IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v186y2025ics014829632400465x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How does perceived overqualification beget workplace incivility? A moderated mediation model based on Kahn’s framework

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Pei
  • Mu, Yuting
  • Li, Xin

Abstract

We introduce a comprehensive framework to investigate the influence of perceived overqualification (POQ) on workplace incivility. Building upon Kahn’s theoretical framework for engagement, our study proposes that POQ hinders the fulfillment of three psychological conditions—specifically, psychological meaningfulness, psychological safety, and emotional exhaustion—thereby impacting the emergence of instigated incivility in the workplace. Moreover, we hypothesize varying contributions of these psychological conditions in elucidating the relationship between POQ and instigated incivility. Notably, psychological menaingfulness and emotional exhaustion are likely to provide more substantial explanations for POQ-incivility relation. Additionally, we posit that ethical leadership plays a pivotal role in mitigating the detrimental effects of POQ on instigated incivility. Through the implementation of two multi-wave and multi-level field studies, along with an experiment, our hypotheses were supported. This research not only advances the theoretical comprehension of POQ but also carries substantial implications for addressing both POQ and workplace incivility.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Pei & Mu, Yuting & Li, Xin, 2025. "How does perceived overqualification beget workplace incivility? A moderated mediation model based on Kahn’s framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:186:y:2025:i:c:s014829632400465x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114961
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014829632400465X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114961?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:186:y:2025:i:c:s014829632400465x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.