Effects of perceived overqualification on career distress and career planning: Mediating role of career identity and moderating role of leader humility

• Author: Chunyan Dong,Xinhui Jiang,(George) Zhen Xiong Chen,Chao Ma,Deshani B. Ganegoda
• Date: 01 November 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.22009
• Published date: 01 November 2020

1

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Effects of perceived overqualification on career distress and

career planning: Mediating role of career identity and

moderating role of leader humility

Chao Ma

1

| Deshani B. Ganegoda

2

| (George) Zhen Xiong Chen

1

|

Xinhui Jiang

3

| Chunyan Dong

4

1

ResearchSchool of Management, ANU College

of Business& Economics,The Australian

NationalUniversity, Australian CapitalTerritory,

Australia

2

Melbourne Business School, The University

of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria, Australia

3

Business School, Yunnan University of

Finance and Economics, Kunming, China

4

Business School, The University of Sydney,

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Correspondence

Xinhui Jiang, Business School, Yunnan

University of Finance and Economics,

Longquan Road 237, Wuhua District, Kunming

650221, China.

Email: beyondjxh@163.com

Funding information

National Natural Science Foundation of China,

Grant/Award Number: 71962034; National

Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/

Award Number: 71572171

[Correction added on 2 June 2020, after first

online publication: The first affiliation has been

updated.]

Abstract

In this study, we examined how perceived overqualification influences employees'

career distress and career planning. Specifically, we drew on role identity theory to

hypothesize that perceived overqualification is positively related to individuals'

career identity. Based on internal self-processing dynamics of role identity, we fur-

ther hypothesized that career identity predicts reduced career distress and increased

career planning. We expected career identity to mediate the effects of over-

qualification on career distress and career planning. Based on the symbolic inter-

actionism perspective of identity, we hypothesized that this mediation is moderated

by leader humility so that overqualified employees exhibit stronger career identities

in the presence of a humble leader. We found support for our hypotheses in a multi-

wave time-lagged study of 220 supervisor–subordinate dyads from 50 groups. Over-

all, our studies highlight that perceived overqualification can have positive effects on

employees and organizations under appropriate management conditions. We discuss

theoretical and practical implications of these results.

KEYWORDS

career distress, career identity, career planning, leader humility, overqualification

1|INTRODUCTION

Perceived overqualification occurs when an employee believes that he

or she holds a surplus of qualifications relative to job requirements

(J. Hu et al., 2015; Yang, Guan, Lai, She, & Lockwood, 2015; Zhang,

Law, & Lin, 2016). Research shows that more than one-third of the

global workforce perceives themselves to be overqualified for their

jobs (Harari, Manapragada, & Viswesvaran, 2017). This number is set

to increase in the near future as a result of widespread career stagna-

tion (Triana, Trzebiatowski, & Byun, 2016; Yang et al., 2015). In the

human resource management (HRM) literature, employees with per-

ceptions of overqualification have been identified as a specific type of

human capital with unique and different needs (Sikora, Thompson,

Russell, & Ferris, 2016). In line with this perspective, scholars have

noted the importance of adapting human resource (HR) practices such

as training and development (T&D) and employee retention programs

to not only better utilize overqualified employees for organizational

needs, but also better address the needs of employees who feel over-

qualified (Martinez, Lengnick-Hall, & Kulkarni, 2014). To appropriately

adapt HR practices, it is first necessary to understand the unique

needs of employees who feel overqualified. With this purpose in

mind, in the present research, we examined career-related needs and

outcomes of employees who hold perceptions of overqualification.

Extant research has associated perceived overqualification with

negative employee outcomes such as increased turnover intentions

and actual turnover (Erdogan & Bauer, 2009), withdrawal behaviors

(Maynard & Parfyonova, 2013), low job satisfaction (Maynard,

Joseph, & Maynard, 2006), and increased counterproductive work

DOI: 10.1002/hrm.22009

521 © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Resour Manage. 2020;59:521–536.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrm

behavior (Liu, Luksyte, Zhou, Shi, & Wang, 2015; Luksyte,

Spitzmueller, & Maynard, 2011). Moving beyond the negative out-

comes, recent empirical studies have indicated that perceived over-

qualification might also lead to beneficial employee outcomes such as

extra-role behavior (Erdogan, Bauer, Peiró, & Truxillo, 2011), high

proactivity (J. Hu et al., 2015), creativity and innovation (Luksyte &

Spitzmueller, 2015), and interpersonal altruism (Deng et al., 2018).

The mixed effects of overqualification found in the current literature

suggests that rather than considering perceived overqualification as

an inherently positive or negative phenomenon, it is important to

examine the conditions under which perceived overqualification ren-

ders positive or negative outcomes. In the present research, we take a

step toward reconciling prior work by examining career identity as a

novel mediation process through which perceived overqualification

influences employee outcomes, and by considering leader humility as

a key moderating variable of this process.

We based our research on role identity theory (Burke, 1991;

Stryker, 1980, 1987; Stryker & Burke, 2000). Role identity theory sug-

gests that individuals' self-views shape their identities in specific social

roles. Individuals who feel overqualified, by definition, hold positive

self-perceptions regarding their capabilities relative to their job

requirements. Thus, based on role identity theory and research that

has associated perceived overqualification with positive self-

perceptions (Deng et al., 2018), we hypothesized that perceived over-

qualification would be associated with a strong career identity (i.e., an

individual's aims, goals, or ambitions that he or she strives toward in

his or her career; McArdle, Waters, Briscoe, & Hall, 2007; Praskova,

Creed, & Hood, 2015). Because a strong career identity energizes and

guides individuals to actively “alter situations to fit their occupational

interests”(Fugate, Kinicki, & Ashforth, 2004, p. 17), we argued that to

the extent that perceived overqualification strengthens employees'

career identities, they should engage in more career planning

(i.e., “individuals' outlining future career developments and …their set-

ting and pursuing career goals”; Zikic & Klehe, 2006, p. 393) and expe-

rience less career distress (i.e., negative feelings of helplessness,

depression, stress, anxiety, blame, and despair associated with one's

career; Creed, Hood, Praskova, & Makransky, 2016).

Drawing on structural symbolic interactionism perspective on role

identity (Stryker, 1980), which suggests that favorable social interac-

tions help develop and maintain positive role identities (Stamper &

Masterson, 2002), we examined whether humble leadership (i.e., a

leader's willingness to view oneself accurately, and appreciate others'

strengths, contributions, and teachability; Owens & Hekman, 2016)

strengthens the relationship between perceived overqualification and

employees' sense of career identity. We focused on leader humility,

as opposed to other leadership attributes, because of its relevance to

role identity theory. To explain, humble leaders are other-oriented

(Davis, Worthington & Hook, 2010); they are more likely to highlight

the achievements of overqualified employees who are eager to dem-

onstrate their job competence and maintain a sense of superiority

(Deng et al., 2018). Given that identities are developed and

maintained through social interactions (i.e., identity verification pro-

cess; Swann, 1997), we argued that employees who feel overqualified

would be better able to engage in positive social interactions, and

thereby maintain or even strengthen their career identities, in the

presence of humble leaders. That is, humble leaders are more likely to

confirm positive self-perceptions of overqualified employees. Our

proposed moderated mediation model is depicted in Figure 1.

Our researchmakes several importanttheoretical and practical con-

tributions to the literature on overqualification, HRM, leadership, and

vocational behavior. First, the majority of research on overqualification

has focused on its negative consequences. Although recent studies

have started to explore how employees who feel overqualified utilize

their qualifications constructively (Luksyte & Spitzmueller, 2015), very

little research to date has examined whether overqualificationpositively

affects employee career outcomes (e.g., Erdogan, Tomás, Valls, &

Gracia, 2018). The lack of research on perceived overqualification and

employees' future career choicesis surprising. After all, perceivedover-

qualification represents a person–job misfit (e.g.,Liu et al., 2015), and it

is only logical that employees' future career choices will at least in part

be motivated by a need to resolve this misfit (De Vos, Van der

Heijden, & Akkermans, 2018). We recognize this gap in the literature

and examinecareer distress and career planningas two novel outcomes

of perceived overqualification. By integrating perceived over-

qualification with employee career outcomes, our research contributes

to both vocationalbehavior and overqualification research.

Second, we contribute to the HRM literature by identifying

unique career-related needs of employees who hold perceptions of

overqualification. Results of our research will inform HR professionals

whether T&D initiatives should include a higher level of career plan-

ning for employees who feel overqualified. Furthermore, given that

career distress is a major cause of employee turnover (S. Hu, Creed, &

Hood, 2017), our research will also inform how employee retention

programs can be customized to retain employees who feel overquali-

fied for their jobs. It is widely accepted that HRM systems should be

customized and context-specific to be effective (Latham & Piccolo,

2012; Okay-Somerville & Scholarios, 2019). To this end, findings of

this research are expected to provide insights as to how HRM systems

can be customized to better accommodate the needs of a growing

population of employees who feel overqualified for their jobs.

Third, leadership has been considered one of the most important

dimensions of HRM (Tzafrir & Gur, 2007). In this research, we exam-

ined leadership style as a key contingency factor. Specifically, we

examined whether leader humility strengthens the relationship

between perceived overqualification and employee career identity.

Our findings are expected to provide insights as to what leadership

Perceived

Overqualification

Career Identity

Career Distress

Leader

Humility

Career Planning

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FIGURE 1 Conceptual model

MA ET AL.522