A relational model of perceived overqualification: the moderating role of interpersonal influence on social acceptance

Hong Deng, Yanjun Guan, Chia-Huei Wu, Berrin Erdogan, Talya Bauer and Xiang Yao

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Theories of perceived overqualification have tended to focus on employees’ job-related responses to account for effects on performance. We offer an alternative perspective and theorize that perceived overqualification could influence work performance through a relational mechanism. We propose that relational skills, in the form of interpersonal influence of overqualified employees, determine their tendency to experience social acceptance and thus engage in positive work-related behaviors. We tested this relational model across two studies using time-lagged, multi-source data. In Study 1, the results indicated that for employees high on interpersonal influence, perceived overqualification was positively related to self-reported social acceptance, whereas for employees low on interpersonal influence, the relationship was negative. Social acceptance, in turn, was positively related to in-role job performance, interpersonal altruism, and team member proactivity evaluated by supervisors. In Study 2, we focused on peer-reported social acceptance and found that the indirect relationships between perceived overqualification and supervisor-reported behavioral outcomes via social acceptance were negative when interpersonal influence was low and nonsignificant when interpersonal influence was high. The implications of the general findings are discussed.

Keywords: perceived overqualification; social acceptance; interpersonal influence; performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 J50 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-11-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-neu
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published in Journal of Management, 1, November, 2018, 44(8), pp. 3288 - 3310. ISSN: 0149-2063

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