The Effect of Perceived Overqualification on Job Attitudes (A Study on Iran's Banking Industry)

Human resource management is always the main concern for organizations. Since the banking sector has a pivotal role in the economic development of countries, the better management of the workforce in this sector has attracted great attention for decades. The phenomenon of overqualification might stem from a mismatch between person and job and is a situation in which employees have qualifications beyond their job demands. Today, the existence of overqualified employees is a concern for managers and organizations. Perceived overqualification could directly or indirectly lead to various attitudinal and behavioral consequences and impact organizational performance. Despite huge empirical studies regarding overqualification, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, any empirical study has been conducted in Iran’s academia. Hence, the present research can be regarded as the first empirical study in the country. The banking sector has always been appealing to job seekers for its fringe benefits. This study was to examine the effect of perceived overqualification on various job attitudes including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention.

 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:

One of the main concerns of HR managers is to employ people who have the required capabilities to perform their job successfully. Overqualification is defined as possessing qualifications beyond job demands. Perceived overqualification might influence employees’ attitudes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention. According to the literature on organizational behavior, job satisfaction is considered a multidimensional variable affected by a set of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Job satisfaction can be seen as the quality of people’s feelings about their jobs. Organizational commitment implies a sense of obligation to stay in the organization. Based on the three-dimensional model proposed by Allen and Meyer (1990), affective, continuance, and normative commitment are three dimensions of this attitude. Turnover intention indicates employees’ tendency to quit the organization. In such a situation, people probably change their jobs or leave the organization. In other words, the turnover intention might pave the way for actual organization abandonment.

The present research is an applied study in terms of purpose, and in terms of data collection method, it is a cross-sectional study. The researchers used standard questionnaires to collect primary data. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses.

Research results confirmed the significance of negative effects of perceived overqualification on job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment as well as the positive effect of perceived overqualification on turnover intention. Hence, overqualification might lead to negative job attitudes. In line with previous research (e.g., Wasserman et al., 2018; Alfes et al., 2016), the current study found that there is a negative association between overqualification and job satisfaction. In line with previous research (e.g., Loben et al. 2015), results indicated that people who perceive they are overqualified might lack a sense of belongingness and are less affectively attached to their organization. In line with studies of Erdogan and Bauer (2009) and Maynard and Parfyonova (2013), the poor level of job satisfaction and affective commitment in overqualified employees leads to more intention to quit the organization.

 CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS:

The current study was implemented with the aim of exploring the job attitudes in overqualified employees. To reach this goal, data were collected from ten private and public banks by distributing standard questionnaires. The results of structural equation modeling for data analysis showed that perceived overqualification might affect job attitudes including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention. With due attention to the negative job attitudes born out of perceived overqualification, managers and HR practitioners are highly recommended to make sure that job applicants are fitted with their jobs. Moreover, future studies are suggested to consider the role of moderators including organizational support.