Public service motivation helps: Understanding the influence of public employees’ perceived overqualification on turnover intentions

Perceived overqualification is an important phenomenon that can lead to several undesirable outcomes; however, this phenomenon has received little research attention from public administration (PA) scholars. This study aims to investigate whether perceived overqualification rendered turnover intentions through eliciting negative affect, and whether public service motivation mitigated those detrimental effects. Analysis of survey data from 418 Chinese public employees supported our predictions. Results indicated that although perceived overqualification led to turnover intention partially through eliciting negative affect, public service motivation helped to mitigate these impairments. These findings suggest that although employees who are overqualified may decide to leave public service jobs, those with high public service motivation are less likely to do so due to their desire to do good for the public. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Points for practitioners

• Public managers should pay close attention to possible overqualifications because it may lead to turnover intention among employees.
• Public managers should periodically survey the affective states of employees.
• Selection and socialisation based on public service motivation should be encouraged.