Study

“…在资质过剩感的负面作用下， 许多研究人员认为他们会采取消极的行为来应对这种境遇。 一方面，资质过剩会增加所有员工的工作搜索行为、缺勤行为(Congregado 等人, 2016) [35] 与 退缩行为(马春来, 2018) [36] ，甚至倾向于从事更多反生产的工作行为(Luksyte 等, 2011)。其中， Liu 等人(2015)利用 224 名中国汽车工人的实证研究，证明了感知的资质过剩对反生产行为产 生微弱的正向作用。Saul Fine 等人(2017) 将反生产行为分为对个人/对组织与较轻的/严重的 两种分类，证明了资质过剩仅与对组织的反生产行为存在正向关系。另一方面，资质过剩的 员工往往很少参与角色外行为(Agut 等, 2009) [37] 。校锐(2018) [38] 从情绪视角出发，提出资质 过剩的员工通过表达抑制的调节作用、愤怒情绪的中介作用对组织公民行为产生负面影响。 然而，近些年，一些发掘资质过剩对员工行为层面带来积极作用的相关文献逐渐涌现。 首先，一些资质过剩的员工所具备的政治技能能够促进他们进行工作重塑(Russell 等人, 2016) [39] ，并利用他们额外的技能和经验来指导他人或成为非正式领导，产生较多的角色外行为 (Wihler 等，2015) [40] ：包括员工创新行为与指向组织的组织公民行为(OCBO)(Lin, 2018) [41] 。 其次， 感知的资质过剩可能会通过自我效能激发主动行为(Zhang 等人, 2015) [42]…”