Why do overqualified incumbents deviate? Examining multiple mediators.

In the modern marketplace, especially when unemployment is high, more and more Americans find themselves overqualified (i.e., possessing more competencies than the job requires). Using and extending person-environment fit theory and the stressor-emotion model of counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), we examine whether overqualified employees are more likely to display CWBs than employees who feel their positions match their qualification levels. Further, we examine why overqualified employees may behave in counterproductive ways and compare the empirical viability of several theoretically derived competing mediators. Based on data from a sample of full-time employees (n = 215), we found that consistent with the theoretical frameworks, overqualified incumbents display nondesirable counterproductive work behaviors because they become cynical about the meaningfulness of their activities. We further show that although poor person-job fit or inadequate psychological contracts can motivate such misbehavior, cynicism dominates as a reason for why overqualified employees engage in counterproductive work behaviors.