Impact of Employees’ Perceived Overqualification on Constructive Deviant Behavior
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Abstract
This article aimed to study (1) the positive effects of perceived overqualification on constructive deviant behavior, including organizational constructive deviance and interpersonal constructive deviance; (2) the mediating role of work identification, comprising self-identification, team identification, and organizational identification, in the relationship between perceived overqualification and constructive deviant behavior; (3) the underlying mechanism through which perceived overqualification promotes constructive deviant behavior among employees in high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The sample consisted of 394 employees from SMEs in Henan Province, China. Participants were selected using simple random sampling based on employee lists provided by SMEs, with snowball sampling subsequently applied by asking initial respondents to distribute the online questionnaire link to other eligible employees. The instrument for collecting data was an online questionnaire developed from well-established measurement scales. Analysis of the data was conducted using descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The research results were found as follows:
1. The results indicated that perceived overqualification (POQ) was positively associated with organizational constructive deviance (OCB) (β = .175, p < .001) and interpersonal constructive deviance (ICB) (β = .226, p < .001). Furthermore, POQ was positively associated with self-identification (β = .592, p < .001), team identification (β = .294, p < .001), and organizational identification (β = .199, p < .001).
2. Work identification plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between perceived overqualification and constructive deviant behavior. Self-identification, team identification, and organizational identification were positively associated with OCD and ICD (all p < .001), supporting their mediating roles in the relationships between POQ and employee behavioral outcomes.
3. The proposed theoretical model was supported. All hypothesized relationships were statistically significant, demonstrating that work identification explains the psychological mechanism through which perceived overqualification promotes constructive deviant behavior and providing empirical evidence for understanding the positive outcomes of perceived overqualification in organizational settings.
This study extends existing research on perceived overqualification by revealing its potential positive consequences and identifying the multilevel psychological mechanism through which employees transform excess qualifications into constructive workplace behaviors. The findings provide practical implications for talent management and innovation development in high-tech SMEs.
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