Abstracts
Summary
This study aims to help employers retain overqualified employees or reduce their turnover intention. Specifically, using conservation of resources (COR) theory, we tested whether employee perceptions of overqualification directly affect turnover intention and the moderating effect of work-life balance on this relationship. We study this 3-way relationship in a specific environmental context (in Canada) and compared two different groups of employees: Canadian-born and immigrant, the latter facing more challenges to integrating into the labour market and getting a job that corresponds to their qualifications. For this, there are many reasons, such as language barriers, discrimination, undervaluation of their assets, lack of work experience and lack of a professional network in the host country.
We tested our hypotheses by conducting two questionnaire-based field studies in Canada: one among 227 Canadian-born employees and the other among 237 immigrant employees. Our results confirm the value of COR theory in understanding the relationship between overqualification and turnover intention among Canadian-born and immigrant employees and the moderating effect of work-life balance on this relationship among immigrants.
Given the scarcity of talent, employers should do more to recognize and use their employees’ skills, whether local or immigrant. To retain their immigrant employees, employers should help them balance their work and personal lives. Finally, employers should provide overqualified immigrants with ongoing assistance (information, emotional support, tools, continuous follow-up) to help them manage their daily lives, strike a balance between their work and personal lives and, ultimately, reduce their turnover intention.
Abstract
Using conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 2002), we first investigated the direct influence of overqualification on turnover intention. Second, we tested whether the perceived work-life balance affects the relationship between overqualification and turnover intention. To that end, we used questionnaires to conduct independent field studies of two groups of Canadian workers: 227 local human resources professionals and 237 immigrant employees. Both studies confirmed that perceived overqualification increased their intention to quit their jobs. Perceived work-life balance moderated the relationship between overqualification and turnover intention only among the immigrant employees. This paper sheds light on how perceived overqualification can affect the intention to quit a job among local and immigrant employees. It also shows how perceived work-life balance can affect the relationship between perceived overqualification and the intention to quit a job.
Keywords:
- overqualification,
- work-life balance,
- turnover intention,
- Canadian-born and immigrant employees
Résumé
Cette étude vise aider les employeurs à fidéliser leurs employés surqualifiés ou à réduire leur roulement volontaire. Plus précisément, en nous appuyant sur la théorie de la conservation des ressources (COR), nous analysons le lien direct entre la surqualification perçue et l’intention de quitter ainsi que l’effet modérateur de l’équilibre travail-vie personnelle sur ce lien. Nous étudions ces liens dans un contexte environnemental particulier (au Canada) et entre deux groupes différents d’employés : des personnes nées au Canada et des immigrants, ces derniers ayant plus de difficultés à intégrer le marché du travail pour obtenir un emploi correspondant à leurs qualifications pour de nombreuses raisons, telles que les barrières linguistiques, la discrimination, la sous-évaluation de leurs atouts, le manque d’expérience de travail et le réseau professionnel dans le pays d’accueil.
Nous avons testé nos hypothèses à travers deux études sur le terrain menées par questionnaire : l’une auprès de 227 employés nés au Canada et l’autre auprès de 237 employés immigrants. Nos résultats confirment la valeur de la théorie COR pour comprendre le lien positif entre la surqualification et l’intention de roulement parmi les employés nés au Canada et les employés immigrants et l’impact modérateur de l’équilibre travail-vie personnelle sur cette relation au sein de l’échantillon des immigrants seulement.
Compte tenu de la rareté des talents, les employeurs doivent mieux reconnaître et utiliser les compétences de leurs employés, qu’ils soient des locaux ou des immigrants. Ils devraient aussi aider leurs employés immigrants à mieux équilibrer leur travail et leur vie personnelle pour les retenir en emploi. En outre, les employeurs devraient fournir aux immigrants surqualifiés des ressources informatives, émotionnelles, instrumentales ou de suivi continu qui les aident à gérer leur vie quotidienne, à équilibrer les interactions travail-vie personnelle et, ultimement, à réduire leur intention de quitter.
Appendices
References
- Allen, D. G., Bryant, P. C., & Vardaman, J. M. (2010). Retaining talent: Replacing misconceptions with evidence-based strategies. Academy of Management Perspectives, 24(2), 48-64.
- Anderson, J. C., & Gerbing, D. W. (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103(3), 411. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.103.3.411
- Arvan, M. L., Pindek, S., Andel, S. A., & Spector, P. E. (2019). Too good for your job? Disentangling the relationships between objective overqualification, perceived overqualification, and job dissatisfaction. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 103323.
- Bal, P. M., De Jong, S. B., Jansen, P. G. W., & Bakker, A. B. (2012). Motivating employees to work beyond retirement: A multi‐level study of the role of I‐deals and unit climate. Journal of Management Studies, 49, 306‐331. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467‐6486.2011.01026.x
- Ballesteros-Leiva, F., Poilpot-Rocaboy, G., & St-Onge, S. (2017). The relationship between life-domain interactions and the well-being of internationally mobile employees. Personnel Review, 46(2), 237-254.
- Ballesteros-Leiva, F.; Poilpot-Rocaboy, G.; Saint-Onge, S. (2016). Les liens entre les conflits et les enrichissements travail-famille et le bien-être, Revue de gestion des ressources humaines, 100 (2), 5-20.https://doi.org/10.3917/grhu.100.0005
- Bentler, P. M. (1983). Some contributions to efficient statistics for structural models: Specification and estimation of moment structures. Psychometrika, 48, 493-517. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02293875
- Bolt, E. E. T., Winterton, J., & Cafferkey, K. (2022). A century of labour turnover research: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 24(4), 555-576.
- Brislin, R. W. (1970). Back-translation for cross-cultural research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1(3), 185-216. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/135910457000100301
- Chen, C., Smith, P., & Mustard, C. (2010). The prevalence of over-qualification and its association with health status among occupationally active new immigrants to Canada. Ethnicity & Health, 15(6), 601-619.
- De Witte, H. (1992). Langdurig werkozen: Tussen optimisten en teruggetrokkenen [The longterm unemployed: Between optimism and resignation]. Leuven: Hoger Instituut van de Arbeid.
- De Cuyper, N., Mauno, S., Kinnunen, U., and Mäkikangas, A. (2011). The role of job resources in the relation between perceived employability and turnover intention: a prospective two-sample study. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 78, 253–263. doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2010.09.008
- Erdogan, B., & Bauer, T. N. (2021). Overqualification at Work: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 8(1), annurev-orgpsych-012420-055831. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-055831
- Erdogan, B., & Bauer, T. N. (2009). Perceived overqualification and its outcomes: The moderating role of empowerment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(2), 557.
- Erdogan, B., Bauer, T. N., Peiró, J. M., & Truxillo, D. M. (2011). Overqualification theory, research, and practice: Things that matter. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 4(2), 260-267.
- Erdogan, B., Karaeminogullari, A., Bauer, T. N., & Ellis, A. M. (2018). Perceived overqualification at work: Implications for extra-role behaviors and advice network centrality. Journal of Management, 0149206318804331.
- Forrier, A., De Cuyper, N., & Akkermans, J. (2018). The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall: Provoking the agency perspective in employability research. Human Resource Management Journal, 28(4), 511–523. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12206
- Goodman, L. A. (1961). Snowball sampling. The Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 148-170.
- Griffeth, R. W., Hom, P. W., & Gaertner, S. (2000). A meta-analysis of antecedents and correlates of employee turnover: Update, moderator tests, and research implications for the next millennium. Journal of Management, 26(3), 463-488. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920630002600305
- Groutsis, D., Vassilopoulou, J., Kyriakidou, O., & Özbilgin, M. F. (2019). The 'New’Migration for Work Phenomenon: The Pursuit of Emancipation and Recognition in the Context of Work. Work, Employment and Society, 0950017019872651.
- Grzywacz, J. G., & Carlson, D. S. (2007). Conceptualizing Work F amily Balance: Implications for Practice and Research. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 9(4), 455–471. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422307305487
- Haar, J.M., Roche, M. and ten Brummelhuis, L. (2018), “A daily diary study of work-life balance in managers: utilizing a daily process model”, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 29 No. 18, pp. 2659-2681, doi: 10.1080/ 09585192.2017.1314311.
- Halbesleben, J. R., Neveu, J.-P., Paustian-Underdahl, S. C., & Westman, M. (2014). Getting to the “COR” understanding the role of resources in conservation of resources theory. Journal of Management, 40(5), 1334-1364. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206314527130
- Harari, M. B., Manapragada, A., & Viswesvaran, C. (2017). Who thinks they're a big fish in a small pond and why does it matter? A meta-analysis of perceived overqualification. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 102, 28-47.
- Harrison, D. A., Harrison, T., & Shaffer, M. A. (2018). Strangers in Strained Lands: Learning From Workplace Experiences of Immigrant Employees. In: SAGE Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA.
- Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44(3), 513-524.
- Hobfoll, S. E. (2002). Social and psychological resources and adaptation. Review of General Psychology, 6(4), 307-324. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.6.4.307
- Hobfoll, S. E. (2011). Conservation of resource caravans and engaged settings. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 84(1), 116-122. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8325.2010.02016.x
- Hobfoll, S. E., Halbesleben, J., Neveu, J.-P., & Westman, M. (2018). Conservation of resources in the organizational context: The reality of resources and their consequences. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5, 103-128.
- Hom, P. W., Mitchell, T. R., Lee, T. W., & Griffeth, R. W. (2012). Reviewing employee turnover: Focusing on proximal withdrawal States and an expanded criterion. Psychological Bulletin, 138(5), 831–858. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027983
- Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1998). Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological Methods, 3, 424-453. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.3.4.424
- Kalantaryan, S., Scipioni, M., Natale, F., & Alessandrini, A. (2021). Immigration and integration in rural areas and the agricultural sector: An EU perspective. Journal of Rural Studies, 88, 462-472.
- Kalliath T, and Brough P (2008). Achieving work–family balance. Journal of Management and Organization, 14(2): 224–226.
- Kelliher, C., Richardson, J., & Boiarintseva, G. (2019). All of work? All of life? Reconceptualizing work‐life balance for the 21st century. Human Resource Management Journal, 29(2), 97-112.
- Klotz, A. C., Swider, B. W., Shao, Y., & Prengler, M. K. (2021). The paths from insider to outsider: A review of employee exit transitions. Human Resource Management, 60(1), 119–144. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.22033
- Kracke, N., & Klug, C. (2021). Social Capital and Its Effect on Labour Market (Mis)match: Migrants’ Overqualification in Germany. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 22(4), 1573–1598. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-021-00817-1
- Laulié, L., & Morgeson, F. P. (2021). The end is just the beginning: Turnover events and their impact on those who remain. Personnel Psychology, 74(3), 387-409.
- Lee, T. W., Mitchell, T. R., Hotom, B. C., McDaniel, L. S., & Hill, J. W. (1999). The unfolding model of voluntary turnover: a replication and extension. Academy of Management Journal, 42(4), 450-462.
- Marino, J., Dabos, G. E., Rivero, A. G., & Pujol-Cols, L. (2022). Individual antecedents of i-deals: the role of self-efficacy, networking abilities and perceived employability. Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administración, 35(1), 80-99.
- Maltarich, M. A., Nyberg, A. J., & Reilly, G. (2010). A conceptual and empirical analysis of the cognitive ability–voluntary turnover relationship. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(6), 1058.
- Maltarich, M. A., Reilly, G., & Nyberg, A. J. (2011). Objective and subjective overqualification: Distinctions, relationships, and a place for each in the literature. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 4(2), 236-239.
- Maynard, D. C., Joseph, T. A., & Maynard, A. M. (2006). Underemployment, job attitudes, and turnover intentions. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 27(4), 509-536.
- Maynard, D. C., & Parfyonova, N. M. (2013). Perceived overqualification and withdrawal behaviours: Examining the roles of job attitudes and work values. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 86(3), 435-455.
- McAuliffe, M., & Khadria, B. (2022). World migration report 2020. Geneva: International Organization for Migration.
- McKee-Ryan, F. M., & Harvey, J. (2011). “I have a job, but...”: A review of underemployment. Journal of Management, 37(4), 962-996.
- Mobley, W. H., Griffeth, R. W., Hand, H. H., & Meglino, B. M. (1979). Review and conceptual analysis of the employee turnover process. Psychological Bulletin, 86(3), 493-522.
- Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2012). Mplus: Statistical analysis with latent variables: User's guide: Muthén & Muthén Los Angeles.
- Porter, C. M., Woo, S. E., & Campion, M. A. (2016). Internal and external networking differentially predict turnover through job embeddedness and job offers. Personnel Psychology, 69(3), 635-672.
- Renaud, S., Morin, L., St-Onge, S. (2021a). Links among Tangible Rewards, Intangible Rewards, and Turnover Intentions: A Multi-Level Study in the ICT Sector, Revue de Gestion des Ressources Humaines, 122(4), 18-28.
- Renaud, S., St-Onge, S. and Morin, D. (2021b), Do vacations and parental leave reduce voluntary turnover? A study of organizations in the ICT sector in Canada, International Journal of Manpower, 42 (7). 1224-1237. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-06-2020-0266
- Rubenstein, A. L., Eberly, M. B., Lee, T. W., & Mitchell, T. R. (2018). Surveying the forest: A meta‐analysis, moderator investigation, and future‐oriented discussion of the antecedents of voluntary employee turnover. Personnel Psychology, 71(1), 23-65.
- Russell, Z. A., Ferris, G. R., Thompson, K. W., & Sikora, D. M. (2016). Overqualified human resources, career development experiences, and work outcomes: Leveraging an underutilized resource with political skill. Human Resource Management Review, 26(2), 125-135.
- Santero, A., & Naldini, M. (2020). Migrant parents in Italy: gendered narratives on work/family balance. Journal of Family Studies, 26(1), 126–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2017.1345319
- Singh, R., & Ramdeo, S. (2023). Innovative Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior Responses in Crises. In Contemporary Perspectives in Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior: Research Overviews and Gaps to Advance Interrelated Fields (pp. 15-36). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
- Sirgy, M. J., & Lee, D. J. (2018). Work-Life Balance: an Integrative Review. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 13(1), 229–254. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-017-9509-8
- Spell, H. B., Eby, L. T., and Vandenberg, R. J. (2014). Developmental climate: a cross-level analysis of voluntary turnover and job performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83, 283–292. doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2014.02.001
- St-Onge, S., Haines V., Ballesteros-Leiva, F., & Poilpot-Rocaboy, G. (2021), Core self-evaluations, social support and life-domain conflicts, Personnel Review, 50(4), 1112-1127. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-03-2020-0146
- Tabachnick, B. G., Fidell, L. S., & Ullman, J. B. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (Vol. 5): Pearson Boston, MA.
- Tepper, B. J., Carr, J. C., Breaux, D. M., Geider, S., Hu, C., & Hua, W. (2009). Abusive supervision, intentions to quit, and employees’ workplace deviance: A power/dependence analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109(2), 156-167.
- van Dijk, H., Shantz, A., & Alfes, K. (2019). Welcome to the bright side: Why, how, and when overqualification enhances performance. Human Resource Management Review.
- Wassermann, M., & Hoppe, A. (2019). Perceived Overqualification and Psychological Well-Being among Immigrants: The Moderating Role of Personal Resources. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 18(1), 34–45. https://doi.org/10.1027/1866-5888/a000219
- Wassermann, M., Fujishiro, K., & Hoppe, A. (2017). The effect of perceived overqualification on job satisfaction and career satisfaction among immigrants: Does host national identity matter? International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 61, 77-87.
- Zhang, M. J., Law, K. S., & Lin, B. (2016). You think you are big fish in a small pond? Perceived overqualification, goal orientations, and proactivity at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(1), 61-84.