The Impact Of Perceptions Of Excess Qualifications On Employee Innovation Behavior: A Moderating Model With Mediation

With the downward pressure of economy and the popularization of higher education,the phenomenon of overqualification is becoming more and more common.Overqualified employees are an important human resource reserve of enterprises,and their innovative behavior is an important source for enterprises to gain competitive advantages.At present,the research on the relationship between perceived overqualification and innovative behavior has drawn contradictory conclusions,among which overqualification willingness as an important individual factor has not been paid attention to.Therefore,we focused on the individual's overqualification willingness,explored the internal structure of the overqualification willingness and developed measurement tools.Based on the theory of self-determination,we constructed a mediated moderation model to explore the moderating effect of overqualification willingness in the relationship between perceived overqualification and innovative behavior,and how the moderating effect of the overqualification willingness affects individual's innovative behavior through job insecurity.Our thesis contains two studies.Through qualitative research on 30 subjects,Study 1 explored the internal structure of overqualification willingness,and finally generated three themes: environmental pressure,personal pursuit and job characteristics.Through the quantitative research of 532 subjects,the questionnaire was developed and validated.The questionnaire contains 14 items in 3 dimensions,and the reliability and validity of the questionnaire are adequate,which is suitable for the following study.In Study 2,a survey was conducted among 463 employees to explore the effect of perceived overqualification on innovation behavior and explore the role of overqualification willingness and job insecurity.The results showed that:(1)Perceived overqualification had a significant positive effect on job insecurity.Job insecurity had a significant negative effect on innovation behavior.Job insecurity played a complete mediating role in the relationship between perceived overqualification and innovation behavior.(2)Overqualification willingness played a moderating role in the relationship between the perceived overqualification and innovation behavior.Under the condition of high overqualification willingness,perceived overqualification had a positive effect on innovation behavior,which was insignificant;Under the condition of low overqualification willingness,perceived overqualification had a significant negative effect on innovation behavior.(3)Overqualification willingness played a moderating role in the relationship between perceived overqualification and job insecurity.The higher the overqualification willingness,the weaker the positive effect of perceived overqualification on job insecurity,and the stronger the negative effect.(4)The interaction between perceived overqualification and overqualification willingness had a significant negative effect on job insecurity.In conclusion,the interaction between perceived overqualification and overqualification willingness affects the individual's innovative behavior through job insecurity.For employees with higher overqualification willingness,when their perceived overqualification is strengthened,the positive effect of job insecurity becomes weaker,and the degree of negative effect on innovation behavior correspondingly becomes lower;For employees with lower overqualification willingness,when their perceived overqualification is strengthened,the positive effect of job insecurity becomes stronger,and then the degree of negative effect on innovation behavior becomes higher.Our study can help enterprises to better evaluate and screen personnel,which explains the mediation mechanism and boundary conditions between perceived overqualification and innovation behavior,and deepens the research in the field of overqualification.