How and when perceived overqualification fuels procrastination: job embeddedness as a mediator and leader humility as a moderator

Purpose This study examines how perceived overqualification (POQ) influences job embeddedness and workplace procrastination, with job embeddedness as a mediating mechanism and leader humility as a boundary condition. Design/methodology/approach Time-lagged, two-wave data were collected from 426 Gen Z employees across various industries in Indonesia. The PROCESS procedure was used to evaluate moderated mediation models using the SMART PLS 4.1 program. Findings POQ is negatively associated with job embeddedness and positively associated with workplace procrastination. Job embeddedness, in turn, is negatively associated with procrastination. However, contrary to expectations, the indirect pathway through job embeddedness was not supported. Leader humility moderates the relationships between POQ and both job embeddedness and procrastination, such that high leader humility strengthens the POQ–job embeddedness and POQ–procrastination relationships. Originality/value This study establishes POQ as an antecedent of job embeddedness and examines the direct POQ–procrastination link. It also introduces leader humility as a contextual resource that attenuates the negative consequences of POQ on organizational attachment and task-delay behaviors.