Abstract
Based on the double-process model of emotional cognition, combined with affective event theory and social processing theory, we explore the dual-path mechanism of preschool teachers' perceived overqualification affecting their task performance. Through a questionnaire survey of 87 teacher team leaders and 357 teachers at three time points, the results of multi-level path analysis show that: (1) perceived overqualification has a negative effect on task performance through the mediating effect of anger; perceived overqualification has a positive effect on task performance through the mediating effect of role breadth self-efficacy; (2) Job insecurity climate plays a moderating effect between the two approaches. Job insecurity climate can not only regulate the effects of perceived overqualifications on anger and role breadth self-efficacy, but also regulate the mediating effects of anger and role breadth self-efficacy between perceived overqualifications and task performance.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary material, further inquiries can be directedto the corresponding author.
References
Arasli, H., Arici, H. E., & Çakmakoğlu Arici, N. (2019). Workplace favouritism, psychological contract violation and turnover intention: Moderating roles of authentic leadership and job insecurity climate. German Journal of Human Resource Management, 33(3), 197–222. https://doi.org/10.1177/2397002219839896
Babalola, M. T., Ren, S., Kobinah, T., Qu, Y. E., Garba, O. A., & Guo, L. (2019). Negative workplace gossip: Its impact on customer service performance and moderating roles of trait mindfulness and forgiveness. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 80, 136–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2019.02.007
Beltrán-Martín, I., Bou-Llusar, J. C., Roca-Puig, V., & Escrig-Tena, A. B. (2017). The relationship between high performance work systems and employee proactive behaviour: Role breadth self-efficacy and flexible role orientation as mediating mechanisms. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(3), 403–422. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12145
Bickes, D. M., Yilmaz, C., Samur, A., & Demirtas, O. (2020). The relationship between perceived overqualification and counterproductive work behaviors: Moderating role of perceived distributive justice. International Journal of Social Science Studies, 8, 46. https://doi.org/10.11114/ijsss.v8i1.4628
Borman, W. C., & Motowidlo, S. J. (1997). Task performance and contextual performance: The meaning for personnel selection research. Human Performance, 10(2), 99–109. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327043hup1002_3
Brislin, R. W. (1986). The wording and translation of research instruments. Sage Publications.
Chen, M., & Zhou, Z. (2020). Work insecurity can improve employee creativity: A perspective from learning under occupational stressors. Human Resources Development of China, 37(5), 33–45. https://doi.org/10.16471/j.cnki.11-2822/c.2020.5.003
Chen, Y., Zhou, Z., & Pan, J. (2017). Effects of overqualification on employees’ organizational citizenship behavior: From the perspective of emotion. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 49(1), 72–82. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00072
Chen, B., Zhou, X., & Guo, X. (2019). Effects of perceived overqualification on employees’ career satisfaction: From the perspective of cognition. Economic Management Journal, 41(2), 107–121. https://doi.org/10.19616/j.cnki.bmj.2019.02.007
Cheng, B., Zhou, X., Guo, G., & Yang, K. J. (2020). Perceived overqualification and cyberloafing: A moderated-mediation model based on equity theory. Journal of Business Ethics, 164(3), 565–577. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-4026-8
Chu, F., Liu, S., Guo, M., & Zhang, Q. J. S. (2021). I am the top talent: Perceived overqualification, role breadth self-efficacy, and safety participation of high-speed railway operators in China. Safety Science., 144, 105476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105476
Darvishmotevali, M., & Ali, F. (2020). Job insecurity, subjective well-being and job performance: The moderating role of psychological capital. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 87, 102462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102462
Deng, H., Guan, Y., Wu, C.-H., Erdogan, B., Bauer, T., & Yao, X. (2018). A relational model of perceived overqualification: The moderating role of interpersonal influence on social acceptance. Journal of Management, 44(8), 3288–3310. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206316668237
Erdogan, B., & Bauer, T. N. (2020). Overqualification at work: A review and synthesis of the literature. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 8, 259–283. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-055831
Erdogan, B., Bauer, T. N., Peiro, J. M., & Truxillo, D. M. (2011). Overqualified employees: Making the best of a potentially bad situation for individuals and organizations. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 4(2), 215–232. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-9434.2011.01330.x
Ferris, D. L., Yan, M., Lim, V. K., Chen, Y., & Fatimah, S. (2016). An approach–avoidance framework of workplace aggression. Academy of Management Journal, 59(5), 1777–1800. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2014.0221
Hao, P., He, W., Long, L.-R.J., & Studies, O. (2018). Why and when empowering leadership has different effects on employee work performance: The pivotal roles of passion for work and role breadth self-efficacy. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 25(1), 85–100. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051817707517
Harari, M. B., Manapragada, A., & Viswesvaran, C. (2017). Who thinks they’re a big fish in a small pond and why does it matter? A meta-analysis of perceived overqualification. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 102, 28–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2017.06.002
Hofstede, G. J. I. J. (2001). Culture’s recent consequences: Using dimension scores in theory and research. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 1(1), 11–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/147059580111002
Holtz, B. C., & Harold, C. M. J. (2013). Effects of leadership consideration and structure on employee perceptions of justice and counterproductive work behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(4), 492–519. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1825
Hu, J., Erdogan, B., Bauer, T. N., Jiang, K., Liu, S., & Li, Y. (2015). There are lots of big fish in this pond: The role of peer overqualification on task significance, perceived fit, and performance for overqualified employees. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(4), 1228. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000008
Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (2001). Relationship of core self-evaluations traits—self-esteem generalized self-efficacy locus of control and emotional stability—with job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1), 80–92. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.1.80
Khan, J., Saeed, I., Zada, M., Nisar, H. G., Ali, A., & Zada, S. (2023). The positive side of overqualification: Examining perceived overqualification linkage with knowledge sharing and career planning. Journal of Knowledge Management, 27(4), 993–1015. https://doi.org/10.1108/jkm-02-2022-0111
Khassawneh, O., Mohammad, T., & Momany, M. T. (2022). Perceived overqualification and job outcomes: The moderating role of manager envy. Sustainability, 15(1), 84. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010084
Kim, J., Park, J., Sohn, Y. W., & Lim, J. I. (2019). Perceived overqualification, boredom, and extra-role behaviors: Testing a moderated mediation model. Journal of Career Development, 48(4), 400–414. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845319853879
Kiuru, N., Spinath, B., Clem, A.-L., Eklund, K., Ahonen, T., & Hirvonen, R. (2020). The dynamics of motivation, emotion, and task performance in simulated achievement situations. Learning and Individual Differences, 80, 101873. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2020.101873
Kulkarni, M., Lengnick-Hall, M. L., & Martinez, P. G. (2015). Overqualification, mismatched qualification, and hiring decisions: Perceptions of employers. Personnel Review, 44(4), 529–549. https://doi.org/10.1108/pr-11-2013-0204
Låstad, L., Berntson, E., Näswall, K., Lindfors, P., & Sverke, M. (2015). Measuring quantitative and qualitative aspects of the job insecurity climate. Career Development International, 20, 202–217. https://doi.org/10.1108/cdi-03-2014-0047
Låstad, L., Näswall, K., Berntson, E., Seddigh, A., & Sverke, M. (2018). The roles of shared perceptions of individual job insecurity and job insecurity climate for work-and health-related outcomes: A multilevel approach. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 39(3), 422–438. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831x16637129
Låstad, L., Vander Elst, T., & De Witte, H. (2016). On the reciprocal relationship between individual job insecurity and job insecurity climate. Career Development International, 21(3), 246–261. https://doi.org/10.1108/cdi-03-2015-0046
LeBreton, J. M., & Senter, J. L. (2008). Answers to 20 questions about interrater reliability and interrater agreement. Organizational Research Methods, 11(4), 815–852. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428106296642
Lee, A., Erdogan, B., Tian, A., Willis, S., & Cao, J. (2020). Perceived overqualification and task performance: Reconciling two opposing pathways. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 94(1), 80–106. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12323
Li, P., Chen, L., Chu, Y., Sun, Y., & Zhou, Y. (2021). I am gifted! Perceived overqualification and its influence on employees. Advances in Psychological Science, 29(7), 1313–1330. https://doi.org/10.3724/sp.j.1042.2021.01313
Li, S. L., He, W., Yam, K. C., & Long, L. R. (2015). When and why empowering leadership increases followers’ taking charge: A multilevel examination in China. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 32, 645–670. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-015-9424-1
Li, Y., Wu, M., Li, N., & Zhang, M. (2019). Dual relational model of perceived overqualification: Employee’s self-concept and task performance. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 27(4), 381–391. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsa.12261
Liu, S., Luksyte, A., Zhou, L. E., Shi, J., & Wang, M. O. (2015). Overqualification and counterproductive work behaviors: Examining a moderated mediation model. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(2), 250–271. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1979
Liu, S., & Wang, M. (2012). Perceived overqualification: A review and recommendations for research and practice. Research in Occupational Stress and Well-Being, 10(1), 1–42. https://doi.org/10.1108/s1479-3555(2012)0000010005
Luksyte, A., & Spitzmueller, C. (2016). When are overqualified employees creative? It depends on contextual factors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(5), 635–653. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2054
Mao, Y., He, J., & Yang, D. (2021). The dark sides of engaging in creative processes: Coworker envy workplace ostracism and incivility. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 38(4), 261–1281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-020-09707-z
Mathieu, J. E., Hollenbeck, J. R., van Knippenberg, D., & Ilgen, D. R. J. (2017). A century of work teams in the journal of applied psychology. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 452. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000128.supp
Maynard, D. C., Brondolo, E. M., Connelly, C. E., & Sauer, C. E. (2015). I’m too good for this job: Narcissism’s role in the experience of overqualification. Applied Psychology, 64(1), 208–232. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12031
Maynard, D. C., Joseph, T. A., & Maynard, A. M. (2006). Underemployment, job attitudes, and turnover intentions. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(4), 509–536. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.389
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2015). Mplus user’s guide (7.4 ed.). Muthén & Muthén.
Nikolova, I., Van der Heijden, B., Låstad, L., & Notelaers, G. (2018). The “silent assassin” in your organization? Can job insecurity climate erode the beneficial effect of a high-quality leader-member exchange? Personnel Review, 47, 1178–1197. https://doi.org/10.1108/pr-09-2017-0266
Parker, S. K. (1998). Enhancing role breadth self-efficacy: The roles of job enrichment and other organizational interventions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(6), 835. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.83.6.835
Parker, S. K., & Liao, J. (2016). Wise proactivity: How to be proactive and wise in building your career. Organizational Dynamics, 45(3), 217–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2016.07.007
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879
Preacher, K. J., Zyphur, M. J., & Zhang, Z. (2010). A general multilevel SEM framework for assessing multilevel mediation. Psychological Methods, 15(3), 209. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020141
Salancik, G. R., & Pfeffer, J. J. (1978). A social information processing approach to job attitudes and task design. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23(2), 224–253. https://doi.org/10.2307/2392563
Selig, J. P., & Preacher, K. J. (2008). Monte Carlo method for assessing mediation: An interactive tool for creating confidence intervals for indirect effects [Computer software]. In.
Simon, L. S., Bauer, T. N., Erdogan, B., & Shepherd, W. (2019). Built to last: Interactive effects of perceived overqualification and proactive personality on new employee adjustment. Personnel Psychology, 72(2), 213–240. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12297
Sora, B., Caballer, A., Peiró, J. M., & De Witte, H. (2009). Job insecurity climate’s influence on employees’ job attitudes: Evidence from two European countries. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 18(2), 125–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/13594320802211968
Sora, B., De Cuyper, N., Caballer, A., Peiró, J. M., & De Witte, H. (2013). Outcomes of job insecurity climate: The role of climate strength. Applied Psychology, 62(3), 382–405.
Spector, P. E., & Fox, S. J. H. (2002). An emotion-centered model of voluntary work behavior: Some parallels between counterproductive work behavior and organizational citizenship behavior. Human Resource Management Review, 12(2), 269–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1053-4822(02)00049-9
Sverke, M., & Hellgren, J. (2002). The nature of job insecurity: Understanding employment uncertainty on the brink of a new millennium. Applied Psychology, 51(1), 23–42. https://doi.org/10.1111/1464-0597.0077z
van Dijk, H., Shantz, A., & Alfes, K. J. H. R. M. R. (2020). Welcome to the bright side: Why, how, and when overqualification enhances performance. Human Resource Management Review, 30(2), 100688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2019.04.004
Wassermann, M., & Hoppe, A. (2019). Perceived overqualification and psychological well-being among immigrants. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 38(1), 34–45. https://doi.org/10.1027/1866-5888/a000219
Weiss, H. M., & Cropanzano, R. J. (1996). Affective events theory. Research in Organizational Behavior, 18(1), 1–74.
Williams, L. J., & Anderson, S. E. (1991). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role behaviors. Journal of Management, 17(3), 601–617. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639101700305
Witte, H. D. (1999). Job insecurity and psychological well-being: Review of the literature and exploration of some unresolved issues. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8(2), 155–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/135943299398302
Wu, C.-H., Tian, A. W., Luksyte, A., & Spitzmueller, C. (2017). On the association between perceived overqualification and adaptive behavior. Personnel Review, 46(2), 339–354. https://doi.org/10.1108/pr-05-2015-0134
Xu R. (2020). The double-edged sword effect of overqualification on proactive work behavior:Based on proactive motivation. (Master's thesis). Shandong University.
Yang, W., & Li, C. (2021). The relationship between perceived overqualification and individual performance and mediating mechanisms: A meta-analytic review and examination of emotional and cognitive processing systems and cultural contexts. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 53(5), 527–554. https://doi.org/10.3724/sp.j.1041.2021.00527
Zhang, M. J., Law, K. S., & Lin, B. (2016). You think you are big fish in a small pond? Perceived overqualification, goal orientations, and proactivity at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(1), 61–84. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2024
Zheng, X., Kim, T.-Y., & Xiang, Y. (2021). How and when does job crafting enhance job performance? In Academy of management proceedings (Vol. 2021, No. 1, pp. 14413). Academy of Management. https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2021.14413abstract
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical approval
This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of one university in China.
Informed consent
Signature on the informed consent was exempted due to the nature of anonymous online surveys. If the participants choseagainst participation after they were informed of the study, the survey wasautomatically terminated.
Conflict of interests
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
An, D., Zhang, X. The double-eged sword effect of perceived overqualification on task performance. Curr Psychol 43, 18218–18229 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05625-1
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05625-1