Tall Trees Catch much Wind? Investigating the Role of Supervisor Perceived Status Threat in Linking Employee Overqualification to Supervisor Undermining.
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| Title: | Tall Trees Catch much Wind? Investigating the Role of Supervisor Perceived Status Threat in Linking Employee Overqualification to Supervisor Undermining. |
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| Authors: | Liu, Fang1 (AUTHOR), Duan, Chenggang2 (AUTHOR) chgduan@uestc.edu.cn, Zhang, Melody Jun3 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Journal of Business Ethics. Sep2025, Vol. 200 Issue 3, p509-527. 19p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Employees, Supervisors, Risk perception, Superior-subordinate relationship, Underemployment, Threat (Psychology) |
| Abstract: | Overqualified employees are prevalent in today's organizations. While previous research suggests that supervisors may not often appreciate employee overqualification, how they may respond to the overqualification of their subordinates unethically has unfortunately been overlooked in organizational research. Drawing on social rank theory, we propose that supervisors may perceive a threat to their status from their overqualified subordinates, leading to supervisor undermining as an unethical response. We further hypothesize that the interpersonal personality traits of subordinates—extroversion and agreeableness—moderate the indirect relationship. We conducted a multi-wave, multisource survey study among supervisor-subordinate dyads (Study 1) and two vignette-based experiments (Studies 2A and 2B) to test our hypotheses. In Study 1, our results show that the positive indirect effect of subordinate overqualification on supervisor undermining through supervisor perceived status threat is weaker when subordinates exhibit low (vs. high) extraversion. Studies 2A and 2B largely replicate the above findings with strengthening the internal validity of our theorization. The implications of our findings for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Journal of Business Ethics is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 187621678 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Tall Trees Catch much Wind? Investigating the Role of Supervisor Perceived Status Threat in Linking Employee Overqualification to Supervisor Undermining. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Liu%2C+Fang%22">Liu, Fang</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Duan%2C+Chenggang%22">Duan, Chenggang</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> chgduan@uestc.edu.cn</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Zhang%2C+Melody+Jun%22">Zhang, Melody Jun</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR) – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Business+Ethics%22">Journal of Business Ethics</searchLink>. Sep2025, Vol. 200 Issue 3, p509-527. 19p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Employees%22">Employees</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Supervisors%22">Supervisors</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Risk+perception%22">Risk perception</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Superior-subordinate+relationship%22">Superior-subordinate relationship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Underemployment%22">Underemployment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Threat+%28Psychology%29%22">Threat (Psychology)</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Overqualified employees are prevalent in today's organizations. While previous research suggests that supervisors may not often appreciate employee overqualification, how they may respond to the overqualification of their subordinates unethically has unfortunately been overlooked in organizational research. Drawing on social rank theory, we propose that supervisors may perceive a threat to their status from their overqualified subordinates, leading to supervisor undermining as an unethical response. We further hypothesize that the interpersonal personality traits of subordinates—extroversion and agreeableness—moderate the indirect relationship. We conducted a multi-wave, multisource survey study among supervisor-subordinate dyads (Study 1) and two vignette-based experiments (Studies 2A and 2B) to test our hypotheses. In Study 1, our results show that the positive indirect effect of subordinate overqualification on supervisor undermining through supervisor perceived status threat is weaker when subordinates exhibit low (vs. high) extraversion. Studies 2A and 2B largely replicate the above findings with strengthening the internal validity of our theorization. The implications of our findings for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Business Ethics is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=187621678 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1007/s10551-025-05926-w Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 19 StartPage: 509 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Employees Type: general – SubjectFull: Supervisors Type: general – SubjectFull: Risk perception Type: general – SubjectFull: Superior-subordinate relationship Type: general – SubjectFull: Underemployment Type: general – SubjectFull: Threat (Psychology) Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Tall Trees Catch much Wind? Investigating the Role of Supervisor Perceived Status Threat in Linking Employee Overqualification to Supervisor Undermining. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Liu, Fang – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Duan, Chenggang – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Zhang, Melody Jun IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 21 M: 09 Text: Sep2025 Type: published Y: 2025 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 01674544 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 200 – Type: issue Value: 3 Titles: – TitleFull: Journal of Business Ethics Type: main |
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