Research On The Influence Of Perceived Overqualification On Employees’ Bootlegging Behavior

With the implementation of China’s strategy to build a modern educational powerhouse,talents have become the first resource for national development.However,due to the downward pressure of the economy,the labor market has experienced a downturn and the brain drain has become increasingly serious.Many people have to choose occupations with lower education or skill levels and are prone to the feeling of being overqualified,which leads to the perception of employee overqualification.Research has shown that perceived overqualification can have positive or negative effects on individuals,such as more work engagement or a higher propensity to leave.Therefore,this study investigates the mechanism of perceived overqualification on employees’ transgressive behavior and innovation based on both cognitive and emotional paths.In addition,individual emotions and cognition are influenced by the emotional climate of the organization,so dynamic of playfulness is introduced as a moderating variable to explore the boundary conditions of perceived overqualification.By combing the existing literature and based on resource conservation theory,this study introduces role breadth self-efficacy and emotional exhaustion as mediating variables and fault-tolerant dynamics as moderating variables,respectively,to investigate how perceived overqualification affects btootlegging behavior through both emotional and cognitive paths.In this study,the 306 valid data collected were analyzed and processed using questionnaire survey method and hierarchical regression analysis to conduct an empirical study by selecting corporate employees as the research subjects.The findings are as follows:(1)perceived overqualification positively predicts employees’ btootlegging behaviour;(2)perceived overqualification influences employees’ transgressive innovation behaviour through both emotional and cognitive pathways;(3)role breadth self-efficacy and emotional exhaustion mediate the effect of perceived overqualification on btootlegging behaviour;(4)dynamic of playfulness positively moderates the effect of perceived overqualification on role breadth self-efficacy and mediates the mediating role of role width self-efficacy;(5)dynamic of playfulness negatively moderates the effect of perceived overqualification on emotional exhaustion and mediates the mediating role of emotional exhaustion.Finally,based on the findings of the study,practical management recommendations are made for the organization.