2013 Relations between perceived overqualification and extra role behaviour: A survey research on the moderating effect of the AMO practices

Name Jessica van der Ende

Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Supervisor Kerstin Alfes Second reader Brigitte Kroon Project Period February till October Project theme Overqualification TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...... - 3 - 1. INTRODUCTION ...... - 4 - 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...... - 6 - 2.1 OVERQUALIFICATION ...... - 6 - 2.2 JOB CRAFTING ...... - 7 - 2.3 ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOUR ...... - 9 - 2.4 AMO PRACTICES ...... - 10 - 2.4.1 Ability ...... - 11 - 2.4.2 Motivation ...... - 13 - 2.4.3 Opportunity ...... - 14 - 3. METHODS ...... - 15 - 3.1 PROCEDURE, POPULATION & SAMPLE ...... - 16 - 3.2 CREATION OF THE SCALES ...... - 17 - 3.3 MEASURES ...... - 18 - 3.3.1 Perceived overqualification ...... - 18 - 3.3.2 Job crafting ...... - 18 - 3.3.3 Organizational citizenship behaviour ...... - 19 - 3.3.4 The creation of the AMO measure ...... - 19 - 3.3.5 Control Variables ...... - 21 - 3.3.6 Translating procedure ...... - 21 - 3.4 ANALYSIS ...... - 22 - 4. RESULTS ...... - 22 - 4.1 DESCRIPTIVES ...... - 22 - 4.2 TEST OF HYPOTHESES ...... - 23 - 4.3 POST HOC ANALYSES ...... - 26 - 5. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION ...... - 27 - 5.1 DISCUSSION ...... - 28 - 5.2 LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH ...... - 30 - 5.3 PRACTICAL AND THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS ...... - 33 - 5.4 CONCLUSION ...... - 35 - 6. REFERENCES ...... - 36 - 7. APPENDICES ...... - 42 - 7.1 APPENDIX I: TABLES WITH FACTOR ANALYSES ...... - 43 - 7.2 APPENDIX II: RESULTS POST-HOC ANALYSES ...... - 46 - 7.3 APPENDIX III: CROSS TABULATIONS POST-HOC ANALYSES ...... - 49 - 7.4 APPENDIX IV: COVERING LETTER AND QUESTIONNAIRE ENGLISH VERSION ...... - 52 -

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ABSTRACT

Former studies acknowledge the negative effects of perceived overqualification. This research addresses perceived overqualification as positive approach by investigating the effects of perceived overqualification on the extra role behaviours job crafting and organizational citizenship behaviour. It is also researched how high performance work practices moderate these relationships, the AMO framework is used as model. Knowing the interaction effect of ability, motivation and opportunity practices gives insight in how to fully use the potential of overqualified employees. A survey research is used to gather the data and hierarchical regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses. In the research sample of 84 employees in low-educated jobs, no significant effects are found. Post-hoc analyses show that objective overqualification is positively associated with job crafting and that AMO practices as synergy do significantly interact the relationship between perceived overqualification and job crafting. This research contributes to the literature and practice by showing the discrepancies between the used concepts, by linking overqualification to positive proactive behaviour, and by giving insight in how HR practitioners can create a positive environment that enhances this behaviour with help op high performance work practices. Future research is necessary in order to increase the insights of the positive contribution that overqualification has.

Key words: Perceived overqualification, Extra role behaviour, Job crafting, OCB, High performance work practices, AMO framework

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1. INTRODUCTION

The expectations are that in 2030 more than half of the Dutch population will be highly educated (Uitham, 2012). As a result, highly educated people have to work below their level of education (Uitham, 2012). This phenomenon is known as overqualification and refers to a unique situation of inadequate employment (Fine & Nevo, 2008). Overqualification is mostly seen as a negative phenomenon (Erdogan & Bauer, 2009). Research has shown that overqualified employees have a lower career and life satisfaction (Nabi, 2003), lower job satisfaction (Johnson & Johnson, 2000), more depression and stress (Johnson & Johnson, 1996), higher turnover intention (Lobene, 2010) and lower commitment (Maynard, Joseph & Maynard, 2006).

Research has not only linked overqualification to those negative attitudes, overqualification has also been positively related to in-role behaviours (Erdogan & Bauer, 2009; Fine & Nevo, 2008). However, it is not known how overqualification is related to extra- role behaviour. Although in-role behaviour is required and the basis of performance, it is argued that extra role behaviour is organizationally important because of the support to the organizational, social and psychological context in which the technical core functions (Dyne & LePine, 1998). Because of the organizational value of extra role behaviour this study will investigate how overqualification is related to two constructs of extra role behaviour. These constructs are job crafting which refers to the changes an employee makes to the boundaries of the work (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001) and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) which refers to an extra role behaviour beyond the role requirements benefitting the organization (Ling, Huang & Chiu, 2007). Erdogan, Bauer, Peiro, and Truxillo (2011) stated that overqualified employees can contribute to their organization by going beyond the existing requirements of their jobs. Addressing job crafting and OCB as outcome variables leads to a more positive approach of overqualification and in contrast to the existing negative image, focus on the possible contributions of overqualified employees.

Subsequently, it will be interesting to know what factors influence the relationship between overqualification and extra-role behaviours. HPWP might be one of these factors. Overqualified employees do have surplus skills, knowledge and abilities, the use of high performance work practices motivates the overqualified employee to enhance his or her performance (Erdogan et al., 2011; Huselid, 1995) which results in the possibility to fully use the potential of the overqualified employees. It has been recognized that HR practitioners can

- 4 - influence human behaviour and attitudes with help of policies and practices (Boselie, 2010; Huselid, 1995; Macky & Boxall, 2007). High performance work systems refer to the combination of HR practices that enhance employee performance by improving competences, attitudes and motivation (Takeuchi, Chen & Lepak, 2009). The AMO framework is one way to combine HPWPs and states that HR practices influence performance through employee ability, motivation and opportunity (Gerhart, 2005). The perceptions that employees have about HR practices predict the behavioural outcome (Kehoe & Wright, 2013). The presence of HR strategy can provide or restrain employees from the possibility to engage in job crafting or OCB (Erdogan et al., 2011). Thus, the perceptions of HPWP may be key elements in understanding how, and when, overqualification influences job crafting and OCB.

The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of overqualification on job crafting and OCB and the extent to which AMO practices moderate the effects of overqualification on both outcome variables. The research will be conducted on the sales department of a large furniture selling organization. Culture is a trademark of this organization. It can be determined that HR practices are widely used in the organization in order to secure this culture. It will be interesting to see whether the HR practices also lead to the engagement in proactive behaviour for overqualified employees. Based on the aim of this research, the research question is stated as:

‘To what extent does perceived overqualification influence job crafting and organizational citizenship behaviours and to what extent do high performance HR practices moderate the relationship between overqualification and job crafting and OCB?’

The present study will contribute to the literature by investigating the effect of overqualification on behaviours that has not been linked to overqualification before. OCB and job crafting are both job related behaviours that belong to extra-role performance (Tims, Bakker & Derks, 2012). Taking into account these components can shed another light on how overqualification is related to performance. It also gives insight in how overqualified employees behaviourally respond to the unsatisfactory work situation and in turn how overqualified employees can contribute to the organization. Taking into account the employee perceptions of HPWPs as moderator makes it possible to make recommendations to HR practitioners on how to design their practices in order to create an environment which fosters positive extra role behaviour.

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Since it is expected that more employees need to work below their level of knowledge, skills and abilities it will be helpful for organizations to search for those behaviours that are caused by overqualification and have more positive contributions, such as OCB and job crafting. By using the perceptions of AMO practices as moderator HR practitioners will have more insight in how they can use HPWPs to steer their employee behaviour in a way that it enhances extra role behaviour.

In the next paragraph the concepts of overqualification, organizational citizenship behaviour, job crafting and high performance HR practices will be discussed and the relations between the concepts outlined. The conceptual model and the hypotheses will also be presented in this section. After this theoretical part the data and methodology used will be described followed by the results of the analysis. Finally the conclusion and discussion will complete the paper.

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This section will contain the explanations of the concepts as well as the proposed relationships. The conceptual model will complete this section.

2.1 Overqualification More employees are adopting a job that does not match their skills and competences (Pouliakas, 2012). Nearly 36% of the European employees are vertically mismatched and, besides, 23% of European employees are affected by skill mismatch (Pouliakas, 2012). Both are forms of qualitative mismatch. Vertical mismatch is pointed towards a mismatch between an individual’s education and the requirements by the current job, while a skill mismatch refers to a mismatch in type of education for the job (Cedefop, 2010). Büchel (2002) argued that the amount of individuals that possess higher level of qualification than required is growing within the labour force, and that this kind of mismatch causes negative outcomes. This phenomenon is called overqualification and is defined as ‘a situation where the individual has surplus skills, knowledge, abilities, education, experience, and other qualifications that are not required by or utilized on the job’ (Erdogan et al., 2011, p. 217). As mentioned before overqualification can lead to different negative attitudes, but also to boredom at work. Van der Heijden, Shepers and Nijssen (2012) argue that this is the case because of the underuse of physical and cognitive capacity at work.

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Regarding the measurement of overqualification, a choice must be made between objective and subjective measurement. An objective measure of overqualification compares an employee’s knowledge, skills and abilities to those that are required for the job, while the subjective measurement of overqualification takes into account the perception of the employee (Erdogan et al., 2011). The objective measurement is mostly used for economic research. For psychological and management research is the objective measurement less adequate, because it focuses on a limited amount of skills and does not give a complete image of the situation (Erdogan et al., 2011). Perceived overqualification does give a more complete image because ‘perceptions reflect reality as it is experienced by the individual’ (Erdogan et al., 2011, p. 218). Besides, it is argued that perceived measures are likely to be better predictors of behaviour (Erdogan et al., 2011) and that individual perceptions drive behaviour (Luksyte & Spitzmueller, 2011). Since this research investigates the effect of overqualification on specific behaviours, overqualification will be measured by asking employees about their perceptions. Although perceived overqualification will be the construct of interest in this research, the questionnaire will also contain a question about the completed level of education. It is thus possible to calculate objective overqualification, therefore will this construct also be taken into account in the analysis.

2.2 Job crafting Employees mostly seek for a job that brings fulfilment of personal values, meaning and purpose, self-expression and opportunities to help others (Berg, Grant & Johnson, 2010). However, trends in the work field like globalization, automation and ICT-technology and an increase of non-standard work lead to more intense and more demanding work. These trends bring challenges for employees’ development of personal resources (Kira, Eijnatten & Balkin, 2010). Berg, Dutton and Wrzesniewski (2007) state that employees feel motivated to redesign their job in a way that it better fits their values, strengths and passions. This action of redesigning a job is called job crafting. Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001) define job crafting as ‘the physical and cognitive changes individuals make in the task or relational boundaries of their work’ (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001, p. 179). Examples of job crafting behaviour within the sample are altering tasks in order to minimize or maximize interaction with customers, or adopt other tasks from other disciplines that fits to the personal interest. Also the way how people look at their job differs. Some see themselves just as someone that sells furniture or accessories, others are seeing themselves as interior designers who needs to give all kind of advise and ask more personal questions. Three motives exist to start crafting ones

- 7 - job. The first motive is to have some control over the job and to avoid distance from the job. The second motive is to create a positive self-image. And the last motive is to fulfil the need of being connected towards others (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). Kira, Eijnatten and Balkin (2010) state that formerly the aim of a job was to fulfil safety and pleasure, nowadays jobs need to be sustainable, which means that employees need to develop their personal resources in order to cope with and thrive challenges and change. Berg, Grant and Johnson (2010) state that work also needs to be a calling, a fulfilment of personal reasons and a meaning. Both Kira, Eijnatten and Balkin (2010) as well as Berg, Grant and Johnson (2010) argue that employees start crafting their job in order to make their job more suitable for the self. Since Erdogan et al. (2011) state that overqualified individuals have a low morale and suffer from boredom, it could be argued that these individuals missed their calling or that their work is not sustainable and therefore start craft their job in order to satisfy their needs. Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001) argue that it depends on the situation whether job crafting has a positive or negative effect on the organization. In this research the positive effect of job crafting will be approached by looking at job crafting as a manner to adapt to unsatisfactory situations in order to create more enjoyment. This relation can further be explained with help of the person job fit theory.

P-J fit reflects the relationship between a person’s characteristics and the characteristics of the work or performed tasks. P-J fit includes two different conceptualizations. First, the demands-abilities fit concerns how the employees’ knowledge, skills and abilities are aligned with what the job requires. Second the needs-supplies fit concerns the match between an employees’ needs, desires, or preferences and the job (Brown, Zimmerman & Johnson, 2005). P-J fit is reached when the characteristics of the employee meet the requirements of the job. Research has shown that a better fit leads to positive responses, such as an increase in job satisfaction and organizational commitment and a lower intent to quit (Carless, 2005).

It is thought that overqualified employees do not reach this fit. An overqualified individual possesses more knowledge skills and abilities than required by the job or tasks (Erdogan et al., 2011). Overqualification can therefore be seen as inadequate employment, which means a mismatch of the wrong person in the wrong job (Fine & Nevo, 2008). A misalignment between the work situation and personal values, needs and preferences may motivate the individual to restore this mismatch with help of job crafting (Berg, Grant & Johnson, 2012). A better alignment will result in improved enjoyment and more meaning at work (Berg, Grant & Johnson, 2012). In sum, job crafting can be seen as the adjustment to

- 8 - unsatisfactory factors (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). Overqualified employees can restore this unsatisfactory mismatch between the contributed knowledge skills and abilities and the job requirements by starting to craft their jobs. Therefore hypothesis 1 is defined as:

H1. Perceived Overqualification is positively associated with job crafting behaviour

2.3 Organizational citizenship behaviour Interest in organizational citizenship behaviour has increased since it is known that OCB’s contribute to the overall organizational functioning (Motowidlo & Van Scotter, 1994). Contributing to the organization is just one description of OCB, moreover OCB is also defined as an individual behaviour that is not required by the organization and that is not taken into account in the formal reward system (Organ, 1988). Research has discussed that OCB can be seen as one component of performance (Motowidlo, Borman & Smith, 1997; Organ, Podsakoff & Mackenzie, 2006). OCB within the research sample can take many forms. Examples are assisting colleagues with tasks, helping new colleagues, being flexible, productive and positive and bringing in new ideas. Given that overqualified individuals have surplus capability it can be assumed that these employees may engage in behaviours that are valued by the organization, such as OCB, for two reasons.

First, it is argued that overqualified employees are able to perform their core tasks faster in order to handle other interests and responsibilities (Erdogan et al., 2011). This can be explained with help of the human capital theory. Human capital theory suggest that individuals will invest in themselves by participating in education in order to get future benefits (Blaug, 1976). The acquisition of knowledge leads to more cognitive ability, which results in a more effective way of working (Ng & Feldman, 2010). This situation can lead to OCB, as overqualified employees may use the remaining time to pursue the aspiration he or she aims for. The acquired human capital not only brings cognitive ability, but also wisdom and judgment. Wisdom and judgement will not only lead to core task performance but also to more contextual performance such as OCB. Due to the investment in human capital overqualified employees can easily assist peers, advise supervisors or promote the organization to the external environment (Ng & Feldman, 2010).

Second, overqualified employees aim for higher career possibilities (Groot & Maassen van den Brink, 2000). According to the functional approach to behaviour every goal will be served by a behaviour (Snyder, 1993). This approach supposes that individual behaviour is driven by an individual’s goals and needs (Rioux & Penner, 2001). The goal of overqualified

- 9 - employees is to develop in their career. The overqualified employee will behave in a way to achieve this goal of career development. Although it is stated that organizational citizenship behaviour is beyond the task requirements, the behaviour is noticed by the supervisor and co- workers (Organ, 1997). As a result, the supervisor can recommend the employee for a salary increase or promotion to fix the skill mismatch (Organ, 1997). The overqualified employee can thus achieve career development by engaging in OCB.

In sum, an overqualified employee has surplus capabilities to engage in valued behaviours such as OCB, an overqualified individual has time left to engage in OCB and OCBs help the overqualified employee to pursue desired career development. Based on these arguments the following hypothesis is defined as:

H2. Perceived overqualification is positively associated with organizational citizenship behaviour.

2.4 AMO practices Human resource management mostly concerns the choices that have to be made regarding policies, practices and structures for managing employees (Boxall & Purcell, 2003). Most researchers in HRM acknowledge the benefits of high performance work systems for managing employees (Becker, Huselid, Pickus & Spratt, 1997; Boselie, 2010; Combs, Liu, Hall & Ketchen, 2006; Huselid, 1995). High performance work systems (HPWS) are defined as a bundle of practices that are interrelated and together select, develop, retain and motivate the employees in order to attain synergistic benefits through a reinforcing impact (Huselid, 1995; Way, 2002). A specific HPWS is the AMO framework. This framework argues that individual performance is best achieved when attention is focused towards developing employee skills and abilities (Abilities), by increasing the motivation of an employee for extra effort (Motivation), and by giving the opportunity to use all their knowledge, skills and abilities in their job (Opportunity), which leads to increased individual performance and ultimately result in increased organizational performance (Boselie, 2010; Macky & Boxall, 2007). Macky and Boxall (2007) argue that employee ability creates the boundaries for performance, that motivation refers to the effort to which ability is turned into action and that opportunity makes the way for motivated employees to enhance and/or make fully use of the ability. Jiang, Lepak, Hu and Baer (2012) assigned practices to each component of the AMO model. The ability component includes comprehensive recruitment, rigorous selection, and extensive training. The motivation component includes performance management,

- 10 - competitive compensation, incentives and rewards, extensive benefits, promotion and career development, and job security. And the last component, opportunity, includes practices regarding flexible job design, work teams, employee involvement, and information sharing (Jiang et al., 2012). Wright and Nishii (2007) argue that actual HR practices are interpreted subjectively by individual employees and that these perceptions will provoke certain reactions. Taking into account the employee perception of HR practices is important, because these perceptions predict behavioural outcomes (Kehoe & Wright, 2013).

Within the organization that will be researched, the HR department has a supportive function. This means that the actions need to contribute to the business goals. Within an internal resource of the organization, it can be read that focus points are present for all three AMO constructs. Regarding ability, development of the employees is of great importance both personally as well as professionally. Regarding motivation, salary is not seen as the most important motivator. More value is given to the sense of appreciation of the manager, feeling part of the family and being part of a successful team. Regarding opportunity practices, working in teams is the preferred way of working, being involved and taking decisions is seen as a right and duty of every employee (IIS, 2011).

The perception of high performance work practices will be used as moderator on the effect of perceived overqualification on job crafting and organizational citizenship behaviour in order to make recommendations to HR practitioners on how to design their practices to create an environment in which overqualification leads to positive extra role behaviour.

The moderator relationships will be explained with help of the social exchange theory and the psychological contract. First, social exchange theory is based on the assumption that the exchange of something that is liked will lead to a feeling of obligation to do something back that is favoured (Blau, 1964). Second, the psychological contract are the beliefs held by the individual which are shaped by the organization, concerning the exchange agreement between the employee and the employer (Rousseau, 1995). When the organization fails to fulfil the expectations, contract breach will show up. This feeling of breach results in mistrust and violation (Zhao, Wayne, Glibrowski & Bravo, 2007).

2.4.1 Ability As mentioned above, the ability practices deal with recruitment, selection and training. When these practices are perceived as taken place, the right applicant will be recruited, selected with the right amount of knowledge, skills, and abilities and after that trained to

- 11 - maintain the right level of knowledge and skills. Regarding ability practices within the research population, agreed vacancies for sales employees are first ten days internally published. When the right employee is not found, the vacancy goes external on the organizations website. Selection is based on semi-structured interviews. Experience, flexibility and a fit with the organizations values are important selection criteria. Temporary applicants and part-time applicants are selected by the line manager, fulltime applicants are invited for a second talk with the HR department. Training and development is seen as extensive. After an employee is selected, a job learning path with basic job knowledge is required. Also an introduction about the organizations culture and values is part of this learning path. Training and development is accessible for everyone, most training is based on product knowledge and knowing how to sell. However, training for personal effectiveness and leadership are also available. Both e-learning and learning in a group with a trainer are present. Training and development is available for everyone, but is based on personal initiative, own responsibility and permission of the direct supervisor (HR employee, Personal communication, October 16 2013).

Erdogan et al. (2011) argued that recruiters should not avoid hiring overqualified applicants, because these employees can bring in surplus skills. However when hiring, it is necessary to discuss conditions to make clear what each party expects. The psychological contract is thus important. It is also argued that overqualified employees want trainings that develop them in specific areas, in order to use their skills better (Erdogan et al., 2011). So, when the overqualified employee is recruited and selected and received appropriate training, the psychological contract is fulfilled. The overqualified employee will respond with engaging more in job crafting, which result in more positive outcomes. On the contrary, when the ability practices are not perceived as taken place the psychological contract has been breached. In this organization, this will mean that the employee shows responsibility by asking for training and development, but is not allowed to do the training. Because the overqualified employee will mistrust the organization, the individual will engage less in job crafting. In this way the employee will be less satisfied and more negative outcomes will probably come across.

For the association between overqualification and OCB it is thought that the ability practices will have an effect based on social exchange theory. As mentioned before, overqualified employees want trainings that develop them in new areas. When these training opportunities are received, the overqualified employee will feel obliged to do something back

- 12 - that is valued by the organization. It is thus thought that employees will engage more in OCB. When the practices are not perceived as possible or taken place, the overqualified employee will probably not react, the engagement in OCB will not change. Based on these arguments the hypotheses are defined as:

H3.1 The positive association between perceived overqualification and job crafting will be strengthened when the ability practices are perceived as taken place.

H3.2 The positive association between perceived overqualification and OCB will be strengthened when the ability practices are perceived as taken place.

2.4.2 Motivation The motivation practices are all about rewards and career development, which help to keep the employee satisfied and motivated. Employees within the research population get a reward based on function group, irregularity bonuses are also part of the reward system. Bonus criteria are determined at the beginning of the business year and published to the employees. The criteria are in reach of the employees, so employees are together responsible for the attainment of the bonus. Developmental talks are held once a year, even as an agreement talk in which specific (individual) goals are set. Within these talks, the manager could assign a development task, which can lead to a salary increase or a bonus. Opportunities for promotion and career are present, employees need to show personal initiative and need to apply for certain aspirant programs (HR employee, Personal communication, October 16 2013).

Groot and Maassen van den Brink (2000) stated that overeducated employees start a job beneath their level of education in order to move, later on, to a higher level job that does match the educational level. Employees are thus expecting to develop in their career, which can be achieved with help of the motivation practices. Psychological contract breach can be based on incongruence, which means that the employee and employer have a different understanding of the obligation (Robinson & Morrison, 2000). The overqualified employee probably hold beliefs that he or she will get development tasks and will be selected for promotion in order to develop in their career. When these practices are perceived as not taken place, the psychological contract is breached. The overqualified employee will feel that their psychological contract is violated and mistrust the organization. Because the employee does not trust the organization anymore, he or she will probably craft the job less, which is in

- 13 - contrast with when the motivation practices have taken place. Than the psychological contract is satisfying, resulting in the engagement in job crafting.

The same effect will be visible by the relationship between overqualification and OCB. It is thought that engaging in OCB will take place as a response to a good organizational relationship and the obeying of the psychological contract. The overqualified employee expects to develop in one’s career. So, when the employee gets the opportunity to get promotion and career opportunities the relation will be seen as good and the employee will positively react. Thus when the motivation practices are perceived as taken place, the overqualified employee will engage more in OCB. On the contrary when the employee perceives the motivation practices as not taken place the psychological contract will be breached. The employee will react with violation and mistrust, and will stop or at least engage less in OCB. Therefore the hypotheses are defined as following.

H4.1 The positive association between perceived overqualification and job crafting will be strengthened when the motivation practices are perceived as taken place.

H4.2 The positive association between perceived overqualification and OCB will be strengthened when the motivation practices are perceived as taken place.

2.4.3 Opportunity Opportunity practices deal with a flexible job design, involvement in the business process, engagement in job rotation and working in teams. Working in teams is very important for the employees of the research population, the team is responsible for the department and the attainment of sales goals. Once a year a team scan will be filled in by the team and their team leader. Outcomes show how well the team goes along with each other and how well the team leader functions. Information sharing and employee involvement are important for this organization. Three times a year are special sessions arranged in which employees are informed about how the business is operating and what is going on within the organization. These sessions are interactive, room for asking questions and sharing ideas is present. A lot of information is also present at message boards in the hallways and at the intranet, which is free accessible for everyone. About 75% of all employees read intranet. The organization is thinking about how to increase this percentage. Job rotation is also available within this organization. It is possible to do a sort of internship on other departments, or to sign up for occasional tasks (Like Christmas). Permission from the manager is necessary for these extra tasks (HR employee, Personal communication, October 16 2013).

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When the opportunity practices take place, more room to manoeuvre will be created for the employees and the employee can take more control. Social exchange theory is all about the actions that are initiated by the treatment of the organization (Blau, 1964). The organization expects that the treatment in turn leads to desired employee behaviour. The opportunity practices will result in an increase in the amount of employee participation in the organization. When the opportunity practices are perceived as taken place the overqualified employee will feel more valued and therefore reciprocate with more engagement in job crafting and OCB.

When the opportunity practices are not perceived as taken place, the overqualified employee will still craft his or her job, in order to restore the person job misfit, but in a less extent. Regarding OCB, it is still assumed that the overqualified employee will engage in this behaviour, because of the aspirations the overqualified employee has, but also in a less extent. Based on these assumptions the hypotheses are defined as:

H5.1 The positive association between perceived overqualification and job crafting will be strengthened when the opportunity practices are perceived as taken place.

H5.2 The positive association between perceived overqualification and OCB will be strengthened when the opportunity practices are perceived as taken place.

3. METHODS

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This section contains the description of the design, sample and respondents of this study. The instruments that will be used will also be explained as well as the valuation of these instruments.

3.1 Procedure, population & sample The aim of this research is to get insight into the effects of overqualification on job crafting as well as on organizational citizenship behaviour, and how ability, motivation and opportunity practices might moderate these relationships. In order to get this insight a quantitative research is executed. A survey research is used to gather information. The organization that was selected to conduct the analysis is a large furniture selling organization, the sales department is approached to fill in the questionnaire. The mission of the organization is ‘to create a better everyday life for the many people’ (“Deel jij onze droom”, 2013). The organizations culture is characterized as ‘Working hard in an informal atmosphere in which everyone takes responsibility for their own actions’ (“Cultuur”, 2013). The HR manager was involved to ask whether it was allowed to collect the data. All managers were informed about the research. It was thought that, in this way the managers could remind the employees to fill in the questionnaire in order to increase the response rate. The total research population existed of 194 sales employees. The core tasks of a sales employee are to generate sales, advise customers and to create a positive environment for customers (“Sales”, 2013). The sales employees are, as a team, responsible for the achievement of commercial goals. The required level of education to execute this job is the completion of high school (mbo denkniveau), and the required education level for being a manager is college degree (“Sales”, 2013). An electronic questionnaire was set out at one point in time to gather the information. The questionnaire was introduced with a covering letter, which instructed the participant about the anonymity, how to fill in the questionnaire and the reason for collecting the data. The covering letter is constructed under supervision of the HR manager, to make sure that it was in line with the organizations culture. The questionnaire started with general questions and then asked more in-depth questions about the variables. The questionnaire is filled out individually, distributed via e-mail, and treated anonymously. The use of a questionnaire is chosen because of the ease of comparing results, due to the standardization of questions. Other advantages of an electronic questionnaire are the low costs, greater accessibility to respondents and the absence of an interviewer which result in more privacy and a lack of interviewer bias (Singleton & Straits, 2005). The covering letter and the questionnaire are included in appendix 7.4.

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The response rate of the employees is 43.3%, 84 of 194 employees did participate in this research. 39.3% of the participants indicated to be male, compared to 60.7% who indicated to be female. The mean age of the participant was 37.68 years old (SD 10.54) with an average tenure of 9.78 years (SD 6.01). The distribution of the educational background is as following: 17.9% indicated to have completed secondary school, 39.3% indicated to have completed high school, 28.6% indicated to have completed college degree and 14.3% indicated to have completed university degree. Furthermore, 90.5% indicated to have a fixed contact and 9.5% indicated to have a temporarily contract. Of all workers 38.1% work fulltime, while 60.7% of the participants work part-time. Finally, regarding the job function, 8.3% of the workers indicated to be a manager, 11.9% indicated to work in a profession and 78.6% indicated to work as service or sales coworker.

3.2 Creation of the scales Before the data was ready to test the hypothesis, the data was screened and the scales were created. First it was checked whether there were any missing values or any outliers. The answers were given on a 7-point Likert scale and included an eighth option ‘not applicable/don’t know’. The value of this eighth option is reported as missing value for all variables. Due to this option some issues appeared. These issues will be approached for each measurement separately, within the measurement section. Regarding the outliers, all values felt within the answer categories. It was considered to remove some participants, because their scores were acknowledged as outliers. However, after removing four outliers, other outliers came across. Since the dataset already was not that big, and all scores felt within the answer categories, it is decided to keep the outliers within the dataset. Finally, the direction of all questions was checked, rescoring the items was not necessary.

For each measurement a factor analysis and reliability analysis is carried out. The factor analysis (principal component analysis) is executed in order to decide whether the variables could be grouped into sub scales, or not. Two assumptions are taken into account regarding the output. It is checked whether the Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant at p < .05 and whether the KMO value was .6 or higher. In order to decide whether the scale existed of subscales, the Kaiser’s criterium is taken into account, every eigenvalue of 1.0 or above resembled a component. All results from the factor analyses for all measurements are included in appendix 7.1.

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After the factor analysis the reliability of the total scale and/or the subscales is checked. The reliability analysis is necessary to check if the reliability is high enough. After the reliability analysis was executed the inter-item correlation, the corrected item total correlation, the alpha if item deleted and the Cronbach’s Alpha were checked. A Cronbach’s Alpha of .7 is acceptable, but an alpha above .8 is preferable (Pallant, 2007).

After executing the analyses it is known which items belong to the scales. The scales are constructed with help of the mean scale score. The items are summed up and divided by the amount of items.

3.3 Measures The concepts that matter for this investigation will be discussed in this section as well as the valuation of each measurement.

3.3.1 Perceived overqualification Perceived overqualification is measured with the nine items scale of Maynard, Joseph and Maynard (2006). The answers are given on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree till strongly agree. An example question was ‘My job requires less education than I have’.

Regarding the validity of the scale, the KMO coefficient of the factor analysis for perceived overqualification was .86 and the Bartlett coefficient was significant, which meant that it was useful to execute a factor analysis. The eigenvalue showed that perceived overqualification could be used as a one-dimensional construct. The reliability coefficient for perceived overqualification was α=.89, which meant that the reliability was good. One item (My previous training is not being fully utilized on this job) had more missing values (i.e. 6) than the other items, however regarding validity and reliability it was decided to include all items.

3.3.2 Job crafting Job crafting is measured with the scale of Tims, Bakker and Derks (2012). In order to increase the response rate it was tried to keep the questionnaire as small as possible. The items with the highest factor loadings per component were used, which has led to a 12 item scale, instead of the 16 items of Tims, Bakker and Derks (2012). The answers are given on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from never to always. An example question was ‘I try to develop my capabilities’.

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The KMO coefficient for job crafting was .73, and the Bartletts test of sphericity was significant, which meant that factor analysis was useful to execute. The eigenvalue showed that job crafting existed of three constructs, while the theory suggested four components. Within the job crafting scale missing values were present in the component ‘decreasing hindering job demands’. It was considered to remove this component, however since the exploratory function of this research it is decided to investigate the effect of perceived overqualification on the total construct of job crafting. Therefore all components are included in the measurement and is job crafting used as a one-dimensional construct. The reliability of the scale was α=.83, which meant that the reliability was good. An assumption for doing regression analysis is that the dependent variable is normally distributed (Pallant, 2007). The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality was not significant, which indicated that this dependent variable is normal distributed.

3.3.3 Organizational citizenship behaviour Organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) is measured with the eight items scale of Lee and Allen (2002). Answers are given on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from never to always. An example question was ‘Willingly give your time to help others who have work-related problems’.

Regarding the validity, the KMO coefficient was .84 and the Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant. The eigenvalue showed that organizational citizenship behaviour consisted of two components, corresponding with the individual component and the organizational component. However, in this research OCB is used as a one-dimensional construct. The reliability of the construct was α= .90, which meant that the reliability was good.

Also the assumption for normality is satisfied, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality was not significant, which indicated that this dependent variable is normal distributed.

3.3.4 The creation of the AMO measure Different scales exist for measuring high performance work practices. Also some scales are present to measure ability motivation and opportunity (AMO) practices. However, there is a lack of an agreed scale for the AMO practices. Therefore it is decided to create a measurement for the perception of the AMO practices that fits this research. The scale for measuring AMO practices is constructed with help of existing scales. First the constructs of ability, motivation and opportunity were defined, and after that were practices assigned to

- 19 - each component based on research of Jiang et al. (2012). This process has led to a scale of 23 items, which were compiled from previous empirical research in the strategic human resource management literature on high performance work practices (Gong, Law, Chang & Xin, 2009; Lepak & Snell, 2002; Prieto & Santana, 2012; Takeuchi, Lepak, Wang & Takeuchi, 2007). Answers are given on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. An example question was ‘My organization spends a great effort in selecting the right person for every position’.

Since the AMO scale was constructed for this research, factor and reliability analyses were necessary. The AMO scale should exist of three subscales (ability, motivation and opportunity), it is checked whether this is really the case with help of the factor analysis. Unfortunately, a simple structure was not found within the total of 23 items of the AMO scale. Therefore were the three components detached from each other, and are the concepts seen as distinct constructs. Within every construct the amount of items were reduced, based on missing values, reliability analyses and factor loadings. First items with the most missing values were removed. Second, the reliability was checked, based on ‘Alpha if item deleted’ items were removed. Finally it was checked whether the simple structure for each component was visible, and whether this would change with another composition of items. These analyses resulted in the following structure.

Ability is measured with four items. Comprehensive recruitment is measured with ‘In recruiting, the organization emphasizes the potential of new hires to learn and grow with the company’. Rigorous selection is measured with ‘The organization spends a great effort in selection the right person for every position’, and extensive training is measured with ‘Employees will normally go through ongoing training programs’ and ‘Training programs are comprehensive’. Regarding the validity of the construct ability, the KMO coefficient was .83 and the Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant. The eigenvalue showed a one- dimensional construct, with a reliability of α=.83.

Motivation consisted of five items. Performance management is measured with ‘Employees receive performance feedback on a routine basis’. Competitive compensation, incentives and rewards and extensive benefits are measured with ‘Employees are fairly rewarded for the amount of effort they put into the job’. Promotion is measured with ‘Employees have the opportunities for promotion’, and career development is measured with ‘Employees have clear career paths within the organization’. Finally, job security is measured with ‘Employees perform jobs that have a high degree of job security’. The KMO - 20 - coefficient was .74 and the Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant. The eigenvalue showed a one dimensional construct. The reliability of the motivation construct was α=.80.

The last construct was opportunity, this construct consisted of four items. Flexible job design is measured with ‘Employees have broadly designed jobs requiring a variety of skills’. Work teams is measured with ‘The organization emphasizes employees’ teamwork and network collaboration’. Employee involvement is measured with ‘Employees are provided the opportunity to suggest improvements in the way things are done’ and information sharing is measured with ‘Employees receive information on the relevant concerns of the organization (goals, performance etc.). The KMO coefficient was .79 and the Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant. The eigenvalue showed a one-dimensional construct, the reliability of the construct was α=.86.

3.3.5 Control Variables To control for possible alternative explanations three control variables are included. The variables are gender, tenure and the amount of hours employed. Luksyte and Spitzmueller (2011) discuss that women might be more vulnerable to overqualification than men, Liu and Wang (2012) argue that tenure provide additional information on the impact of overqualification, and finally Erdogan and Bauer (2009) argue that the number of hours that employees are employed is related to performance. To make sure that the effects are not explained by these variables, they are included as control variables. With help of these control variables indirect effects, spuriousness effects and interaction effects are detected. Gender is coded as 0=Male and 1=Female. Tenure is asked as ‘How long have you been working for this organization?’, the answer contained years and months. The years and months are combined into one variable in the dataset. Finally hours employed is asked as ‘How many hours do you work per week?’.

3.3.6 Translating procedure The research is conducted in a Dutch speaking as well as English speaking company, therefore it was necessary to translate the English scales into Dutch. The recommended procedure of Brislin (1990) for survey translations across different languages is used. First an English speaker translated the survey into Dutch. Than a second translator translated the survey back in English, to detect any concerns about discrepancies between the English and Dutch version. The concerns that came across were discussed with the second translator, until an agreement was reached.

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3.4 Analysis At first a univariate and bivariate analysis are carried out to acquire information about the variables, the relationships between the variables and the distribution of the scale scores.

After these first analyses the hypotheses are tested with help of hierarchical regression analysis. Two analyses are executed, one for each dependent variable. For the hypotheses testing a significance level of 0.05 is maintained. When the p-value of the test is smaller than 0.05, it is determined that the model is significant with a reliability of 95%.

The first analysis regressed the dependent variable job crafting on the independent variables. The first block included the control variables gender, tenure and hours employed. The second block contained the control variables as well as the independent variable perceived overqualification. The third block included all previous variables and added the main effects of ability, motivation and opportunity. The final and fourth block included all previous variables and also added the interaction effects of AMO practices. The interaction term is computed by multiplying the predictors ability, motivation and opportunity with perceived overqualification. In order to avoid multicollinearity, the predictor variables are standardized. Standardization made it possible to easily compare different distributions. Standardizing in multiple regression analysis was necessary to neutralize the influence of units of measurement of different variables. In addition, VIF and tolerance values are inspected as well as residual outcomes.

The same structure is used to test the effect of perceived overqualification on OCB. Then the variable job crafting is replaced by the independent variable OCB.

The f-test for model testing is used to test whether the increase in explained variance is significant and the t-test is used to test if the effects are significant.

4. RESULTS

In this section the descriptives will be discussed as well as the hierarchical regression analyses to test the hypotheses.

4.1 Descriptives Table 1 shows the means, standard deviations and correlations of all variables. The table shows a negative significant correlation between tenure and perceived overqualification (r=- .42, p=.00). Hours worked per week correlates negatively with perceived overqualification

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(r=-.34, p=.00) and positively with job crafting (r=.30, p=.04). The positive correlation between OCB and job crafting (r=.61, p=.00) is not striking, because both variables are extra role behaviours. Ability practices positively correlates both with motivation practices (r=.79, p=.00) and opportunity practices (r=.76, p=.00). Finally, motivation practices positively correlate with opportunity practices (r=.71, p=.00). The high correlations between the AMO practices were also expected, since these constructs are all part of the high performance work practices. However, de Vocht (2009) argues that action needs to be taken when correlations are higher than .90.

It is interesting to see that the average worked hours per week is quite low (24.83, SD=11.30), compared to the average worked hours of the Dutch work population which is 30.6 (OECD, 2011). Erdogan and Bauer (2009) stated that the number of hours employed is strongly positively related to performance. Since it is stated that overqualified employees would engage in extra role performance because of time left, it could be argued that the low amount of worked hours needs to be taken into account. It is also notable that on a 7 point likert-scale the average score of perceived overqualification is 5.12 (SD=1.31), the average score of ability is 4.95 (SD=1.22), and the average score of opportunity is 5.10 (SD=1.15). This indicates that the majority of the employees of this company perceive themselves as quite overqualified, and perceive ability as well as opportunity practices as clearly taken place. The reason why the amount of employees that perceive themselves as overqualified is high could be the fact that this organization employs a lot of students of the nearby university. However, it was not asked whether the respondents were still studying or not. The table also shows that the sample includes more women than men. It could be that this organization employs reintegrated mothers, whom have other educational backgrounds than necessary for their job. Regarding the mean scores of the ability practices, motivation had the lowest mean. This is not surprising, monetary rewards are a great part of the practices, while the organization thinks that monetary rewards are not the most important motivator.

4.2 Test of hypotheses First, the results of all hypotheses concerning job crafting will be discussed and after that the results of all hypothesis concerning OCB will be discussed.

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Table 1. Means, standard deviations and correlations.

N Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1. Gender 84 0.61 0.49 - 2. Tenure 84 9.78 6.01 .06 - 3. Hours per 84 24.83 11.30 -.03 .36** - week 4. POQ 77 5.12 1.31 -.17 -.42** -.34** - 5. JC 54 4.53 0.79 -.05 .08 .30* .22 - 6. OCB 70 4.76 .88 -.25 .14 .23 -.04 .61** - 7. Ability 77 4.95 1.22 .07 -.04 -.14 -.19 -.06 .19 - 8. Motiva- 79 4.61 1.15 -.02 -.07 -.07 -.07 .10 .23 .79** - tion 9. Oppor- 81 5.10 1.15 .06 -.06 -.14 -.16 -.12 .13 .76** .71 - tunity **

*. Signigicant at a 0.05 level **. Significant at a 0.01 level; Gender men=0 women=1; Tenure years and months ranging from 0.42 till 24.67; Average worked hours per week ranging from4 till 40 hours; POQ, Ability, Motivation and Opportunity 7-point Likert scale ranging from totally disagree till totally agree; JC and OCB 7-point Likert scale ranging from never to always. Before interpreting the results, the output regarding multicollinearity will be discussed. The VIF values were all between 1.00 and 4.78, which is below the threshold of ten. The tolerance values were all between .21 and 1.00, which are all above the threshold of .10. Those outcomes prove that multicollinearity is not present. Regarding the residuals, all points of the normal P-P plot were located on or around the diagonal. As a result it can be assumed that the residuals approach normality.

The first hypothesis stated that Perceived Overqualification is positively associated with job crafting behaviour. As can be seen from table 2 this hypothesis is not supported by the data (β=.16 p>.05). In addition, entering perceived overqualification in step 2 of the regression analysis did not lead to a significant increase in explained variance (ΔR²=.03; Fchange= 1.51; p>.05).

Hypothesis 3.1, 4.1 and 5.1 contained the moderating effects of the high performance HR practices on the positive relation between perceived overqualification and job crafting. The results in table 2 show that high performance ability practices did not significantly moderate the relationship between perceived overqualification and job crafting (β=-.36 p>.05), hence H3.1 is rejected. Hypothesis 4.1 stated that the motivation practices will strengthen the positive association between perceived overqualification and job crafting when the practices are perceived as taken place. Table 2 did not show a significant effect for an interaction effect

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(β=-.04 p>.05), thus H4.1 is rejected. Hypothesis 5.1 stated that the positive association between perceived overqualification and job crafting will be strengthened when the opportunity practices are perceived as taken place. The results in table 2 show that this effect is not significant (β=.08 p>.05). Hence, hypothesis 5.1 is rejected.

All moderating effects were entered in the fourth step of the regression analysis. Entering the interaction effects did not lead to a significant increase in explained variance (ΔR²= .12; Fchange=2.10; p>.05).

Table 2. Results regression analysis Job crafting: standardized regression coefficients, proportion explained variance (R and R change) and the corresponding F-values (F and F change)

Variables Job Crafting Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4

β P β P β P β P Gender .12 .60 .19 .42 .21 .40 .27 .26 Tenure -.02 .40 -.01 .66 -.01 .67 -.01 .60 Hours per week .02 .04 .03 .02 .03 .03 .02 .06 POQ .16 .23 .17 .24 .20 .17 Ability .04 .84 .04 .84 Motivation .17 .38 .19 .32 Opportunity -.14 .44 -.12 .51 POQ*Ability -.36 .20 POQ*Motivation -.04 .83 POQ*Opportunity -.08 .65 R2 .09 .12 .16 .28 F 1.56 .21 1.56 .20 1.08 .40 1.44 .20 ΔR2 .09 .03 .25 .07 F change 1.56 .21 1.51 .23 .50 .69 2.10 .12

After describing the results from the relations with the first dependent variable job crafting, this section will now go on with the results from the relationships concerning the second dependent variable organizational citizenship behaviour.

Before interpreting the results, again, the output regarding multicollinearity will be discussed. The VIF values were all between 1.00 and 4.78, which is below the threshold of ten. The tolerance values were all between .21 and 1.00, which are all above the threshold of .10. Those outcomes prove that multicollinearity is not present. Regarding the residuals, all points of the normal P-P plot were located on or around the diagonal. As a result it can be assumed that the residuals approach normality.

Hypothesis 2 stated that the association between perceived overqualification and organizational citizenship behaviour is positive. Table 3 shows that this hypothesis is not

- 25 - supported (β=-.04, P>.05). In addition, adding perceived overqualification in the second step of the regression analysis did not lead to a significant increase in explained variance (ΔR²=.00; Fchange= .10; p>.05), hence H2 is not supported.

Hypothesis 3.2, 4.2 and 5.2 concerned the moderating effects of the high performance HR practices on the relationship between perceived overqualification and organizational citizenship behaviour. Hypothesis 3.2 stated that the perception of the execution of ability practices will strengthen the positive association between perceived overqualification and OCB. As can be seen in table 3, this effect is not supported (β=-.45 p>.05). Hypothesis 4.2 stated that the positive association between perceived overqualification and OCB will be strengthened when the motivation practices are perceived as taken place. As can be seen in table 3, no significant effect is found (β=.17 p>.05). The last hypothesis, hypothesis 5.2, stated that the perception of the execution of opportunity practices will result in a strengthening in the positive association between perceived overqualification and OCB. Again, as shown in table 3, hypothesis 5.2 is not supported (β=.10, p>.05). In addition, adding the interaction effects in the fourth step of the regression analysis did not lead to an increase in explained variance (ΔR²=.05; Fchange=1.14; p>.05).

Table 3. Results regression analysis Organizational citizenship behaviour: standardized regression coefficients, proportion explained variance (R and R change) and the corresponding F-values (F and F change)

Variables Organizational citizenship behaviour Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 β P β P β P β P Gender -.31 .17 -.33 .16 -.32 .18 -.31 .19 Tenure .01 .74 .01 .82 .01 .70 .01 .77 Hours per week .02 .09 .02 .12 .02 .08 .02 .14 POQ -.04 .76 .02 .86 .00 .98 Ability .14 .50 .19 .38 Motivation .10 .58 .09 .65 Opportunity .02 .91 -.05 .79 POQ*Ability -.45 .11 POQ*Motivation .17 .39 POQ*Opportunity .10 .58 R2 .10 .10 .16 .21 F 2.13 .11 1.60 .19 1.43 .22 1.35 .23 ΔR2 .10 .00 .06 .05 F change 2.13 .11 .10 .76 1.17 .33 1.14 .34

4.3 Post hoc analyses During the analyses other interesting questions came above. These questions and findings will be discussed in this section, the tables concerning the post-hoc results are included in appendix 7.2. - 26 -

It was striking to see that the mean of the perceived overqualification scale was quite high (M=5.12, SD=1.31). Since the educational background of the participants and the educational requirement for the job are known, objective overqualification is also known. Therefore it is checked what the relations are between objective overqualification and job crafting and OCB and whether these relationships are moderated by the AMO practices. For these analyses are all objective overqualified employees coded as 1 and all just qualified people coded as 0. With the option ‘select cases’ are all objective overqualified sales employees selected (thus not the just qualified employees and not the managers and specialists, since they have other educational requirements). An interesting finding is present. Although no significant relationship is found between perceived overqualification and job crafting, the relationship between objective overqualification and job crafting is significant (β=.33, P<.05). For the dependent variable OCB no significant relationships are found.

Table 1 shows high means and high standard deviations for tenure (M=9.78, SD=6.01) and for average hours worked per week (M=24.83, SD=11.30). This could indicate that for some employees this job is the main job, while for others it is a side job. It is investigated whether the effects differ for these different groups of employees. Unfortunately, the regression analysis missed a lot of numbers it was not possible to do the regression due to the small sample. Appendix 7.3 shows cross tabulations with perceived overqualification and all control variables. These tables show the distribution of characteristics of employees and the extent to which employees feel overqualified.

The final set of post-hoc analyses concerns the AMO practices. The high correlations between the constructs signal that AMO practices could might not be seen as distinct constructs. Therefore the final analysis include the AMO practices as one construct. Again, for the dependent variable OCB no significant relationships are found. However, for the relationship between perceived overqualification and job crafting a significant moderating effect is found for the AMO practices (β=-.29, P<.05). A single slope test is executed, the visual graph can be found in appendix 7.2. Also analyses are carried out for the construct objective overqualification, the dependent variables and the AMO practices as a whole. However, these analyses did not show significant relationships.

5. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

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5.1 Discussion The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of overqualification on job crafting and OCB and the extent to which AMO practices moderate the effects of overqualification on both outcome variables. A survey research under 84 employees in low-educated jobs is carried out in order to get insight into the relationships. The interpretation of the results will be discussed by outcomes.

First of all, hypothesis 1 is rejected, the relationship between perceived overqualification and job crafting is not significant. This relationship was explained with help of the person-job fit theory (Carless, 2005). An overqualified employee holds a misalignment between the contributed knowledge, skills, and abilities and the work situation, which motivates the individual to restore this mismatch, with help of job crafting (Berg, Grant & Johnson, 2012). Although a relationship is not found, the mean score on the job crafting scale was 4.53. This mean score is quite high, therefore it could be assumed that the employees do craft their job. The mean score on perceived overqualification scale, was also quite high 5.12, which tells that the employees perceive themselves as overqualified. Watt and Hargis (2010) have shown in their research that people who feel bored at work perceive that their knowledge, skills and abilities are underused. The performed jobs in this research population are characterized as low-educated jobs, tasks are repetitive and mostly simple. It could be that instead of overqualification, boredom explains the feeling of underuse of skills, knowledge and abilities. Employees can still craft their job in order to satisfy needs and preferences, but not based upon perceived overqualification. The results of the post-hoc analysis show that for those employees that actually are overqualified the relationship with job crafting is significant. A difference thus exist between objective overqualification and perceived overqualification. Both groups of employees can craft their job because of the feeling of underuse of knowledge, skills and abilities, only the reason why they craft is different.

The second hypothesis is also not accepted, which means that in this research population perceived overqualification is not significantly associated with organizational citizenship behaviour. It was argued, based on human capital theory and the functional approach to behaviour, that an overqualified employee has surplus capabilities and time left to engage in valued behaviours such as OCB, and that OCBs help the overqualified employee to pursue desired career development. Current research assumes that engaging in OCB is a reaction or response on the perception of the job or organization (Rioux & Penner 2001). As stated before, overqualified employees do have expectations about their jobs. The relative

- 28 - deprivation theory states that perceived discrepancies between personal expectations and attainments produce an uncomfortable state, which leads to an urge to protest and rebel (Walker & Mann, 1987). It can thus be assumed that overqualified employees feel deprived because expectations do not meet their attainments, which leads to a more negative perception of the organization or job. As a result, overqualified employees will not engage in OCB or at least will not spend their extra time on desired organizational behaviour.

It was thought that, based on the psychological contract and the social exchange theory, the high performance HR practices would have a strengthening effect on the positive relationships of perceived overqualification on the outcome variables (H3.1 till H5.2). However, results show that the ability, motivation and opportunity practices do not significantly moderate the relation between perceived overqualification and job crafting and OCB. Regarding table 1, it can be seen that the means of the practices are quite high (on a 7- point Likert scale: Ability M=4.95, SD=1.22, Motivation M=4.61, SD=1.15 and Opportunity M=5.10, SD=1.15). It can thus be argued that the employees of this organization perceive the high performance HR practices as taken place. It is than very surprising that the employees do not react with the desired behaviour, taking into account the psychological contract theory and the social exchange theory. According to Biron, Farndale and Paauwe (2011) can practices act as signal in order to provoke behaviour. This signalling theory states that an interaction exist between the chosen practices by the organization and the behaviour of the employees. It could be that the employees do not conceive the signals and therefore not react upon it. On the other hand, Feldman, Leana and Bolino (2002) state that overqualified employees feel both the desire and the entitlement to have better jobs, resulting in negative job and career attitudes when they feel underemployed. It could be, that although the employees perceive the practices as taken place they still don’t meet the high expectations of overqualified employees. As a result employees that perceive themselves as overqualified will not engage in job crafting nor OCB when the high performance HR practices are perceived as taken place.

A final point of discussion appears from the post-hoc analysis, which is executed to find out the interaction effect of the AMO practices as a whole on the relationship between perceived overqualification and job crafting and OCB. The results show that AMO practices significantly interact the relationship between perceived overqualification and job crafting. Results show that job crafting behaviour increases when overqualified employees perceive the AMO practices as less taken place, while job crafting behaviour decreases when the practices are perceived as taken place. It was assumed that the ability, motivation and opportunity

- 29 - practices would have a strengthening effect on the relationship between perceived overqualification and job crafting. Therefore it is surprising that the results show a mitigating effect for the interaction effect of the AMO practices on the relationship between perceived overqualification and job crafting. It is argued that overqualified employees craft their job in order to restore the person-job mismatch or to pursue personal needs and preferences. Macky and Boxall (2007) argue that HR practices lead to positive employee attitudes. As a result overqualified employees will feel less need to craft their job, because they already feel accomplished due to the high performance practices. So, when practices are perceived as taken place, less job crafting behaviour will be necessary. In contrast to the perception of HR practices as less taken place, then the overqualified employee needs to craft their job more in order to restore the person-job misfit.

5.2 Limitations and future research This research investigated the relationship between perceived overqualification and OCB, and how AMO practices might moderate these relationships. A comment can be made regarding the research design. The measurement only took place at one point in time. Therefore implications exist to make causal inferences. Causality means that a change in one event brings about a change in another event. This causality can only be proven with a longitudinal study or an experiment. These designs are therefore preferable for future research.

Also related to the research design is the external validity, which concerns the generalizability of the results, and the context. The organization that is used to conduct the research is not randomly assigned. The organization was available within the researcher’s personal network. The advantage of this choice is the familiarity with the organization, and the available internal resources. The respondents were all part of the sales department, which resulted in a homogeneous data sample. Within this homogeneous sample, different subgroups existed. Employees with only a few hours and a short tenure, and employees with more hours and long tenure, which probably shows the difference between side jobs and main jobs. Generalizing to the research sample is possible, due to the homogeneity. Furthermore, generalizing is able to organizations with the same kind of characteristics. The performed job is characterized as low educated. In the Netherlands, approximately 30% of all employment is characterised as low educated (Josten, 2010). It is thought that, in those branches, the two distinct groups also exist. The findings concerning the difference between perceived and objective overqualification, will probably also be visible here. On the one hand, would it be

- 30 - interesting to investigate whether this finding really is a characteristic of low educated jobs. On the other hand, would it also be interesting to see how the relationship works for high- educated jobs. For future research it is recommended to investigate the relationship between overqualification and extra role behaviours for different kind of worker characteristics, among different types of jobs, to create a more complete insight.

Regarding the population sample, the response rate was very low, not much employees filled in the questionnaire. Due to a large rebuilding in the sales department, only 84 out of 194 employees did participate in the research. Also the ‘not applicable’ option was chosen frequently, as a result a lot of missing values appeared. The small sample resulted in a lack of significant relationships. A larger dataset will probably lead to more interesting results. When looking at the high mean scores on the variables, it seems that the participants gave social desirable answers. Social desirable answers bias measurements in a particular direction and reduce the variation (Singleton & Straits, 2005). However, it is not sure whether the small dispersion could be dedicated to social desirability or to the fact that the respondents are homogeneous. Also when regarding the organizations’ two yearly employee satisfaction research, it seems that the employees are very satisfied and positive about the organization. So, although it looks like employees gave desired answers it seems that the employees just are very positive. The answers should thus be interpreted as reliable scores. Within future research more care must be pointed towards attaining a greater response rate, also all possible tools must be used in order to generate reliable answers. In order to generate reliable answers, more care is needed in constructing the questionnaire. Using indirect questions, attention towards placement and wording, securing anonymity and making a contract could be helpful tools (Singleton & Straits, 2005).

Taking into account the instruments, a comment could be made regarding the measurement of the AMO practices. The scale of the AMO practices is constructed for the aim of this research. The construct is defined and all relevant items were assigned to cover the full construct. Although the scale is constructed with great care, no previous research is conducted to test the reliability and validity. It also appeared that no clear three factor structure was found within the AMO scale. Also, looking at the correlations (table 1) the three constructs are highly correlated. As a result, one could argue that ability, motivation and opportunity could not be seen as separated constructs. The post-hoc analysis also shows that using AMO practices as one construct leads to useful outcomes, while a three dimensional construct doesn’t give any result. However, researchers acknowledge the three constructs as

- 31 - delivering different outcomes (Jiang et al., 2012), so relevance for investigating the contribution of the different constructs still exist. More research is necessary on the creation of a valid and reliable AMO scale, and furthermore, on the interaction effects of the AMO scale on proactive behaviour.

Another direction for future research is to investigate a possible mediating effect of high performance HR practices. This research investigated how high performance HR practices moderate the relationship between perceived overqualification and extra role performance. However, it would also be interesting to see if high performance HR practices mediate the relationship between perceived overqualification and extra role behaviour. As stated before, it is argued that companies reduce the training costs for higher educated employees (Phelps, 1998). It can be assumed that other practices are also adopted to the extent to which employees are educated. Takeuchi, Lepak, Wang and Takeuchi (2007) already found linkages between high performance work practices and establishment performance. Research is necessary in order to investigate whether this mediating effect of high performance HR practices really exists. Knowing how this mediating effect works, will lead to a valued insight for HR practitioners. For example, when overqualification leads to less received HR practices and still leads to an increase in extra-role performance, hiring overqualified employees will have an (cost) advantage above under- or just-qualified employees, who probably need more HR practices.

Tims, Bakker and Derks (2006) discovered a distinction between four components of job crafting. Namely increasing structural job resources, decreasing hindering job demands, increasing social job resources and increasing challenging job demands. However, in this research it was chosen to approach job crafting as one construct, to first check if a relationship does exist at all. Now that this research shows that objective overqualification is related to job crafting, future research can investigate whether the effects of job crafting differ for the different components. Since Erdogan et al. (2011) state that overqualified employees suffer from boredom and a low morale it can be assumed that the effect on the component of increasing challenging job demands might be stronger than the other components. So, separating the components of job crafting will give an interesting view on the effects of overqualification.

Besides job crafting, OCB can also be separated in different constructs. Lee and Allen (2002) divide OCB in a construct measuring organizational citizenship behaviour towards the individual, and organizational citizenship behaviour towards the organization. While - 32 -

Podsakoff et al. (2000) make a distinction between seven dimensions, namely helping behaviour, sportsmanship, organizational loyalty, organizational compliance, individual initiative, civic virtue and finally self-development. These different dimensions show that OCB may not be seen as one construct. This may also explains the lack of significant relationships within the OCB part of the research. It could be that overqualified employees only engage in some dimensions of the OCB construct. This phenomenon could be investigated in future research.

Different missing values appeared at the AMO scale, which may pointed out that the employees do not know everything about all practices. Therefore, a final comment for future research is to take into account the theory of Wright and Nishii (2007). In their research, Wright and Nishii (2007) claim the importance of individual variance and processes that involve the relationship from intended HR practices to perceived HR practices, and further to organizational performance. In this research only the perception of HR practices from employees is taken into account as interaction effect. However, Wright and Nishii (2007) argue that understanding how HR practices influence performance requires investigation of all mediating factors of the HR practices. It is argued that variance occurs at each level of the HR practices link. It would be very interesting to do multilevel-analysis in order to create understanding in how the different levels operate. In this way, insight is gained in the process model, but it will also be known how the different actors perceive the practices. Discrepancies or similarities between the opinions of the different actors become visible. This insight will be valuable for practice as well as for science.

5.3 Practical and theoretical implications The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between perceived overqualification and job crafting and OCB, and whether these relationships were moderated by the AMO practices. Thompson (2005) argued that personal initiative is expected by the employer, and above that necessary for employee performance, personal growth and positive organizational change. In other words proactive behaviours, like job crafting and OCB, are necessary for the organization. Since more and more employees are overqualified and former research has shown the negative aspects of overqualification (Erdogan & Bauer, 2009; Johnson & Johnson, 1996; Johnson & Johnson 2000; Lobene, 2010; Maynard, Joseph & Maynard, 2006; Nabi, 2003) this research contributes to the literature and practice by investigating the relationship between perceived overqualification and positive proactive behaviours. The theoretical implication here can be found in the fact that a relationship is only

- 33 - found for objective overqualification, not for perceived overqualification. It can be concluded that it matters for the presence of particular behaviour whether employees perceive themselves as overqualified or whether they really are overqualified. Erdogan et al. (2011) already announced this discrepancy between objective and subjective overqualification, and the difficulties that arise with this finding. This research increases the urge to investigate the causes and consequences of overqualification.

Besides the inclusion of extra role behaviour, this research also included high performance HR practices as moderator. Research states that performance is best attained when the HR system pays attention to the ability, motivation and opportunity of the employees (Boselie, Dietz & Boon, 2005). It was thought that the practices separately would interact the relationship. However, using the AMO practices as one-dimensional construct has led to results. This finding is relevant for the literature, since the discussion still exist whether HR practices should be used separate or as synergy (Gerhart, 2007).

The European organization for vocational education expects that the amount of higher educated employees will exceed the amount of available jobs (Uitham, 2012). So, it is thus highly relevant to question what kind of behaviours overqualified employees are likely to execute, and how overqualified employees perceive HR practices. This insight gives possibilities to take action. The inclusion of proactive behaviour and the perception of AMO practices thus also determine the practical relevance. As said before, proactive behaviour is necessary. Results show a positive relationship between objective overqualification and job crafting. Berg, Dutton, Wrzesniewski (2008) state that job crafting results in more enjoyment and meaning out of work, enhancement in work identity, and an increase in performance. All those positive outcomes are desired by organizations, therefore it is useful to know how to increase this particular behaviour. The results show that job crafting behaviour increases when overqualified employees perceive AMO practices as less taken place. This means that the HR practitioner doesn’t need to take extra effort in order to satisfy their overqualified employees. Offering too much practices will lead to a decrease in job crafting. It seems that overqualified employees are willing to create their own preferences, and not getting everything imposed from the organization.

The practical implications for HR practitioners are twofold. On the one hand this research shows that it is not necessary to reject overqualified employees. Recruitment is mostly based on signs of objective qualifications (Erdogan et al., 2011). This research shows that hiring objective overqualified employees benefit. Objective overqualified employees bring in - 34 - surplus skills, knowledge and abilities, which could be useful in daily business, and objective overqualified employees perform behaviour that is valued by the organization. On the other hand, shows this research that having employees that perceive themselves as overqualified does not need to be a problem. Research showed that the use of AMO practices result in a change in job crafting behaviour for overqualified employees. Job crafting is seen as a tool for employees to restore the person-job misfit. In this way can the HR practitioner create an environment in which employees can adapt to the situation in a way that they feel better utilized.

5.4 Conclusion This study investigated the relationship between perceived overqualification and extra role behaviour. Unfortunately, no significant relationships were found in the initial set of analyses. However, post-hoc analyses in this study show a positive relation between objective overqualification and job crafting. Furthermore, results show that ability, motivation and opportunity practices separately did not result in a significant relation, but AMO practices as synergy significantly interact the relationship between perceived overqualification and job crafting. Further research is necessary to give more specific insight into the effects of perceived overqualification on extra role behaviour. This research pointed out that overqualification does not only have negative outcomes, and moreover, that HR managers do have the possibility to get the best out of their overqualified employees by offering the right combination of high performance HR practices.

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7. APPENDICES

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7.1 Appendix I: Tables with factor analyses

Table 4. Factor analysis Perceived overqualification

Scale: Perceived Overqualification My job requires less education than I have .86 The work experience that I have is not necessary to be successful on this job .67 I have job skills that are not required for this job .71 Someone with less education than myself could perform well on my job .77 My previous training is not being fully utilized on this job .51 I have a lot of knowledge that I do not need in order to do my job .73 My education level is above the education level required by my job .87 Someone with less work experience than myself could do my job just as well .62 I have more abilities than I need in order to do my job .83 Eigen value (% explained variance) 4.91 (54.50) Rotation method: No rotation

Table 5. Factor analysis Job crafting

Scale: Job crafting I try to develop my capabilities .74 I try to develop myself professionally .76 I try to learn new things at work .71 I make sure that my work is mentally less intense .48 I try to ensure that my work is emotionally less intense .53 I manage my work so that I try to minimize contact with people whose problems affect me .51 emotionally I ask my supervisor to coach me .53 I ask whether my supervisor is satisfied with my work .50 I look to my supervisor for inspiration .23 When an interesting project comes along I offer myself proactively as project co-worker .64 If there are new developments, I am one of the first to learn about them and try them out .64 When there is not much to do at work, I see is as a change to start new projects .69 Eigenvalue (% Explained variance) 4.26 (35.50) Rotation: No rotation

Table 6. Factor analysis OCB

Scale: Organizational Citizenship behaviour Willingly give your time to help others who have work-related problems. .72 Adjust your work schedule to accommodate other employees’ requests for time off .54 Give up time to help others who have work or non-work problems .78 Assist others with their duties .75 Attend functions that are not required but that help the organizational image .85 Offer ideas to improve the functioning of the organization .75 Take action to protect the organization from potential problems .84 Defend the organization when other employees criticize it .78 Eigenvalue (% explained variance) 4.58 (57.21) Rotation: No rotation

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Table 7. Factor Analysis AMO

Scale: High performance work practices The organization spends a great effort in selecting the right person for .43 every position The organization uses extensive procedures in recruitment and .44 .37 selection, including a variety of tests and interviews In recruiting, the organization emphasizes the potential of new hires to .51 .33 learn and grow with the company Employees will normally go through on-going training programs .85 Training programs are comprehensive .97 Training programs strive to develop firm-specific skills and .86 knowledge. Employees are promoted based on merit, rather than seniority within .41 the organization Employees have clear career paths within the organization .58 Employees have the opportunities for promotion .39 .46 Employees receive performance feedback on a routine basis .36 .62 Performance appraisals include developmental feedback .50 .37 Employees receive monetary rewards based on their individual .89 performance Employees perform jobs that have a high degree of job security .46 Employees are fairly rewarded for the amount of effort they put into .52 .50 their job Compensation/rewards are based on the market wage (going rate) .90 Employees are invited to participate in a wide range of issues, .77 including performance standards, quality improvement , benefits etc. Employees are provided the opportunity to suggest improvements in .53 the way things are done Supervisors keep open communications in the organization .58 Employees receive information on the relevant concerns of the .53 .34 organization (goals, performance etc.) Employees have broadly designed jobs requiring a variety of skills .69 The organization emphasizes employees’ job rotation and flexible .43 work arrangements in different work areas In general, people in other departments cooperate well with me to help .31 me get my job done The organization emphasizes employees’ teamwork and network .63 collaboration 10.60 1.78 1.32 Eigenvalue (% Explained variance) (46.07) (7.73) (5.74) Rotation: Oblimin

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Table 8. Factor analysis Ability

Scale: Ability The organization spends a great effort in selecting the right person for every position .69 In recruiting, the organization emphasizes the potential of new hires to learn and grow with the .83 company Employees will normally go through on-going training programs .88 Training programs are comprehensive .87 Eigenvalue (% Explained variance) 2.69 (67.30) Rotation: No rotation

Table 9. Factor Analysis Motivation

Scale: Motivation Employees have clear career paths .77 Employees have the opportunities for promotion .85 Employees receive performance feedback on a routine basis .78 Employees perform jobs that have a high degree of security .57 Employees are fairly rewarded for the amount of effort they put into their job .72 Eigenvalue (% Explained variance) 2.76 (55.25) Rotation: No rotation

Table 10. Factor analysis Opportunity

Scale: Opportunity Employees are provided the opportunity to suggest improvements in the way things are done .91 Employees receive information on the relevant concerns of the organization (goals, .84 performance etc.) Employees have broadly designed jobs requiring variety of skills .80 The organization emphasizes employees’ teamwork and network collaboration .80 Eigenvalue (% Explained variance) 2.82 (70.38) Rotation: No rotation

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7.2 Appendix II: Results Post-Hoc analyses

Table 11: all selected ability, motivation and opportunity items together as one AMO scale for dependent variable job crafting

Variables Job Crafting Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 β P β P β P β P Gender .12 .60 .19 .43 .21 .39 .29 .22 Tenure -.02 .41 -.01 .67 -.01 .75 -.01 .80 Hours per week .02 .04 .03 .02 .03 .02 .02 .04 POQ .16 .23 .19 .17 .26 .06 AMO .10 .39 .15 .20 POQ*AMO -.29 .02 R2 .09 .12 .14 .25 F 1.53 .22 1.53 .21 1.36 .26 2.23 .06 ΔR2 .09 .03 .02 .11 F change 1.53 .22 1.48 .23 .74 .39 5.76 .02

Figure 2. Visual graph of interaction effect

5

4,5

4

3,5

3 Job Crafting 2,5 Low AMO practices 2 High AMO 1,5 practices

1 Low Perceived High Perceived Overqualification Overqualification

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Table 12: all selected ability, motivation and opportunity items together as one AMO scale for dependent variable OCB

Variables Organizational citizenship behaviour Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 β P β P β P β P Gender -.31 .18 -.33 .17 -.29 .22 -.26 .28 Tenure .01 .75 .01 .83 .01 .63 .01 .61 Hours per week .02 .10 .02 .12 .02 .07 .02 .11 POQ -.04 .76 .03 .80 .06 .66 AMO .23 .06 .25 .04 POQ*AMO -.12 .34 R2 .10 .10 .16 .18 F 2.02 .12 1.51 .21 2.03 .09 1.84 .11 ΔR2 .10 .00 .06 .02 F change 2.02 .12 .09 .76 3.77 .06 .92 .34

Table 13: Regression analysis with selected cases: objective overqualification and sales employees, for dependent variable job crafting

Variables Job crafting

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 β P β P β P β P

Gender -.05 .82 .04 .85 .08 .74 .19 .41 Tenure -.00 .84 .01 .54 .01 .52 .01 .63 Hours per week -.02 .06 .03 .01 .03 .02 .02 .05 POQ .33 .02 .32 .03 .33 .03 Ability -.05 .83 -.15 .52 Motivation .28 .15 .38 .09 Opportunity -.17 .35 -.10 .58 POQ*Ab -.02 .94 POQ*Mot -.28 .24 POQ*Opp .07 .71

R2 .09 .21 .27 .35 F 1.39 .26 2.72 .04 1.94 .09 1.81 .10

ΔR2 .09 .12 .05 .08 F change 1.39 .26 6.19 .02 .92 .44 1.37 .27

- 47 -

Table 14: Regression analysis with selected cases: objective overqualification and sales employees, for dependent variable OCB

Variables Job crafting

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 β P β P β P β P

Gender -.43 .07 -.42 .08 -.42 .08 -.36 .16 Tenure .01 .50 .02 .49 .02 .39 .02 .50 Hours per week .01 .18 .02 .18 .02 .11 .02 .17 POQ .03 .82 .09 .55 .08 .59 Ability .14 .52 .12 .62 Motivation .13 .52 .14 .56 Opportunity -.03 .89 .01 .95 POQ*Ab -.17 .62 POQ*Mot -.09 .71 POQ*Opp .14 .50

R2 .12 .12 .19 .22 F 2.33 .09 1.73 .16 1.60 .16 1.24 .29

ΔR2 .12 .00 .07 .03 F change 2.33 .09 .05 .82 1.38 .26 .51 .68

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7.3 Appendix III: Cross tabulations post-hoc analyses

Cross tabulation Gender and Perceived overqualification

Perceived Overqualification Total 0-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 Count 0 0 2 3 6 6 14 31 % Within gender 0% 0% 6.5% 9.7% 19.4% 19.4% 45.2% 100.0% %Within POQ 0% 0% 28.6% 33.3% 37.5% 27.3% 63.6% 40.3% Men % of Total 0% 0% 2.6% 3.9% 7.8% 7.8% 18.2% 40.3%

Count 0 1 5 6 10 16 8 46 Gender % Within gender 0% 2.2% 10.9% 13.0% 21.7% 34.8% 17.4% 100.0% %Within POQ 0% 100% 71.4% 66.7% 62.5% 72.7% 36.4% 59.7%

Women % of Total 0% 1.3% 6.5% 7.8% 13.0% 20.8% 10.4% 59.7% Count 0 1 7 9 16 22 22 77 % Within gender 0% 1.3% 9.1% 11.7% 20.8% 28.6% 28.6% 100% %Within POQ 0% 100.0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Total % of Total 0% 1.3% 9.1% 11.7% 20.8% 28.6% 28.6% 100%

Cross tabulation Age and Perceived overqualification

Perceived overqualification Total 0-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 Count 0 0 0 1 4 8 14 27

30 % Within age 0% 0% 0% 3.7% 14.8% 29.6% 51.9% 100.0% - % Within POQ 0% 0% 0% 11.1% 25.0% 36.4% 63.6% 35.1% 21 % of Total 0% 0% 0% 1.3% 5.2% 10.4% 18.2% 35.1% Count 0 0 2 1 2 5 6 16

40 % Within age 0% 0% 12.5% 6.3% 12.5% 31.3% 37.5% 100% - % Within POQ 0% 0% 28.6% 11.1% 12.5% 22.7% 27.3% 20.8% 31 % of Total 0% 0% 2.6 1.3 2.6 6.5 7.8 20.8

Age Count 0 0 2 4 8 8 2 24

50 % Within age 0% 0% 8.3% 16.7% 33.3% 33.3% 8.3% 100.0% - % Within POQ 0% 0% 28.6% 44.4% 50.0% 36.4% 9.1% 31.2% 41 % of Total 0% 0% 2.6% 5.2% 10.4% 10.4% 2.6% 31.2% Count 0 1 3 3 2 1 0 10

62 % Within age 0% 10.0% 30.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0% 100.0% - % Within POQ 0% 100.0% 42.9% 33.3% 12.5% 4.5% 0% 13.0% 51 % of Total 0% 1.3% 3.9% 3.9% 2.6% 1.3% 0% 13.0% Count 0 1 7 9 16 22 22 77 % Within age 0% 1.3% 9.1% 11.7% 20.8% 28.6% 28.6% 100.0% % Within POQ 0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Total % of Total 0% 1.3% 9.1% 11.7% 20.8% 28.6% 28.6% 100.0%

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Cross tabulation Tenure and Perceived overqualification

Perceived overqualification Total 0-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 Count 0 0 0 1 1 5 13 20

5 % Within tenure 0% 0% 0% 5.0% 5.0% 25.0% 65.0% 11.0% -

0 % Within POQ 0% 0% 0% 11.1% 6.3% 25.0% 68.4% 28.2% % of Total 0% 0% 0% 1.4% 1.4% 7.0% 18.3% 28.2% Count 0 0 2 3 7 2 2 16 % Within tenure 0% 0% 12.5% 18.8% 43.8% 12.5% 12.5% 100.% 10 -

6 % Within POQ 0% 0% 33.3% 33.3% 43.8% 10.0% 10.5% 22.5% % of Total 0% 0% 2.8% 4.2% 9.9% 2.8% 2.8% 22.5%

Count 0 1 2 3 5 10 3 24

15 % Within tenure 0% 4.2% 8.3% 12.5% 20.8% 41.7% 12.5% 100.% - % Within POQ 0% 100.0% 33.3% 33.3% 31.3% 50.0% 15.8% 33.8% 11 Tenure % of Total 0% 1.4% 2.8% 4.2% 7.0% 14.1% 4.2% 33.8% Count 0 0 1 2 2 1 1 7

20 % Within tenure 0% 0% 14.3% 28.6% 28.6% 14.3% 14.3% 100.% - % Within POQ 0% 0% 16.7% 22.2% 12.5% 5.0% 5.3% 9.9% 16 % of Total 0% 0% 1.4% 2.8% 2.8% 1.4% 1.4% 9.9% Count 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 4

25 % Within tenure 0% 0% 25.0% 0% 25.0% 50.0% 0% 100.% - % Within POQ 0% 0% 16.7% 0% 6.3% 10.0% 0% 5.6% 21 % of Total 0% 0% 1.4% 0% 1.4% 2.8% 0% 5.6% Count 0 1 6 9 16 20 19 71 % Within tenure 0% 1.4% 8.5% 12.7% 22.5% 28.2% 26.8% 100.% % Within POQ 0% 100.0% 100.% 100.% 100.% 100.% 100.% 100.% Total % of Total 0% 1.4% 8.5% 12.7% 22.5% 28.2% 26.8% 100.%

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Cross tabulation average worked hours per week and Perceived overqualification

Perceived overqualification Total 0-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 Count 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 7

8 % Within hours 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 57.1% 42.9% 100.0% -

0 % Within POQ 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 18.2% 13.6% 9.1% % of Total 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 5.2% 3.9% 9.1% Count 0 0 0 1 1 5 10 17 % Within hours 0% 0% 0% 5.9% 5.9% 29.4% 58.8% 100.0% 16 -

9 % Within POQ 0% 0% 0% 11.1% 6.3% 22.7% 45.5% 22.1% % of Total 0% 0% 0% 1.3% 1.3% 6.5% 13.0% 22.1% Count 0 1 3 3 4 4 1 16

24 % Within hours 0% 6.3% 18.8% 18.8% 25.0% 25.0% 6.3% 100.0% - % Within POQ 0% 100.% 42.9% 33.3% 25.0% 18.2% 4.5% 20.8% 17 % of Total 0% 1.3% 3.9% 3.9% 5.2% 5.2% 1.3% 20.8% Count 0 0 1 1 4 4 2 12

32 % Within hours 0% 0% 8.3% 8.3% 33.3% 33.3% 16.7% 100.0% - % Within POQ 0% 0% 14.3% 11.1% 25.0% 18.2% 9.1% 15.6% 25

Average hours worked per week per worked hours Average % of Total 0% 0% 1.3% 1.3% 5.2% 5.2% 2.6% 15.6% Count 0 0 3 4 7 5 6 25

40 % Within hours 0% 0% 12.0% 16.0% 28.0% 20.0% 24.0% 100.0% - % Within POQ 0% 0% 42.9% 44.4% 43.8% 22.7% 27.3% 32.5% 33 % of Total 0% 0% 3.9% 5.2% 9.1% 6.5% 7.8% 32.5% Count 0 1 7 9 16 22 22 77 % Within hours 0% 1.3% 9.1% 11.7% 20.8% 28.6% 28.6% 100.0% % Within POQ 0% 100.% 100.% 100.% 100.% 100.% 100.0% 100.0% Total % of Total 0% 1.3% 9.1% 11.7% 20.8% 28.6% 28.6% 100.0%

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7.4 Appendix IV: Covering letter and Questionnaire English version

Hej,

I would like to introduce myself. I am Jessica, 22 years old and working for the organization since June 2011. Besides working as KOZA at the textiles department, I am also busy with the last year of my study ‘Human resource studies’ at Tilburg University. In order to achieve my master degree I would like to do research for the organization.

The expectation is that more than half of the Dutch population will be highly educated, and that through this the necessity arises that highly educated employees need to work beneath their level of education. It is already known that being overqualified has negative outcomes, like a lower work- and life satisfaction, more stress, lower organizational commitment, and a higher turnover. These negative outcomes negatively affect the overall organizational performance.

Therefore it is necessary to create insight in how this phenomena is spread within this organization. The aim of my research is to gain this insight, to point attention towards this possible problem en to see what the possible solutions are. When managers, team leaders and the HR department are aware of the presence of this phenomena, and anticipate on it, we can influence the behavioural outcomes and with that the organizational performance. Highly educated employees are also employed within this organization, let’s make sure that they actually want to be part of the organization.

I hope that I have informed you enough with this flyer and I hope that you also became enthusiastic about this project. With your help I can get the maximum of data, and we can than work together to ensure that we achieve great results.

Thanks in Advance,

Jessica van der Ende

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General Questions

Are you male or female?  Male  Female

What is your age? _____ years

What is your highest completed education? Primary school Secondary school High school College degree University degree

How long have you been working for this ______year(s) and ______month(s) organization? How long have you been working on your current ______year(s) and ______month(s) department?

What type of contract do you have? Permanent contract / a contract fora n indefinite period of time Fixed-term contract / a contract for a definite period of time Temporary worker Other

How many hour do you work per week? _____ hours

Do you work full- or parttime? Fulltime Parttime

To which job category do you belong? Manager Professional (marketing, sales, HR etc.) Technician Clerical support worker Service and/or sales worker Plant, machine operator, assembler Elementary occupation Othe

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To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

Not Neither Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly applicable Disagree disagree Agree Disagree Disagree Agree Agree / Don’t nor agree know

I would choose to leave my team and join another

The members of my team get along well together

The members of my team will readily defend each other from criticism by outsiders.

I feel that I am really a part of my team

I look forward to being with the members of my team each day. I find that I generally do not get along with the other members of my team. I enjoy belonging to this team because I am friends with many group members.

The team which I belong to is a close one.

My manager understands my problems and needs.

I ususally know where I stand with my manager

My manager recognizes my potential.

Regardless of how much power my manager has, my manager would be personally inclined to use his/her power to help me solve problems in my work. Regardless of the amount of formaly authority my manager has, I can count on my manager to ‘bail me out’ even at his or her own expense, when I really need it.

I have enough confidence in my manager that I would defend and justify his or her decisions if he or she was not present to do so. I have an effective working relationship with my supervisor.

The organization cares about my opinions.

The organization really cares about my well being.

The organization strongly considers my goals and values.

The organization shows a lot of concern for me.

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Strong Somewh Neither Strong ly Disagre at disagree Somewh Not applicable / Agree ly Disagr e Disagre nor at Agree Don’t know Agree ee e agree

My job requires less education than I have

The work experience that I have is not necessary to

be successful on this job

I have job skills that are not required for this job

Someone with less education than myself could

perform well on my job My previous training is not being fully utilized on

this job I have a lot of knowledge that I do not need in order

to do my job My education level is above the education level

required by my job Someone with less work experience than myself

could do my job just as well I have more abilities than I need in order to do my

job

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

Neither Not Strongly Somewhat disagree Somewhat Strongly applicable Disagree Agree Disagree Disagree nor Agree Agree / Don’t agree know

All in all, I am satisfied with my job

In general, I like working here

All things considered, I am satisfied with my current job During the next year, I will probably look for a new job outside my current employer I am seriously considering quitting the organization for an alternative employer I feel a strong sense of belonging to this organization The organisation has a strong sense of personal meaning for me

I feel ‘emotionally attached’ to this organisation

I feel like ‘part of the family’ in my organisation

I would be very happy to spend the rest of my

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career with this organisation

I really feel as if this organisation’s problems are

my own

To what extent are the following statements applicable to you?

Much Not More Much less Less than Same as applicable/ than more than than usual usual Don’t ususal usual usual know Have you recently been able to concentrate on whatever you are doing?

Have you recently lost much sleep over worry?

Have you recently felt constantly under strain?

Have you recently been able to enjoy your normal day to day activities? Have you recently been able to face up to your problems? Have you recently been feeling unhappy and depressed? Have you recently been losing confidence in yourself? Have you recently been feeling reasonably happy, all things?

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

Neither Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Not a applicable / Disagree disagree Agree Disagree Disagree Agree Agree Don’t know nor agree I try to develop my capabilities I try to develop myself professionally I try to learn new things at work I make sure that my work is mentally less intense I try to ensure that my work is emotionally less intense

I manage my work so that I try to minimize contact with people whose problems affect me emotionally I ask my supervisor to coach me I ask whether my supervisor is satisfied with my work

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I look to my supervisor for inspiration When an interesting project comes along I offer myself proactively as project co-worker If there are new developments, I am one of the first to learn about them and try them out When there is not much to do at work, I see is as a change to start new projects

To what extent are the following statements applicable to you?

Almost Not applicable / Never Rarely Sometimes Often Very often Always never don’t know

Willingly give your time to help others who have work-related problems.

Adjust your work schedule to accommodate other employees’ requests for time off

Give up time to help others who have work or non-work problems

Assist others with their duties

Attend functions that are not required but that help the organizational image Offer ideas to improve the functioning of the organization Take action to protect the organization from potential problems Defend the organization when other employees criticize it

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To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

Neither Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Not applicable / Disagree disagree Agree Disagree Disagree Agree Agree Don’t know nor agree The organization spends a great effort in selecting the right person for every position The organization uses extensive procedures in recruitment and selection, including a variety of tests and interviews In recruiting, the organization emphasizes the potential of new hires to learn and grow with the company Employees will normally go through on-going training programs

Training programs are comprehensive

Training programs strive to develop firm-specific skills and knowledge. Employees are promoted based on merit, rather than seniority within the organization Employees have clear career paths within the organization

Employees have the opportunities for promotion

Employees receive performance feedback on a routine basis Performance appraisals include developmental feedback Employees receive monetary rewards based on their individual performance Employees perform jobs that have a high degree of job security Employees are fairly rewarded for the amount of effort they put into their job Compensation/rewards are based on the market wage

(going rate) Employees are invited to participate in a wide range of issues, including performance standards, quality improvement , benefits etc. Employees are provided the opportunity to suggest improvements in the way things are done Supervisors keep open communications in the organization Employees receive information on the relevant concerns of the organization (goals, performance etc.)

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Employees have broadly designed jobs requiring a variety of skills The organization emphasizes employees’ job rotation and flexible work arrangements in different work areas In general, people in other departments cooperate well with me to help me get my job done The organization emphasizes employees’ teamwork and network collaboration

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about you organization?

Neither Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Not applicable / Disagree agree nor Agree disagree disagree agree agree Don’t know disagree

My knowledge skills and abilities match the

requirements of my job.

My job fulfils my needs.

My job is a good match for me.

My job enables me to do the kind of work I

want to do. The values of the organization are similar to

my own values. My personality matches the personality or

image of the organization. The organization fulfills my needs.

The organization is a good match for me.

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