Impact of Perceived Overqualification On Speaking Up: Moderating Role of Employees’ Perceived Leader Overqualification

Authors:

Abstract: Perceived overqualification has been studied by researchers but limited research focuses on the role of leader overqualification. Based on relative deprivation theory and social exchange theory, this article introduces employees’ perceived leader overqualification to provide insight into whether, when, and how perceived overqualification influences speaking up. We conducted two studies to empirically test our hypotheses. In Study 1, data collected from 207 employees over two phases supported our hypotheses. Also, in Study 2, 3 wave time-lagged research design and a sample of 576 were utilized to enhance the robustness of the findings. Our results show that employees’ perceived leader overqualification moderates the relationship between employee perceived overqualification and speaking up. Furthermore, this moderation is mediated by trust in leader. Specifically, when overqualified employees perceived a lower level of leader overqualification, they were more unlikely to trust their leaders, which in turn, could decrease speaking up. Together, the findings suggest that employees’ perceived leader overqualification is a crucial factor for overqualified employees to have extra-role behaviors. The article includes a discussion of the findings’ implications for theory, practice, and future research.

Track: TEAM

Keywords: perceived overqualification1, employees’ perceived leader overqualification2, relative deprivation theory3, social exchange theory4