An Integrative Model for the Study of Overqualification in Organizations

Given the global growth in the number of overqualified workers, understanding antecedents and correlates of overqualification in organizations is a pressing need. In the present paper, we outline a conceptual model of factors affecting the treatment of overqualified individuals in organizations. Observers, such as supervisors and coworkers, may treat these individuals favorably or unfavorably when making hiring or promotion decisions. We suggest that the factors which influence how these observers judge and react to the overqualified individual include the organization’s external and internal context, the attributes of the focal overqualified person and of the relevant observers, coworkers and supervisors, and the nature of the job. These factors lead to psychological consequences for the observers, and when combined with their job-related expectations, these factors have implications for the observers’ treatment of overqualified individuals, and subsequently, the overqualified individuals’ affective and behavioral responses.