Conflict or gain? The effect of perceived overqualification on work-family relationships

Abstract

With the popularization of higher education and the changing economic environment, perceived overqualification has received widespread attention from managers and researchers in recent years. However, previous studies have mainly focused on the effect of perceived overqualification on employees’ work attitudes or behaviors within orgaizations, and few studies have paid sufficient attention to whether and how overqualification produces spillover effects from work to family. To enrich our knowledge about the effects of perceived overqualification outside organizations, we examined the spillover effects of employees’ perceived overqualification on employees’ work-family relationships, as well as its crossover effect on spouses’ family-work relationships. Specifically, first, based on the cognitive appraisal theory, we investigated the double-edged sword effect of employees’ perceived overqualification on their own work-family conflict; Second, based on the work-family enrichment theory model, we tested the dual path mechanism and boundary conditions in the relationship between employees’ perceived qualifications and their work-family enrichment; Third, based on the gender role orientation theory, we examined the crossover effect of employees’ perceived overqualification on their spouses’ family-work conflict and family-work enrichment, and interactive moderating effect of employees’ gender and gender role orientation. Our findings not only help to reveal the impact of perceived overqualification on work-family relationships from different theoretical perspectives, but also provide pracitical implications for organization management.