Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 4 (2011), 256259.

Copyright 2011 Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. 1754-9426/11

Overqualified Women:
What Can Be Done About This
Potentially Bad Situation?
ALEKSANDRA LUKSYTE AND CHRISTIANE SPITZMUELLER
University of Houston

When we mention that we study overqualification, more than any other comments
we hear, Overqualification? Perceived? It
does not exist. Although it is true that perceived overqualification concerns peoples
subjective opinion about the compatibility
of their credentials and job requirements, it
is also true that peoples perceptions drive
their behavior. If your supervisor tells you
that based on objective criteria you are adequately qualified for your job, yet you feel
you have more qualifications than needed
to adequately perform your core tasks, you
will behave commensurate with your feelings, not your managers objective standards. This situation poses challenges for
organizations: If perceived overqualification is in employees heads, can managers
predict which people will be susceptible to
feelings of overqualification and how these
perceptions influence their work behavior?
Erdogan, Bauer, Peiro,
and Truxillo (2011)
asked a similar question and posited that
knowing antecedents and consequences of
overqualification for different populations
will help organizations to more effectively
manage these employees. We agree and
build on their ideas and the theory of differential overqualification (Frank, 1978) to

Correspondence concerning this article should be

addressed to Aleksandra Luksyte.
E-mail: alexluksyte@gmail.com
Address: Department of Psychology, University of
Houston, 126 Heyne Building, Houston, TX 772045022

discuss why women may be more susceptible to overqualification than their male
coworkers. We argue that not only familial responsibilities but also organizational
factors may explain the heightened levels
of overqualification among women, discuss
the negative consequences of overqualification for womens well-being and job
performance, and make specific suggestions
for managers to mitigate negative consequences of overqualification for women.

Are Women More Vulnerable to

Overqualification?
More than 3 decades ago, Frank (1978)
developed the theory of differential overqualification in which he suggested that married
women are more likely than married men
to feel overqualified because usually a familys decision to relocate is based on the
husbands, not the wifes career. This, in
turn, results in women holding jobs that
are available, not desired, which increases
the risk of overqualification among females.
Since the inception of this theory, the modern labor force has changed dramatically
with women currently constituting 46.8%
of the total U.S. labor force and 34%
of managers (U.S. Department of Labor,
2009). Family roles and norms have also
changed with dual-earner families constituting 57% of the current labor force
and the increasing number of men taking
on childcare responsibilities in dual-earner

256

Gender and overqualification

households (Kelleher, 2007). Given these

changed workforce and family dynamics,
does the theory of differential overqualification hold true today?
Some may argue that based on the
increased visibility of women in the workforce, the theory is not applicable in
the modern marketplace; indeed its relevance was refuted by several researchers
(McGoldrick & Robst, 1996; Wald, 2005).
Yet, others supported the notion of women
being tied movers or tied stayers,
which increased their feelings of overqualification (Buchel

& Battu, 2003). Couple

it with research on invisible barriers to
womens career advancement (i.e., glass
ceiling; Eagly & Sczesny, 2009) and the
persistence of gender-based stereotypes,
and you have a disturbing truth: The theory of differential overqualification may
be as applicable in todays workplace as
it was 30 years ago. Specifically, women
have limited access to resources resulting in
fewer promotion opportunities (Lyness &
Heilman, 2006). Also, although men and
women experience comparable levels of
familywork conflict (i.e., participation in
family activities interferes with work obligations; Powell & Greenhaus, 2010), managers often perceive their female subordinates as having greater familywork conflict than men (Hoobler, Wayne, & Lemmon, 2009). These perceptions perpetuate
the glass ceiling effects because managers view their female employees as poor
organizational fit and are reluctant to promote them (Hoobler et al., 2009), which
likely heightens feelings of overqualification among female employees. Furthermore, women have fewer job alternatives
because in dual-earner careers they usually
take on family and childcare responsibilities (Cha, 2010; Grady & McCarthy, 2008).
These internal (i.e., organizational structure) and external (i.e., familial obligations)
impediments likely heighten womens perceptions of being overqualified.
In addition, research on gender differences in negotiation may explain why
women are more susceptible to perceived overqualification than their male

257

colleagues. Specifically, women are four

times less likely than their men coworkers
to initiate bargaining regarding improved
working conditions, which has serious consequences for womens lives and careers
(Babcock, Laschever, Gelfand, & Small,
2003). This lack of negotiating among
female employees may be one of the
reasons women are paid less (Blau &
Kahn, 2007; Judge & Livingston, 2008), are
awarded fewer pay increases (Balkin &
Gomez-Mejia, 2002), and are offered
fewer promotion opportunities (Blackaby,
Booth, & Frank, 2005) than their male
coworkers in comparable positions and
holding equivalent qualifications. Gender
differences in negotiating likely lead to
inequitable resource allocation, which will
prevent women from utilizing all their credentials, ultimately resulting in heightened
feelings of overqualification.
Outcomes of Overqualification for
Women
Although overqualification is associated
with a host of negative consequences (e.g.,
counterproductive work behavior; Luksyte,
Spitzmueller, & Maynard, in press) across
all employees, it likely has a particularly
negative effect on women. Equity and referent cognition theories (Adams, 1963; Folger & Martin, 1986) may prove useful in
explaining why. These theories indicate that
employees often compare the outcomes
they receive with those received by others
to gauge their relative standing and ascertain how they feel about the situation. When
women grow overqualified because of the
glass ceiling effects or organizational failure to adjust gender differences in negotiating improved work conditions, they will
experience reduced motivation and engagement especially if important employment
decisions (e.g., promotion) were assigned
to their male colleagues with comparable
qualifications. For these reasons, overqualified women will be reluctant to engage
in extra-role behaviors such as helping their
coworkers with work-related concerns. This
inequitable treatment may not only suspend

258

helping but also likely stimulate withdrawal

actions such as lateness, absenteeism, and
reduction of work efforts among overqualified women. In doing so, overqualified
women may get even with the organization that fails to adequately accommodate
ones qualifications across gender.
Furthermore, high levels of overqualification among women may be detrimental
not only for organizationally valued outcomes, but it likely has negative consequences for womens health. Specifically,
being tied stayers or tied movers,
overqualified women cannot voluntarily
quit their jobs because of the limited job
alternatives. As a result, they likely feel
trapped in their current jobs and experience a heightened sense of hopelessness
about the general job market. Because
a lack of control over ones life and
work outcomes reduces well-being (Wang,
Bowling, & Eschleman, 2010), overqualified women likely experience deteriorated
health because of the inability to proactively
change the unfavorable work conditions
(i.e., overqualification).
Managing Overqualification
Among Women
There are several actions that managers
can implement to minimize prevalence
of overqualification among their female
employees and its negative consequences.
First, managers should promote greater
transparency in performance-outcome contingencies among all their employees and
specifically among women. On the basis
of the equity and referent cognition theories (Adams, 1963; Folger & Martin, 1986),
women compare their outcomes with those
received by men in similar positions and
holding analogous qualifications. When
these linkages are not transparent, women
may feel that they have been passed over
important employment decisions because
of the glass ceiling, which exacerbates
overqualification among females. Alternatively, the heightened attention to and clarity of career advancement criteria likely
minimize inequitable treatment of female

A. Luksyte and C. Spitzmueller

employees and ensure that employment

decisions (e.g., promotion, pay raise) are
based on peoples performance, not their
demographics. When promotion criteria
are clear, women can more easily compare their outcomes with those of men
and adjust potential inequalities in employment outcomes, which lessen feelings of
perceived overqualification among females.
This, in turn, likely improves psychological well-being and engagement as well
as reduces withdrawal behaviors among
female employees.
Second, managers should be aware of
their own biases (i.e., all women workers
have high familywork conflict; Hoobler
et al., 2009) when evaluating their women
subordinates promotability and career
potential, which may worsen overqualification among females. Although we do
not advise ignoring familial responsibilities of female employees, we argue that
managers should neither assume stereotypically high levels of familywork conflict
for their female subordinates nor base their
employment decisions solely on the familial situation of their female employees. To
avoid these biases, managers can be trained
to consciously reflect upon whether genderbased stereotypes impact their employment decisions regarding all employees and
women in particular. This, in turn, will
minimize elevated levels of overqualification among women and attenuate deleterious outcomes of overqualification for this
population.
Finally, organizational decision makers
should be aware of gender differences
in the propensity to negotiate that may
lead to higher levels of overqualification
among women. For example, managers can
educate their female subordinates about
the importance of negotiation in not only
achieving valued work outcomes but also
reducing potentially high levels of overqualification. Managers can train their female
subordinates on effective negotiation strategies such as relational, cooperative style
(Bowles & Babcock, 2008), or indirect
approach (e.g., sad face for expressing
displeasure; Bowles & Flynn, 2010). For

Gender and overqualification

example, women can be advised to rationalize their desire for higher pay or a
promotion by mentioning their potentially
overqualified status and its deleterious consequences. By utilizing these negotiation
strategies women will achieve desired work
outcomes and reduce perceived overqualification. In addition, managers can close
gender inequalities in negotiating behaviors
by being vigilant of disparities in employment outcomes across gender and adjust
these differences. In doing so, organizations
will reduce high levels of overqualification
among their female subordinates and manage these incumbents more effectively by
improving their psychological well-being
and job performance and reducing undesired withdrawal behaviors.
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