Overqualification Effects on Organizational Attitude in Hospitality and Tourism SMEs: The Moderating Role of Interpersonal Influence

Abstract

The study explores the moderating role of interpersonal influence in the relationship between overqualification and social distance, in the context of hotels and travel agents in Egypt. Drawing on the social influence theory, the study develops an integrative model examining the links between overqualification, social distance and four distinct organizational attitudes (i.e., intention to quit, job satisfaction, well-being and counterproductive). Using data collected from 409 hotels and travel agents, we show that interpersonal influence plays an important role in reducing the negative influence of overqualification on social acceptance. We also reveal that overqualification has an influence on employees’ intention to quit, job satisfaction, well-being, and counterproductive behaviour through the mediating role of social acceptance. Finally, social acceptance is determined to be a predictor of organizational attitude. A call to investigate proximal behavioral results, such as feedback-seeking and knowledge sharing so that the approaches incorporated with organizational attitude can be more explicitly understood. Moreover, it would be advantageous to distinguish between different types of overqualification. The current research suggests ways to diminish the likely unfavorable consequences of overqualification, through the impact of interpersonal influence and social acceptance, in order to maximize and best utilize the potential of overqualified employees.

Keywords

• overqualification
• organizational attitude
• social acceptance
• interpersonal influence
• social influence theory