By Zhiqiang Liu, Yuqi Huang, Tae-Yeol Kim, and Jing Yang

Perceived overqualification – when an employee believes their qualifications (i.e.: education, work experience, and skills) exceed the requirements of their job – occurs in practically every organisation. One study suggests that around 20% of employees worldwide believe themselves to be overqualified for their current job. Employees who view themselves as overqualified are more likely to develop negative work attitudes (e.g., higher turnover intention, lower job satisfaction, less organisational commitment), but this person-job tension can also, surprisingly, bring positive outcomes.

When a person feels that they are overqualified for their job, they tend to deal with it in one of two ways. They can either subjectively change their perceptions towards their job (i.e.: they use defence tactics) or they can take steps to objectively change their work environment (.e.: they use coping tactics). Both pathways are important to understand and explore, since they account for the wide range of responses (both negative and positive) that overqualified employees use to make their personal workplace situation better, or at least more tolerable to them.

In our study, we focused on the workplace outcomes deriving from one defence tactic and one coping tactic. Cynicism toward the job is a defence pathway where an overqualified employee begins to distance themselves from their work, with their lack of enthusiasm and sense of job meaningfulness often leading to lower job performance and creativity. This mentality can broadly be summed up as: “This job is beneath me, so why should I try my hardest and do my best?”

Constructive deviance, on the other hand, is a coping tactic where the employee decides to use their surplus potential and capabilities to benefit their colleagues, department, or their employing organisation as a whole. Essentially, they choose to go above and beyond the requirements of their role, taking control of the situation in a positive way.

In both cases, leadership can have a strong moderating influence. Effective leaders can use both individual-focused and team-focused transformational leadership (TFL) to support their overqualified employees. Individual-focused TFL – providing customised support to followers by understanding their unique needs – can motivate overqualified employees to utilise their surplus potential, which may reduce their cynical thoughts about their job. Meanwhile, team-focused TFL aims to develop shared values and beliefs and direct attention to the needs of the entire team. This can enhance the status of the group in the minds of overqualified employees, encouraging them to engage in proactive behaviours like constructive deviance.

After surveying nearly 500 employees and their 135 supervisors across 30 different organisations, we found that:

• Overqualified employees who felt cynicism toward their job experienced reduced job performance and creativity. This negative effect was lessened by individual-focused TFL.
• Constructive deviance had a positive effect on job performance and creativity in overqualified employees. This effect was strengthened by team-focused TFL.

These findings demonstrate that while perceived overqualification is a widespread factor across all types of working environment, it isn’t an invariably bad thing. Nor is it impossible to manage. Managers need to be aware of both the benefits and problems that overqualified employees can bring and must adapt their leadership style to bring out the best in such individuals while mitigating their worst impulses.

Specifically, if encouraging constructive deviance is an organisation’s main goal, it should invest in team-focused TFL training, where managers and overqualified employees work together for the collective good. Improving group-based human resources (HR) practices can be helpful too, as compensation, benefit packages and development programs are all useful stimuli for encouraging a more proactive mindset.

Organisations can also provide managers with interventions and training programs that improve their individual-focused TFL (i.e., individualized support and constructive feedback), in their efforts to better understand and motivate their overqualified employees who have cynical perceptions toward their jobs.

In both cases, managers need to carefully monitor the behaviours of their overqualified employees. At their best, they represent an invaluable resource and a powerful agent for positive change across the organisation. At their worst, they can develop an unhealthy level of cynicism and contempt for their work, potentially encouraging others to do likewise.

The article refers to a study entitled “Perceived Overqualification and Employee Outcomes: The Dual Pathways and the Moderating Effects of Dual-Focused Transformational Leadership” by Zhiqiang Liu, Yuqi Huang, Tae-Yeol Kim, and Jing Yang published in Human Resource Management.

Zhiqiang Liu is a Professor at the School of Management of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Yuqi Huang is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Management of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Tae-Yeol Kim is Philips Chair and Professor of Management at CEIBS. Jing Yang is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Management of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.