Big Fish in a Small Pond: How Overqualified Volunteers Act

Abstract Previous literature has indicated that finding “fit” volunteers is critical, but overqualification, a mismatch in which abilities far exceed volunteer requirements, remains widespread. A mediated model was established based on relative deprivation theory to reveal the influence of overqualification on volunteer service outcomes through the mediating role of emotional labor. We used two research methods to test our hypotheses. Study 1 administered a 3-wave questionnaire survey to 1625 volunteers, and Study 2 included an experimental survey with 150 participants. Both studies showed that overqualification is common among college student volunteers (the compulsory volunteer group), which harms volunteer outcomes by increasing surface acting and reducing deep acting—volunteers’ overqualification reduced volunteer performance and increased burnout and turnover.