Hey boss, I’m overqualified! Exploring how overqualified employees engage in followership behaviors through coping strategies.

Drawing from regulatory focus theory, this research strives to investigate why and how overqualified employees engage in different types of followership behaviors using different coping strategies. Specifically, we develop a two-pathway model to propose that, while employees with objective overqualification tend to adopt prevention-focused coping strategy, which positively predicts their impression management action, those with perceived overqualification are likely to adopt promotion-focused coping strategy and engage in proactive followership behavior. Meanwhile, we hypothesize that leader–member exchange serves as a key boundary condition, weakening the positive relationship between objective overqualification and prevention-focused coping strategy while strengthening the positive relationship between perceived overqualification and promotion-focused coping strategy. We test our conceptual model using two multiwave surveys. Findings of Study 1 (N = 240) support our proposed overqualification–coping strategy relationships and leader–member exchange as a key moderator. Results of Study 2 (N = 525) replicate the findings of Study 1 and test the full model. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.