The impact of perceived overqualification on employees' innovation behaviour: role of psychological contract breach, psychological distance and employment relationship atmosphere
Leadership & Organization Development Journal
ISSN: 0143-7739
Article publication date: 25 April 2023
Issue publication date: 13 June 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Overqualification is a growing concern for employers in many countries. The practice of mismatching employees and positions inevitably leads to an increase in organizational training and management costs. This study can not only further enrich the theoretical achievements in the field of human resource management, but can also provide a reference for enterprise managers on how to effectively stimulate employees' innovative behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
503 questionnaire responses were analysed using SPSS 24.0 and Mplus 8.0.
Findings
It was concluded that, (1) perceived overqualification is negatively related to employees' innovation behaviour (β = −0.32, p < 0.001); (2) psychological contract breach and psychological distance partially mediate the relationship between perceived overqualification and employees' innovation behaviour. Among them, the mediating effect of psychological contract breach was −0.14 (p < 0.01), and that of psychological distance was −0.12 (p < 0.001); the chain-mediating effect of psychological contract breach and psychological distance was −0.09 (p < 0.01); (3) employment relationship atmosphere played a moderating role in the relationship between perceived overqualification and employees' innovation behaviour (β = 0.04, p < 0.01).
Originality/value
This study verifies the negative impact of perceived overqualification on employee innovation behaviour and reveals the mediating role of psychological factors between the two. It also discusses the moderating effect of employment relationship climate on the relationship between perceived overqualification and employees' innovation behaviour.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Doctoral Research Foundation of Pingdingshan University (PXY-BSQD-2022041). The grant is about $1,000 for manuscript data collection and language polishing.
Citation
Fan, J., He, J., Dai, H., Jing, Y. and Shang, G. (2023), "The impact of perceived overqualification on employees' innovation behaviour: role of psychological contract breach, psychological distance and employment relationship atmosphere", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 44 No. 3, pp. 407-422. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-04-2022-0200
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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