The impact of perceived overqualification on employees' innovation behaviour: role of psychological contract breach, psychological distance and employment relationship atmosphere

Purpose Overqualification is a growing concern for employers in many countries. The practice of mismatching employees and positions inevitably leads to an increase in organizational training and management costs. This study can not only further enrich the theoretical achievements in the field of human resource management, but can also provide a reference for enterprise managers on how to effectively stimulate employees' innovative behaviour. Design/methodology/approach 503 questionnaire responses were analysed using SPSS 24.0 and Mplus 8.0. Findings It was concluded that, (1) perceived overqualification is negatively related to employees' innovation behaviour (β = −0.32, p < 0.001); (2) psychological contract breach and psychological distance partially mediate the relationship between perceived overqualification and employees' innovation behaviour. Among them, the mediating effect of psychological contract breach was −0.14 ( p < 0.01), and that of psychological distance was −0.12 ( p < 0.001); the chain-mediating effect of psychological contract breach and psychological distance was −0.09 ( p < 0.01); (3) employment relationship atmosphere played a moderating role in the relationship between perceived overqualification and employees' innovation behaviour (β = 0.04, p < 0.01). Originality/value This study verifies the negative impact of perceived overqualification on employee innovation behaviour and reveals the mediating role of psychological factors between the two. It also discusses the moderating effect of employment relationship climate on the relationship between perceived overqualification and employees' innovation behaviour.