A silver lining: Perceived organizational career opportunities in the context of perceived overqualification and its outcomes

Abstract Although perceived overqualification is a ubiquitous career‐related stressor, individuals may expect it to be a temporary experience. To better understand the positive role of potentially favorable career‐related anticipation, we applied career motivation theory and dual‐process frameworks to the context of perceived overqualification. We hypothesized that individuals' perceptions of organizational career opportunities would moderate the relationships between perceived overqualification and related affective reactions (i.e., anger toward the employment situation) and cognitive reactions (i.e., needs–supplies fit), which would, in turn, translate into more distal work and nonwork outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior toward the organization, and work–family conflict). We tested this proposition using a three‐wave, multisource dataset including 297 employees and their closely related others. The results largely supported our hypotheses. Our findings highlight the importance of linking the literatures on perceived overqualification and career motivation. We also discuss how organizations can foster positive expectations among their overqualified employees.