Perceived overqualification and its positive impact on organization employee's behavior

Abstract

Preceding researchers have tended to focus on the negative aspect of the perceived overqualification and its inadequacy in the organization. We offer an alternative perspective and postulate that perceived overqualification could influence employees’ behavior through an interactive mechanism. We propose that relational skill abilities, in the form of job autonomy of overqualified employees, determine their tendency to experience interpersonal influences, and, thus engage in helping behavior with devastating work deviance behavior. Data were collected from 20 multinational companies in China through a survey of 500 participants. Structural equation modeling was used for the analysis of data. The results indicate that perceived overqualification has a strong indirect impact via interpersonal influence on the helping behavior and workplace deviance behavior, and increase the helping behavior and decrease the workplace deviance behavior at the working environment. Further, outcomes concluded that job autonomy and prosocial motivation have a significant moderating role and increase the employers helping behavior and deteriorations their Workplace deviance behavior.