The journey to leave: Understanding the roles of perceived ease of movement, proactive personality, and person–organization fit in overqualified employees' job searching process

Abstract

Summary Despite intensive research on perceived overqualification, empirical evidence on overqualified employees' job search behavior remains relatively insufficient. Notably, no studies have explored the possible link between perceived overqualification and internal job searching behaviors. In the present study, we consider whether—and more importantly when—employees with high perception of overqualification search for internal and external job opportunities. Applying the ability–motivation–opportunity (AMO) framework, we propose and test a model that specifies how motivation and opportunity to move or stay activate differential effects in overqualifiers' job searching process. Results from two studies surveying employees in Taiwan (Study 1: N = 268; Study 2: N = 210) show that overqualifiers displayed greater intentions to leave the current job and, in turn, engaged in more external job search behaviors; this relation was strongest for those whose perceived ease of movement and proactive personality increased or person–organization (PO) fit decreased. Furthermore, overqualifiers displayed greater intentions to leave the current job and also increased their internal job search behaviors; this relation was strongest for those whose perceived ease of movement and PO fit increased. A series of supplemental analyses also lends support to our theorizing.

Linking Proactive Personality to Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Person-Environment Fit

“…Although previous studies have not hypothesized and examined positive associations of proactive personality with P-J fit and P-O fit, Erdogan and Bauer's (2005) data showed positive correlations between proactive personality and both P-J fit and P-O fit. In addition, Wu and Chi's (2020) data also indicated that proactive personality is positively related to P-O fit. Based on this reasoning and the empirical evidence, the following hypotheses are presented.…”

Perceived Overqualification and Intensive Smartphone Use: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…bring several adverse consequences to employees (Harari et al, 2017), such as more cyberloafing (Cheng et al, 2020), high turnover (Wu and Chi, 2020), and less proactive behavior (Luksyte et al, 2020).…”

“…We measured POQ with nine items using a scale adapted from Maynard et al (2006), which was commonly used in the POQ literature (Erdogan et al, 2020;Wu and Chi, 2020). A sample item was "I have job skills that are not required for this job" (α = 0.82).…”

“…The P-E fit theory posits that there are five types of P-E fit, in which person-job fit is particularly important for individuals, especially in the workplace (Kristof-Brown et al, 2005;Jansen and Kristof-Brown, 2006;van Vianen, 2018). For instance, perceived overqualification (POQ), a typical type of person-job misfit in organizations (Erdogan et al, 2020) and a global trending phenomenon (Hu et al, 2015;Li et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021a), was proved from different theoretical perspectives that could rise many negative consequences in the workplace (Feldman, 1996;Harari et al, 2017), such as more counterproductive behavior (Liu et al, 2015;Schreurs et al, 2020), high turnover (Wu and Chi, 2020), less creative performance (Zhang et al, 2021b), and less proactive behavior (Luksyte et al, 2020). Furthermore, recent research has found that POQ leads to more cyberloafing in the organization (Cheng et al, 2020).…”

Leader reward omission and employee knowledge sharing: the moderating role of proactive personality and perceived organizational unfairness

“…The difference in personality traits affects the individual's cognition and perception of a social predicament, thus affecting the individual's choice of coping strategies. As a positive personality trait, a proactive personality – manifested as taking responsibility, caring for organizational interests, and optimism – may lead employees to exhibit variability in adopting knowledge-sharing behaviors in response to leader reward omissions (Wu and Chi, 2020). Therefore, we propose that a proactive personality weakens the negative relationship between leader reward omission and employee knowledge-sharing.…”