Overqualification as Moderator for the Link Between Job Change and Job Satisfaction Among Immigrants and Natives in Germany

Job satisfaction is a major driver of an individual’s subjective well-being and thus affects public health, societal prosperity, and organisations, as dissatisfied employees are less productive and more likely to change jobs. However, changing jobs does not necessarily lead to higher job satisfaction in the long run. Previous studies have shown, instead, that changing jobs only increases job satisfaction for a short period of time before it gradually falls back to similar levels as before. This phenomenon is known as the ’honeymoon–hangover’ pattern. In our study, we identify an important new moderator of the relation between job change and job satisfaction: the job–qualification match of job change. Based on relative deprivation theory, we argue that a job change from being overqualified in a job lowers the likelihood of negative comparisons and thus increases the honeymoon period and lessens the hangover period. In addition, we investigate whether this moderating effect is less pronounced among immigrants, since the phenomenon of overqualification occurs more frequently among immigrants. We use data from the Socio-Economic Panel ranging from 1994–2018 and focus specifically on individual periods of employees before and after job changes (N=134,417). Our results confirm that a change to a job that requires a matched qualification has a stronger and longer-lasting effect on job satisfaction, and that this effect is slightly lower for respondents born abroad.