Employees’ Perceived Overqualification and Spouses’ Family‐Work Enrichment: Examining the Role of Schedule Control and Competitive Climate

Abstract

Resources are critical for family‐work enrichment (FWE), meaning that more resources facilitate higher FWE. This suggests that living with overqualified partners—those with surplus skills, abilities, and work experience—might increase spouses’ FWE. However, this may not always be true, as overqualified employees may lack motivation or opportunities to transfer their surplus resources to home domains, thereby reducing their spouses’ FWE. Drawing on the crossover of resources theory, this study posits that the nature of this relationship depends on employees’ schedule control or the competitive climate via social support for spouses. We examined the proposed moderated mediation model in two studies. Study 1 ( N = 246) was based on a sample of hospital employees and their spouses, and Study 2 ( N = 328) used matched data from employees of an information technology company and their spouses. Study 1 showed that when schedule control was higher or competitive climate was lower, perceived overqualification was positively related to spouses’ FWE through increased social support. We constructively replicated these effects in Study 2 using (a) instrumental and emotional support; (b) additional outcomes such as spouses’ job performance and work well‐being; and (c) alternative mediators and moderators. Across the two studies, our research supports the transfer of the surplus resources of overqualified employees to facilitate their spouses’ FWE in favorable work contexts.