Breaking the rules,not the law: The potential risks of counterproductive work behaviors among overqualified employees

The extent to which overqualified employees may engage in counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) remains unclear. This study investigated the relationships between objectively measured overqualification (OOQ), perceived overqualification (POQ), and combinations of four lower‐order facets of CWB. The results found OOQ to be associated with POQ, which was in‐turn associated with minor‐CWB and organizational‐oriented CWB, but not with serious‐ or interpersonal‐oriented CWB. This is one of the first studies to examine CWB as a consequence of OOQ, and one of the few studies to differentially predict serious versus minor CWBs.