How does perceived underemployment influence expatriate job-related outcomes? A moderated mediation study

Abstract

Although research has investigated the consequences of underemployment in domestic settings, research on the effects of underemployment among expatriates remains limited and has yielded inconsistent results. From a theoretical perspective, there is a need for a better understanding of the mechanisms through which underemployment affects various work-related outcomes and to account for potential contingencies. Drawing on the person-job fit literature and research on organizational identification, we theorise and empirically examine how and under what conditions underemployment influences expatriate performance. Using an original primary data-set of 103 Japanese expatriate managers in the UK, we find that underemployment affects expatriate work outcomes by increasing expatriates’ maladjustment and that this effect is moderated by the level to which expatriates identify with their organization.

Keywords:

• Perceived underemployment
• work maladjustment
• organizational identification, expatriate performance
• person-job fit theory

Notes

1. Feldman (1996) distinguishes underemployment resulting from poor fit between an individual and job requirements in terms of education, skills and experience, time (i.e. jobs that provide too few hours) and salary (i.e. jobs that pay too little). In this study, underemployment refers to skills-related underemployment, defined by Pedulla and Newman (2011, p. 234) as the ‘mismatch between a worker’s formal education or labor market experience and her current job’. Similar to Erdogan and Bauer (2011, p. 215), underemployment in our study captures ‘the degree to which a person possesses more skills, education, and experience than the job demands and requirements’. Additionally, we focus on subjective (i.e. perceived) rather than objective underemployment because (objective) employment characteristics generate the underemployment phenomenon when they do not suit employees’ own desires and expectations (Anderson & Winefield, 2011; Feldman, 1996).

2. These three dimensions of expatriate performance have been chosen in response to calls in existing research to consider task performance, contextual performance and premature return intention as important elements of a broader conceptualization of expatriate assignment-specific performance (e.g. van der Heijden et al., 2009; Kraimer & Wayne, 2004). We decided to measure these three distinctive indicators of expatriate success for theoretical and practical reasons. First, task performance reflects an in-role dimension of the performance construct. It has been argued that person-job misfit constrains individuals to acquire declarative knowledge and to make efforts to solve problems, ultimately lowering the levels of task proficiency and work efficiency (Bashshur, Hernández, & Peiró, 2011). The second dimension of performance, contextual performance, refers to pro-social values and attitudes towards others in the organization. There is a clear consensus among P-J fit researchers that this performance construct is essential for understanding the adverse impact of person-job misfit since poor social behaviors may adversely affect organizational effectiveness due to a lack of social interactions and cooperation with colleagues (Borman & Motowidlo, 1997; Connelly, Wilkin, & Gallagher, 2011; Lauver & Kristof-Brown, 2001). We use expatriates’ premature return intention as our third dimension of expatriate performance. The results of Maynard and Parfyonova’s study (Maynard & Parfyonova, 2013) revealed that job mismatch activates withdrawal cognitions. In the context of expatriation, individuals’ poor fit with their jobs may trigger the failure to complete assignment objectives, consequently damaging not only own career advancement goals but also the interests of the organization (Kraimer et al., 2009). From a practical point of view, it is thus imperative for organizations to embrace the value of a P-J fit since human capital is a key source of competitive advantage (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005). For these reasons, we decided to choose the three dependent variables that lead us to capture the relative costs of perceived expatriate underemployment.

3. Although there are overlaps between organizational identification and the person-organization-fit discussed in the P-E-fit theory, the two concepts differ in nature. The former indicates the degree of psychological oneness whereas the latter highlights the level of value congruence. We would like to thank one of the reviewers for highlighting the potential overlaps between these two concepts.

4. We would like to thank one of the anonymous reviewers for highlighting this possibility.

5. We would like to thank one of the anonymous reviewers for highlighting this possibility. The results of this additional analysis are available from the authors. We used Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling, and Boudreau’s (2000) challenge-related stress, which was measured through the six-item scale. Job clarity was measured by six items that were originally developed by Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman (1970).

6. We would like to thank one of the anonymous reviewers for highlighting this limitation.

7. We would like to thank one of the anonymous reviewers for raising these limitations.