Perceived Overqualification and Job Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Manager Envy

Abstract

In this study, we suggest that manager envy will moderate the relationship between perceived overqualification and job-related outcomes (employee turnover, job satisfaction, and performance evaluation). We examined our hypotheses using a sample of 322 employees working in five-star hotels in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), gathered across five time periods. Web-based questionnaires were utilized to collect the data due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to obtain results more quickly. We gathered data from June 2021 to February 2022 from superiors at T1 and T4 and subordinates at T2 and T3 in five periods. We left a gap of two weeks between each period, and the same respondents were utilized for all phases. The findings indicate that perceived overqualification was more strongly and negatively related to employee job satisfaction when managers reported high envy. Furthermore, when envy was high, employee overqualification was positively related to job turnover. Promotion had no direct or moderated effects. The implications for the literature on overqualification and envy were addressed. The findings suggest that group-level implications on how perceived overqualification influences employees should be investigated. Perceived overqualification as a result of reporting to envious supervisors had a detrimental impact on the perceived performance and achievement of individuals who were overqualified. The findings also emphasize the relevance of examining overqualification at many levels of analysis, as well as the need to look into manager-level moderators.