Perceived Overqualification at Work: Implications for Voice Toward Peers and Creative Performance.

Area of Science:

• Organizational Behavior
• Human Resource Management
• Psychology

Background:

• Perceived overqualification can negatively impact employee engagement and performance.
• Employee voice, expressing ideas and concerns, is crucial for innovation and creativity.
• The influence of peer perceptions on individual employee outcomes is an under-explored area.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the indirect effect of perceived overqualification on creative performance via employee voice.
• To examine the moderating role of peer group perceived overqualification in this relationship.
• To apply Conservation of Resources Theory to understand these dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study design with three waves of data collection.
• Survey methodology administered to 206 employees in Shandong Province, China.
• Statistical analysis to test moderated mediation hypotheses.

Main Results:

• Perceived overqualification indirectly influences creative performance through employee voice.
• Peer group perceived overqualification significantly moderates this indirect effect.
• A high level of peer overqualification strengthens the positive indirect effect of individual overqualification on creativity via voice; a low level weakens it.

Conclusions:

• The social context, specifically peer perceptions of overqualification, is critical in shaping how individual overqualification affects creative performance.
• Employee voice acts as a key mediator, but its effectiveness is contingent on the surrounding peer environment.
• Findings highlight the importance of considering group dynamics in understanding individual-level outcomes in organizations.