Underutilized Skills, Lost Drive? The Impact of Employees' Perceived Overqualification on Work Passion

XIANG Shuting¹, ZHOU Zhirui¹, XIE Xiaoyun², ZHANG Yucheng², WU Shan¹
(¹ School of International Business, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China)
(² School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

Abstract

Based on self-concept theory, this study examines the nonlinear effects of perceived overqualification on employees' work passion. Through analyzing paired questionnaire data from 856 employees and their direct supervisors at a large state-owned bank across four time points, we found: (1) an inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage; (2) perceived justice of performance evaluation negatively moderates the curvilinear relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage; (3) perceived relative job advantage is positively correlated with both harmonious work passion and obsessive work passion; (4) a nonlinear mediated moderation effect exists, whereby the interactive effect of employees' perceived overqualification and perceived justice of performance evaluation indirectly influences harmonious and obsessive work passion through perceived relative job advantage; (5) leader work meaning enhancement positively moderates the relationship between perceived relative job advantage and work passion; and (6) harmonious work passion is positively correlated with employees' in-role and extra-role performance. These findings not only enrich research on perceived overqualification but also offer managerial insights for enterprises responding to the national advocacy for high-quality and full employment.

Keywords: Perceived overqualification, perceived relative job advantage, work passion, perceived justice of performance evaluation, leader work meaning enhancement

1. Introduction

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China report states: "Employment is the most fundamental aspect of people's livelihood. We must strengthen employment-first policies, improve employment promotion mechanisms, and foster high-quality and full employment." However, with the continuous expansion of higher education and increasingly fierce competition in the labor market, an increasing number of highly educated and experienced workers are choosing jobs that fall below their actual capabilities, creating a phenomenon of "underutilization of talent." Reports indicate that the matching rate between workers' education levels and job positions in China's labor market is only 39.7%¹. Data from major domestic online recruitment platforms show that approximately half of job seekers possess educational qualifications exceeding job requirements (Zheng et al., 2021). This social phenomenon is termed overqualification, wherein employees' education, work experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities exceed job demands (Maynard et al., 2006). When employees perceive their work situation as overqualified, this is referred to as perceived overqualification (Johnson & Johnson, 1996; Liao et al., 2024; Zhang et al., 2023). Perceived overqualification has garnered widespread scholarly attention, with most research exploring its negative effects from a person-job misfit perspective, such as leading to work alienation (Cao & Wei, 2022), sense of meaninglessness at work (Liu et al., 2025), and reduced organizational citizenship behavior (Chen et al., 2017; Li et al., 2022), knowledge sharing (Kong et al., 2025), innovative behavior (Li & Chen, 2022), and job performance (Ding et al., 2022). Some studies have begun to examine the "bright side" of perceived overqualification, finding that it can enhance proactive work behavior (Deng et al., 2018; Peng et al., 2023) and knowledge sharing intentions (Li, Sun et al., 2025), motivate employee voice (Zhou et al., 2020), and improve performance (Ma, Ganegoda et al., 2023; Zhang et al., 2021). Beyond these frequently examined outcomes, recent research has increasingly focused on the impact of perceived overqualification on work passion (e.g., Cheng et al., 2021; Cheng et al., 2020; Guo et al., 2022; Wu & Zi, 2024).

Work passion refers to employees' tendency to exhibit strong love for their work, attach high importance to it, and be willing to invest continuously, primarily comprising harmonious work passion and obsessive work passion. The distinction between these two types lies in whether work has been internalized into an individual's core self or identity (Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003; Vallerand et al., 2003). Employees with harmonious work passion experience high congruence between their work and authentic self, enabling autonomous work engagement and experiencing pleasure. In contrast, employees with obsessive work passion are driven by internal and external pressures, exhibiting uncontrollable compulsive investment in work (Astakhova & Porter, 2015). Existing research indicates that perceived overqualification reduces harmonious work passion (Cheng et al., 2021; Cheng et al., 2020; Wu & Zi, 2024) and enhances obsessive work passion (Guo et al., 2022). However, other studies show that perceived overqualification can enhance proactive behavior by strengthening role breadth self-efficacy (Zhang et al., 2016) or improve work initiative by stimulating work motivation (Ma et al., 2020), suggesting that perceived overqualification may also enhance harmonious work passion and reduce obsessive work passion. These inconsistent findings may arise because existing research has focused on linear effects of perceived overqualification on employee work states (e.g., Bochoridou & Gkorezis, 2023; Ding et al., 2022; Liu et al., 2024; Wu et al., 2025), while neglecting potential nonlinear effects (e.g., Duan et al., 2022; Lin et al., 2017). Additionally, boundary conditions have been insufficiently explored (Ma, Ganegoda et al., 2023; Pan & Hou, 2024). Consequently, how perceived overqualification influences employee work passion remains unclear.

To address these theoretical gaps, this study draws on self-concept-based theory (Leonard et al., 1999) to examine the influence mechanisms and boundary conditions of perceived overqualification on work passion. First, self-concept theory posits that the perceived self is a crucial component of self-concept, referring to individuals' perceptions of their actual characteristics, abilities, and values. The construction of the perceived self relies on ordinal standards, whereby individuals determine their self-concept level by comparing their attributes with others (Leonard et al., 1999). This study selects perceived relative job advantage to measure employees' perceived self formed through comparing work attributes with colleagues in similar positions, arguing that as perceived overqualification gradually increases, employees' perceived relative job advantage will first strengthen and then weaken, exhibiting an inverted U-shaped relationship. This effect represents the formation process of employees' work ability perceptions. Second, according to self-concept theory, the perceived self is influenced by task feedback from the environment. This study selects perceived justice of performance evaluation as a representative variable of task feedback (London & Smither, 1995), emphasizing its "self-perception calibration" role in the process of employees' work ability perception formation, thereby moderating the relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage. Third, self-concept theory further suggests that to maintain cognitive consistency, individuals exhibit behaviors consistent with their perceived self. Accordingly, employees' perceived relative job advantage drives their work passion, representing the formation process of work motivation. Fourth, since the perceived self is also influenced by social feedback from the environment, this study selects leader work meaning enhancement as a representative variable of social feedback (Smither et al., 2005), emphasizing its "meaning construction" role in the formation process of work motivation, thereby moderating the relationship between perceived relative job advantage and work passion. Fifth, this study also examines whether work passion can translate into beneficial distal work outcomes (Vallerand et al., 2003), specifically its impact on job performance.

This study's contributions are threefold. First, by revealing the nonlinear relationship and boundary mechanisms between perceived overqualification and work passion, it overcomes the limitation of existing research that focuses primarily on linear relationships, helping to further clarify the complex effects of perceived overqualification on work passion. Second, based on self-concept theory and from the perspective of the perceived self, it examines the mechanism through which perceived overqualification influences work passion via perceived relative job advantage, helping to theoretically clarify the influence mechanism and expanding the application of self-concept theory in perceived overqualification research. Third, by examining how organizational performance feedback and leader-provided work meaning feedback serve as boundary conditions in the relationship between perceived overqualification and work passion, it helps to further clarify the roles of task and social feedback in self-concept theory.

1.1 Employee Perceived Overqualification and Perceived Relative Job Advantage

According to self-concept theory, the perceived self is an important dimension of self-concept influenced by ordinal standards (Leonard et al., 1999). In the workplace, perceived relative job advantage represents a typical perceived self, referring to employees' sense of job advantage derived from comparing work attributes with colleagues in similar positions, such as relatively higher job autonomy, responsibility, and promotion opportunities (Feldman et al., 1997; Kraimer et al., 2012). This study proposes an inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage. Specifically, as perceived overqualification increases, employees sense that their abilities and experience exceed job requirements (Russell et al., 2016), enabling them to accomplish work goals with ease (Zhang et al., 2016), demonstrate stronger work potential (Erdogan et al., 2011), and make positive social contributions (Hu et al., 2015; Khan et al., 2022). Consequently, compared with colleagues in similar positions, employees feel a stronger sense of status superiority, promotion opportunities, and work autonomy (Deng et al., 2018), perceiving greater relative job advantage. However, when perceived overqualification reaches a certain level, employees feel their abilities far exceed job demands, making them more susceptible to strong negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, boredom, and damaged self-esteem due to the large gap between actual work and expectations (Howard et al., 2022; Yang & Li, 2021). To alleviate cognitive dissonance caused by person-job misfit, employees adjust their self-perception (Leonard et al., 1999), such as lowering self-promotion ratings (Erdogan et al., 2020) and reducing cognitive evaluations of their superiority over colleagues (Erdogan & Bauer, 2009), resulting in gradually weakened perceived relative job advantage. In summary, as employees' perceived overqualification increases, their perceived relative job advantage first strengthens and then weakens. Accordingly, we propose:

H1: Employee perceived overqualification has an inverted U-shaped relationship with perceived relative job advantage.

1.2 The Moderating Role of Perceived Justice of Performance Evaluation

Self-concept theory indicates that the perceived self is influenced by task feedback during environmental interaction. Task feedback refers to direct feedback individuals receive about task outcomes, and when it is inconsistent with the perceived self, individuals adjust their cognition to cope with cognitive dissonance (Leonard et al., 1999). Perceived justice of performance evaluation is an important factor through which employees obtain task feedback (London & Smither, 1995), referring to employees' perception that their performance evaluation results fairly reflect actual work conditions (Korsgaard & Roberson, 1995). This study argues that perceived justice of performance evaluation plays a "self-perception calibration" role in the formation process of employees' work ability perception (i.e., the relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage).

Specifically, in contexts with high perceived justice of performance evaluation, fair performance evaluation provides a clear environment for obtaining positive task feedback (Drouvelis & Paiardini, 2022), enabling employees to clearly understand their actual work abilities relative to colleagues through performance feedback (Van Dijk & Kluger, 2011). As perceived overqualification increases, employees can use fair performance evaluation feedback to revise their perceived self (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996), clarifying the reasonableness of their relative work abilities in their current positions, thereby weakening the positive effect of perceived overqualification on perceived relative job advantage. When perceived overqualification reaches a certain level, although employees experience negative emotions and cognitive dissonance due to person-job misfit (Erdogan & Bauer, 2009; Howard et al., 2022), leading to gradually weakened perceived relative job advantage, fair performance evaluation helps employees objectively perceive their relative work abilities and clarify future work directions by providing reasonable task feedback (Steelman et al., 2004), alleviating negative emotions such as damaged self-esteem and thereby weakening the negative effect of high perceived overqualification on perceived relative job advantage. Accordingly, perceived justice of performance evaluation helps employees adjust the boundaries of work ability perception through clear feedback, flattening the nonlinear relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage.

Conversely, in contexts with low perceived justice of performance evaluation, task feedback received by employees is ambiguous or untrue (Rubin & Edwards, 2018). As perceived overqualification increases, employees' awareness of low performance evaluation justice leads them to realize that their current position may not reflect their true abilities, subjectively exaggerating their perception of relative job advantage. This scenario strengthens the positive effect of perceived overqualification on perceived relative job advantage. When perceived overqualification reaches a certain level, employees reduce their perceived relative job advantage due to cognitive dissonance, and low-justice performance evaluation fails to provide true and reasonable task feedback, causing employees to further lose reasonable cognition of work ability (Debus et al., 2023) and exacerbating damaged self-esteem through intensified negative perceptions of person-job misfit (Schreurs et al., 2020), resulting in even weaker perceived relative job advantage. This scenario also strengthens the negative effect of perceived overqualification on perceived relative job advantage. Accordingly, in this context, perceived justice of performance evaluation makes the inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage steeper. In summary, we propose:

H2: Perceived justice of performance evaluation moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship between employee perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage; higher perceived justice of performance evaluation flattens the inverted U-shaped relationship.

1.3 Nonlinear Mediated Moderation

According to self-concept theory, during the development of the perceived self, internal and external motivations arise to maintain and enhance the perceived self, driving individuals to exhibit behaviors consistent with their perceived self (Leonard et al., 1999). Internal motivation based on the perceived self refers to the self formed according to internal standards that drives internal value realization, whereas external motivation based on the perceived self refers to the self formed according to social expectations that drives individuals to continuously meet external expectations. This study argues that perceived relative job advantage stimulates employees to form both internal and external motivations based on the perceived self, which further drive harmonious and obsessive work passion. This effect represents the formation process of employees' work motivation.

Specifically, when employees perceive high relative job advantage, they possess greater work autonomy and decision-making power compared with colleagues (Kraimer et al., 2012), which stimulates their pursuit of self-value realization and generates internal motivation based on the perceived self (Vallerand, 2008), further driving employees to autonomously invest in work and stimulating harmonious work passion (Curran et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2023). Additionally, when employees perceive high relative job advantage, they have higher status, promotion opportunities, and compensation returns compared with colleagues (Kraimer et al., 2012), stimulating their desire to obtain positive feedback that affirms their abilities (Vallerand, 2008; Zhang et al., 2023). This external motivation based on the perceived self drives employees to invest in work for social recognition and performance requirements, generating obsessive work passion (Perttula & Cardon, 2011; Vallerand et al., 2023; Zhang et al., 2023). In summary, we propose:

H3a: Employees' perceived relative job advantage is positively related to harmonious work passion.

H3b: Employees' perceived relative job advantage is positively related to obsessive work passion.

As previously argued, when employees' perceived overqualification is at a moderate level, their perceived relative job advantage is strongest. If employees simultaneously perceive high justice of performance evaluation, they can fully receive affirmation of their work ability and value through performance feedback (Van Dijk & Kluger, 2011), thus perceiving higher levels of relative job advantage. Furthermore, perceived relative job advantage drives employees through internal and external motivations based on the perceived self, generating harmonious and obsessive work passion (Vallerand et al., 2023; Zhang et al., 2023). In summary, we propose the following nonlinear mediated moderation hypotheses:

H4a: The nonlinear interactive effect of employee perceived overqualification and perceived justice of performance evaluation indirectly influences harmonious work passion through perceived relative job advantage.

H4b: The nonlinear interactive effect of employee perceived overqualification and perceived justice of performance evaluation indirectly influences obsessive work passion through perceived relative job advantage.

1.4 The Moderating Role of Leader Work Meaning Enhancement

According to self-concept theory, the perceived self is also influenced by social feedback during environmental interaction, whereby individuals obtain indirect feedback about their abilities from external evaluations in the workplace (Leonard et al., 1999). Previous research indicates that leaders are an important source of social feedback for employees (Smither et al., 2005). Leader work meaning enhancement represents an important way for leaders to provide social feedback, referring to leaders' clarification and affirmation of the meaning, value, and goals of employees' work (Zhang & Bartol, 2010). This study argues that leader work meaning enhancement may play a boundary role of "motivational meaning construction" in the formation process of employees' work motivation (i.e., the relationship between perceived relative job advantage and work passion) through social identification and value resonance.

Specifically, when leader work meaning enhancement is high, leaders highly recognize employees' work value, meaning, and contributions, and convey positive information to employees about their role in achieving organizational development goals (van Dierendonck et al., 2024; Zhang et al., 2018). Because they can obtain more positive social feedback from leaders, employees with higher perceived relative job advantage can better confirm their positive perceived self (Deng et al., 2018) and are driven by stronger external motivation based on the perceived self (Grant & Shandell, 2021; Leonard et al., 1999), tending to obtain leader recognition through active work, thereby driving obsessive work passion. Simultaneously, employees can explore the intrinsic meaning and value of work according to the task goals and development vision provided by leaders, further driving harmonious work passion by mobilizing their internal motivation based on the perceived self (Zhang et al., 2023). Accordingly, we propose:

H5a: Leader work meaning enhancement positively moderates the relationship between employees' perceived relative job advantage and harmonious work passion.

H5b: Leader work meaning enhancement positively moderates the relationship between employees' perceived relative job advantage and obsessive work passion.

1.5 Work Passion and Employee In-Role and Extra-Role Performance

Self-concept theory suggests that the perceived self has important influences on individuals' behavioral outcomes (Leonard et al., 1999). To more comprehensively understand the self-concept process, it is necessary to further examine how work passion translates into specific work outcomes. Previous research indicates that job performance is an important outcome variable affected by work passion (e.g., Amarnani et al., 2020; Astakhova & Porter, 2015; Laurent et al., 2023). Accordingly, this study also examines the impact of employee work passion on job performance. Employee job performance primarily includes in-role performance and extra-role performance. In-role performance refers to employees' ability and efficiency in completing tasks and requirements directly related to their positions or job responsibilities (Motowidlo et al., 1997), whereas extra-role performance refers to returns generated by employees' behaviors that exceed formal job duties (Borman & Motowidlo, 1997). This study proposes that harmonious work passion is positively related to employees' in-role and extra-role performance. Specifically, employees with harmonious work passion possess strong autonomous motivation, tend to invest in work in a positive and autonomous manner (Vallerand et al., 2023), demonstrate high levels of attention and concentration, and consequently enhance in-role performance (Astakhova & Porter, 2015). Additionally, as an intrinsic work motivation, harmonious work passion leads employees to invest extra effort beyond job responsibilities, promoting overall team progress and exhibiting more extra-role behaviors (Astakhova, 2015). In summary, we propose:

H6a: Employee harmonious work passion is positively related to in-role performance.

H6b: Employee harmonious work passion is positively related to extra-role performance.

Obsessive work passion also affects employees' in-role and extra-role performance. Specifically, obsessive work passion often originates from strong external pressure (Perttula & Cardon, 2011; Vallerand et al., 2023), driving employees to continuously invest substantial energy and time to meet external expectations by improving work outcomes, thereby exhibiting higher in-role performance (Amarnani et al., 2020; Astakhova & Ho, 2018). Furthermore, employees with obsessive work passion often have a strong desire for external recognition (Perttula & Cardon, 2011), making them more inclined to exceed basic job responsibilities and obtain higher external evaluations through helping behaviors and proactive behaviors, thus exhibiting higher extra-role performance (Astakhova & Ho, 2018; Laurent et al., 2023). Accordingly, we propose:

H7a: Employee obsessive work passion is positively related to in-role performance.

H7b: Employee obsessive work passion is positively related to extra-role performance.

In summary, the research model of this study is shown in Figure 1 [FIGURE:1].

Figure 1 Research Model

2. Method

2.1 Research Sample

Research data were collected from a large state-owned bank in Southwest China. Through the bank's human resources headquarters, we contacted and invited 253 branches comprising 1,205 frontline employees and their corresponding 253 direct supervisors to participate in the questionnaire survey. To ensure accurate matching and tracking of questionnaire data, we obtained all participating employees' names and phone numbers, as well as the corresponding relationships between employees and their direct supervisors, from the human resources headquarters. Before the survey began, we distributed informed consent forms to all employees, explaining that phone numbers and questionnaire responses would be used solely for scientific research purposes, with results and privacy strictly confidential. Employees formally participated after voluntarily signing the informed consent forms. Questionnaire links were generated through the Wenjuanxing platform and sent directly to participants via text message. We implemented a phone number verification login mechanism on the Wenjuanxing platform to ensure successful matching of questionnaire data across different time points through phone numbers. To ensure response rates and quality, we provided online lottery rewards for all participants who completed and successfully submitted questionnaires, with each receiving random cash rewards ranging from 20 to 100 yuan.

We adopted a multi-source, multi-time-point design to minimize common method bias. Questionnaire data collection consisted of four time points, each separated by three weeks. At Time 1, employees self-reported demographic information (including gender, age, education, tenure, and job type), perceived overqualification, and perceived justice of performance evaluation (1,068 questionnaires were collected, with a response rate of 88.63%). At Time 2, employees reported perceived relative job advantage (984 questionnaires were collected, with a response rate of 81.65%). At Time 3, employees reported leader work meaning enhancement, harmonious work passion, and obsessive work passion (1,023 questionnaires were collected, with a response rate of 84.89%). At Time 4, employees' direct supervisors evaluated employees' in-role and extra-role performance (995 supervisor-rated employee questionnaires were collected, with a response rate of 82.6%).

After data collection, we strictly matched data from different sources and time points based on phone numbers and excluded samples with missing data, resulting in 856 valid questionnaire data points. Among these, 266 were male (31.1%) and 590 were female (68.9%). The average age was 33.4 years (SD = 9.34), with employees aged 20-40 accounting for 75.7%. Those with university education or above accounted for 73.4%. Average tenure was 60.16 months (SD = 94.54). Regarding job types, tellers accounted for 59.8%, lobby managers for 7.9%, and senior tellers for 32.2%.

2.2 Research Instruments

All research variables were measured using established scales, which were translated from English to Chinese following Brislin's (1980) translation-back-translation procedure. A 6-point Likert scale was used (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree).

Perceived Overqualification: We adopted Erdogan and Bauer's (2009) 4-item perceived overqualification scale. A representative item is "My actual work experience exceeds what is required to complete this job." The scale's Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.86.

Perceived Justice of Performance Evaluation: We used the 4-item scale developed by Korsgaard and Roberson (1995) to measure perceived performance evaluation justice. A representative item is "My performance evaluation fairly reflects my actual performance from last year." The scale's Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.97.

Perceived Relative Job Advantage: We adapted the scale developed by Kraimer et al. (2012). Since the original scale measured employees' perceived deprivation of relative job advantage from a negative perspective, we adapted it to measure perceived relative job advantage from a positive perspective according to our variable definition, though the core measurement items remained unchanged. Additionally, we deleted two types of items: First, the original scale targeted expatriate employees, with one item concerning employees' handling of international affairs that did not match the actual work content in our research context; this item was deleted after communication with the human resources headquarters. Second, the original scale contained three items concerning employees' perceptions of relative compensation levels, which were also deemed unsuitable for our research sample after communication with the human resources headquarters. This is because the bank adopts a confidential salary system, making it difficult for employees to accurately know colleagues' compensation. Questions involving compensation comparisons among employees might cause false responses due to privacy concerns, and bank policies also do not support responses to compensation comparison questions. Therefore, to more authentically measure employees' perceived relative job advantage, these three items were deleted. The adapted scale contains 8 items, with a representative item being "I am seen as having greater promotion potential." The scale's Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.96.

Leader Work Meaning Enhancement: We used the scale developed by Zhang and Bartol (2010) to measure leader work meaning enhancement, comprising 3 items. A representative item is "My leader helps me understand the importance of my work to the company's overall effectiveness." The scale's Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.97.

Harmonious Work Passion: We adopted Vallerand and Houlfort's (2003) harmonious work passion scale, consisting of 7 items. A representative item is "New things that I have discovered about my work have deepened my liking for it." The scale's Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.94.

Obsessive Work Passion: We adopted Vallerand and Houlfort's (2003) obsessive work passion scale, consisting of 7 items. A representative item is "I have an almost obsessive passion for my work." The scale's Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.94.

In-Role Performance: We used Schaubroeck et al.'s (2016) customer service performance scale to measure employees' in-role performance, comprising 3 items. In service industries such as banking, employees' in-role performance is closely related to customer service, such as providing high-quality customer service, meeting customer needs, and completing customer business processes. Therefore, customer service performance can directly reflect bank employees' performance in fulfilling their core job responsibilities in our research context (Yang, 2012). A representative item is "He/she provides high-quality service to customers." The scale's Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.94.

Extra-Role Performance: We used Farh et al.'s (2007) 9-item extra-role performance scale to measure employees' extra-role performance. A representative item is "He/she assists colleagues with heavy workloads." The scale's Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.97.

Control Variables: We used employees' gender, age, education, tenure (calculated in months), and job type as control variables. Research has found that employee gender, age, education, and tenure can have potential effects on work passion (Curran et al., 2015; Perrewé et al., 2014). Additionally, different job types can stimulate different work motivations and influence employees' work passion and behaviors (Liu et al., 2010). Therefore, this study controlled for these variables.

2.3 Analytical Strategy

Given that our data have a nested structure (i.e., employees nested within different teams), we followed the multilevel regression modeling approach of Berger et al. (2022) and Meyers et al. (2023) and used Mplus 7.4 (Muthén & Muthén, 2007) to construct a multilevel structural equation model (MSEM). All hypothesized paths were simultaneously included in the model for unified estimation, considering both within-level and between-level effects. Except for outcome variables (in-role and extra-role performance), all predictor variables were grand-mean centered (Hofmann et al., 2000; Lin et al., 2017) to enhance the interpretability of model parameters and reduce multicollinearity. Additionally, we controlled for the correlation between harmonious and obsessive work passion and the correlation between in-role and extra-role performance to enhance model fit and explanatory power (Barile, 2015).

Furthermore, we followed the nonlinear mediated moderation testing procedure proposed by Preacher et al. (2007) and Hayes (2013), adopting the specific calculation method from Lin et al. (2017) to construct the θ statistic for testing nonlinear mediated moderation effects. Specifically, we examined whether the interaction effect of perceived overqualification and perceived justice of performance evaluation indirectly influences work passion through the nonlinear effect on perceived relative job advantage.

First, we constructed Equation (1) to test the nonlinear relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage:

$$RJA = \delta_0 + \delta_c(controls) + \delta_1 POQ + \delta_2 POQ^2 \quad (1)$$

Second, we constructed Equation (2) to test the moderated nonlinear relationship:

$$RJA = \delta_0 + \delta_c(controls) + \delta_1 POQ + \delta_2 POQ^2 + \delta_3 JUS + \delta_4 JUS \times POQ + \delta_5 JUS \times POQ^2 \quad (2)$$

where $RJA$ is perceived relative job advantage, $POQ$ is perceived overqualification, and $JUS$ is perceived justice of performance evaluation. In Equation (2), a significant $\delta_2$ indicates a nonlinear relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage; the significance of $\delta_5$ indicates that this nonlinear relationship is moderated by perceived justice of performance evaluation. Next, the linear relationship between perceived relative job advantage and harmonious work passion ($HP$) is tested by the significance of $\gamma_1$ in Equation (3):

$$HP = \gamma_0 + \gamma_1 RJA + error \quad (3)$$

According to Hayes and Preacher (2010), nonlinear mediation effects are a special form of mediation effect. In this study, the independent variable ($POQ$) has a nonlinear relationship with the mediator ($RJA$), while the mediator ($RJA$) has a linear relationship with the dependent variable ($HP$). The independent variable indirectly causes changes in the dependent variable by affecting the mediator, and the rate of change can be calculated by multiplying the partial derivative of the mediator with respect to the independent variable by the partial derivative of the dependent variable with respect to the mediator. Accordingly, we constructed Equation (4) to calculate the nonlinear mediation effect value $\theta$:

$$\theta = \frac{\partial RJA}{\partial POQ} \times \frac{\partial HP}{\partial RJA} \quad (4)$$

The partial derivative of perceived relative job advantage with respect to perceived overqualification derived from Equation (2) is Equation (5):

$$\frac{\partial RJA}{\partial POQ} = \delta_1 + \delta_4 JUS + 2\delta_2 POQ + 2\delta_5 JUS \times POQ \quad (5)$$

The partial derivative of harmonious work passion with respect to perceived relative job advantage derived from Equation (3) is $\frac{\partial HP}{\partial RJA} = \gamma_1$. Additionally, based on Equations (4) and (5), the mediation effect value of the nonlinear interaction effect of perceived overqualification and perceived justice of performance evaluation on harmonious work passion through perceived relative job advantage is:

$$\theta = [\delta_1 + \delta_4 JUS + 2\delta_2 POQ + 2\delta_5 JUS \times POQ] \gamma_1 \quad (6)$$

In Equation (6), $\theta$ is not a fixed value but a linear function of perceived overqualification, perceived justice of performance evaluation, and the interaction term "perceived overqualification × perceived justice of performance evaluation." Following Lin et al.'s (2017) recommendation, the criterion for judging the mediated moderation effect of the nonlinear relationship in this study is that if the difference in $\theta$ values under high and low levels of perceived overqualification and perceived justice of performance evaluation is significantly different from zero, the nonlinear mediated moderation effect is supported.

3. Results

3.1 Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Analysis

We used SPSS 26.0 to calculate the means, standard deviations, correlation coefficients, and Cronbach's α coefficients of all variables. The results are shown in Table 1 [TABLE:1]. Perceived relative job advantage was positively correlated with harmonious work passion (r = 0.36, p < 0.001) and obsessive work passion (r = 0.29, p < 0.001). Harmonious work passion was positively correlated with in-role performance (r = 0.10, p = 0.01) and extra-role performance (r = 0.08, p = 0.02), initially supporting our hypotheses. All variables' Cronbach's α coefficients were greater than 0.85, indicating high internal consistency.

Table 1 Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlation Coefficients of Variables

[The table content would be preserved here with proper formatting]

Note: N = 856; Gender: 1 = male, 2 = female; Education: 1 = high school, 2 = college, 3 = bachelor's, 4 = master's and above; Tenure is measured in months; Job type: 1 = teller, 2 = lobby manager, 3 = senior teller; Bold numbers are Cronbach's α coefficients for core variables; p < 0.05, *p < 0.01.

3.2 Common Method Bias Test and Confirmatory Factor Analysis

We conducted multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) using Mplus 7.4. The results, shown in Table 2 [TABLE:2], indicate that the observed data fit the expected eight-factor model best (χ²/df = 2.03, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMR = 0.03, CFI = 0.97, TLI = 0.97), while alternative models showed significantly worse fit indices. Additionally, because data were collected from different sources and at different time points, common method bias is not a serious concern in this study.

Table 2 Results of Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis

[The table content would be preserved here with proper formatting]

Note: N = 856; "+" indicates factor merging. POQ = perceived overqualification, JUS = perceived justice of performance evaluation, RJA = perceived relative job advantage, LWMG = leader work meaning enhancement, HP = harmonious work passion, OP = obsessive work passion, IRP = in-role performance, ORP = extra-role performance.

3.3 Hypothesis Testing

To test H1 regarding the inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage, we used the three-step testing procedure for "U-shaped relationships" proposed by Haans et al. (2016). The results are as follows: First, we tested the quadratic term coefficient. As shown in Table 3 [TABLE:3], the linear relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage was not significant (β = –0.07, p = 0.07), but the coefficient for the quadratic term of perceived overqualification was significantly negative (β = –0.06, p = 0.04), indicating a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage, as shown in Figure 2 [FIGURE:2]. Second, we tested the significance of slopes at both ends. Based on the first derivative of the model, the slope at the minimum observed value of perceived overqualification (POQmin = –2.71) was positive (β = 0.26), while the slope at the maximum observed value (POQmax = 2.29) was negative (β = –0.34). This indicates that as perceived overqualification increases, employees' perceived relative job advantage first rises and then falls, further confirming the inverted U-shaped relationship. Third, we tested the significance of the inflection point. The inflection point location for grand-mean-centered perceived overqualification (POQ* = –0.58) fell within the range of perceived overqualification levels (POQ = [–2.71, 2.29]). To further test the statistical stability of the inflection point location in the inverted U-shaped relationship, we used the Delta method recommended by Haans et al. (2016) to calculate the 95% confidence interval for the inflection point. The 95% confidence interval was [–1.45, 0.28], which falls entirely within the sample data range of [–2.71, 2.29]. This indicates that the inflection point not only falls within the observed range but also has statistical stability in its confidence interval, further confirming the stability of the inverted U-shaped relationship. In summary, H1 is supported.

Table 3 Multilevel Regression Results for Perceived Relative Job Advantage

[The table content would be preserved here with proper formatting]

Note: N = 856; coefficients are unstandardized regression coefficients; p < 0.05, p < 0.01, **p < 0.001.

Figure 2 Inverted U-shaped Relationship Between Perceived Overqualification and Perceived Relative Job Advantage

Note: All data were grand-mean centered.

H2 proposed that perceived justice of performance evaluation moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage. Following Haans et al.'s (2016) testing procedure for moderated nonlinear relationships, we examined both inflection point shift and curvature change. First, for inflection point shift, we derived the inflection point of the inverted U-shaped curve with respect to the moderator and estimated the confidence interval of the derivative using the Delta method. The results showed that the derivative estimate was not zero (β = –0.14), but the confidence interval of the derivative [–6.74, 6.46] included zero and was extremely wide. This indicates that although the inflection point shows a leftward shift trend with changes in perceived justice of performance evaluation, perceived justice of performance evaluation does not significantly affect the location of optimal perceived overqualification (i.e., the peak of the inverted U-shaped curve). The "inflection point shift" moderation effect is not significant.

Second, for curvature change, the results in Table 3 show that the interaction term between the quadratic term of perceived overqualification and perceived justice of performance evaluation was significantly positive (β = 0.04, p = 0.03), indicating that perceived justice of performance evaluation significantly moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage, flattening the curve. This represents a "curvature change" moderation effect. Additionally, we estimated curvature and confidence intervals at high and low levels of perceived justice of performance evaluation (i.e., Mean ± SD). When perceived justice of performance evaluation was low, the inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage was steeper (βquadratic = –0.18, 95% CI = [–0.33, –0.03]). When perceived justice of performance evaluation was high, the inverted U-shaped relationship became flatter (βquadratic = –0.02, 95% CI = [–0.17, 0.13]). These results support the existence of the "curvature change" moderation effect, indicating that perceived justice of performance evaluation weakens the inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage, flattening the curve. In summary, H2 is supported.

To further visually present the moderating role of perceived justice of performance evaluation in the relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage, we plotted a three-dimensional response surface graph following Edwards and Parry (1993) and Miller et al. (2013). As shown in Figure 3 [FIGURE:3], when perceived justice of performance evaluation is low, an obvious inverted U-shaped relationship exists between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage. Calculations show that overall perceived relative job advantage is at a relatively low level when perceived justice of performance evaluation is low. Specifically, when employee perceived overqualification reaches the inflection point (POQ = –0.22), perceived relative job advantage reaches its maximum (RJAmax = 0.63). When perceived overqualification is at its maximum (POQmax = 2.29), perceived relative job advantage reaches its minimum (RJAmin = 0.06), with an absolute difference of approximately 0.57. As perceived justice of performance evaluation increases, the overall level of perceived relative job advantage gradually rises, and the inverted U-shaped curve becomes flatter, indicating that the marginal effect of perceived overqualification on perceived relative job advantage weakens. Specifically, when perceived justice of performance evaluation is high, perceived relative job advantage reaches its maximum (RJAmax = 1.06) when employee perceived overqualification reaches the inflection point (POQ = –1.05), and reaches its minimum (RJAmin = 0.96) when perceived overqualification is at its maximum (POQmax = 2.29), with an absolute difference of approximately 0.10. Thus, as perceived justice of performance evaluation increases from low to high, the difference between high and low values of perceived relative job advantage becomes smaller, indicating that perceived justice of performance evaluation weakens the inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage. H2 is further supported.

Note: All data were grand-mean centered.

Figure 3 Moderating Effect of Perceived Justice of Performance Evaluation on the Inverted U-shaped Relationship Between Perceived Overqualification and Perceived Relative Job Advantage

H3a and H3b proposed linear relationships between perceived relative job advantage and harmonious work passion and obsessive work passion, respectively. The results in Table 4 [TABLE:4] show that perceived relative job advantage was significantly positively related to harmonious work passion (β = 0.17, p < 0.001), supporting H3a. Perceived relative job advantage was also significantly positively related to obsessive work passion (β = 0.21, p < 0.001), supporting H3b.

Table 4 Multilevel Regression Results for Harmonious Work Passion and Obsessive Work Passion

[The table content would be preserved here with proper formatting]

Note: N = 856; coefficients are unstandardized regression coefficients; p < 0.05, p < 0.01, **p < 0.001.

H4a and H4b proposed that the nonlinear interactive effect of perceived overqualification and perceived justice of performance evaluation indirectly influences harmonious and obsessive work passion through perceived relative job advantage. To calculate the indirect effect of the nonlinear interaction, we constructed θ for verification, with the calculation process as described in Equation (6) above. The results show that for harmonious work passion as the outcome, when perceived overqualification was at a low level, θ values for low and high groups of perceived justice of performance evaluation were 0.02 (95% CI = [–0.01, 0.05]) and 0.001 (95% CI = [–0.03, 0.03]), respectively, both non-significant, and the difference between high and low groups was not significant (θdiff = –0.02, 95% CI = [–0.05, 0.01]). When perceived overqualification was at a high level, θ values for low and high groups of perceived justice of performance evaluation were –0.04 (95% CI = [–0.06, –0.01]) and –0.01 (95% CI = [–0.03, 0.02]), respectively, with the low group significant but the difference between high and low groups not significant (θdiff = 0.03, 95% CI = [–0.001, 0.06]). The difference in θ between high and low levels of perceived overqualification was significant (θdiff = 0.05, 95% CI = [0.004, 0.10]), indicating that the nonlinear mediated moderation effect exists, supporting H4a.

For obsessive work passion as the outcome, when perceived overqualification was at a low level, θ values for low and high groups of perceived justice of performance evaluation were 0.03 (95% CI = [–0.01, 0.06]) and 0.001 (95% CI = [–0.03, 0.03]), respectively, both non-significant, and the difference between high and low groups was not significant (θdiff = –0.03, 95% CI = [–0.06, 0.01]). When perceived overqualification was at a high level, θ values for low and high groups of perceived justice of performance evaluation were –0.04 (95% CI = [–0.07, –0.01]) and –0.01 (95% CI = [–0.04, 0.02]), respectively, with the low group significant but the difference between high and low groups not significant (θdiff = 0.03, 95% CI = [–0.002, 0.07]). The difference in θ between high and low levels of perceived overqualification was significant (θdiff = 0.06, 95% CI = [0.004, 0.12]), indicating that the nonlinear mediated moderation effect exists, supporting H4b.

H5a and H5b proposed the positive moderating role of leader work meaning enhancement. According to Model 5 in Table 4, with harmonious work passion as the dependent variable, the interaction term was significant and positive (β = 0.09, p < 0.001, 95% CI = [0.05, 0.12]), indicating that leader work meaning enhancement significantly positively moderates the relationship between perceived relative job advantage and harmonious work passion, supporting H5a. Model 7 in Table 4 shows that with obsessive work passion as the dependent variable, the interaction term was significantly positive (β = 0.06, p = 0.02, 95% CI = [0.01, 0.10]), indicating that leader work meaning enhancement significantly positively moderates the relationship between perceived relative job advantage and obsessive work passion, supporting H5b.

H6 and H7 proposed positive relationships between employees' harmonious and obsessive work passion and their in-role and extra-role performance. Regression results are shown in Table 5 [TABLE:5]. Specifically, harmonious work passion was positively related to in-role performance (β = 0.14, p = 0.03, 95% CI = [0.01, 0.27]) and extra-role performance (β = 0.13, p = 0.04, 95% CI = [0.01, 0.26]), supporting H6a and H6b. However, obsessive work passion was not significantly related to in-role performance (β = –0.01, p = 0.88, 95% CI = [–0.11, 0.10]) or extra-role performance (β = –0.05, p = 0.39, 95% CI = [–0.15, 0.06]). H7a and H7b were not supported.

Table 5 Multilevel Regression Results for In-Role Performance and Extra-Role Performance

[The table content would be preserved here with proper formatting]

Note: N = 856; coefficients are unstandardized regression coefficients; p < 0.05, p < 0.01, **p < 0.001.

4. Discussion

Based on self-concept theory and using four time-point leader-employee paired questionnaire data from 856 employees, this study primarily examined the influence mechanisms and boundary conditions of perceived overqualification on employees' work passion. The main conclusions are as follows: First, an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage. Second, perceived justice of performance evaluation moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage, such that higher perceived justice of performance evaluation flattens the nonlinear relationship. Third, perceived relative job advantage is positively correlated with both harmonious and obsessive work passion. Fourth, the nonlinear interactive effect of perceived overqualification and perceived justice of performance evaluation indirectly influences harmonious and obsessive work passion through perceived relative job advantage, indicating a nonlinear mediated moderation effect. Fifth, leader work meaning enhancement positively moderates the relationship between perceived relative job advantage and work passion. Sixth, harmonious work passion is positively correlated with employees' in-role and extra-role performance.

4.1 Theoretical Contributions

First, this study reveals the nonlinear effect of perceived overqualification on work passion, providing a new perspective for clarifying their relationship and enriching research on the effects of perceived overqualification. Existing research has reported contradictory findings regarding how perceived overqualification influences harmonious and obsessive work passion (e.g., Cheng et al., 2020; Guo et al., 2022; Liu et al., 2024; Ma et al., 2020). This study overcomes the limitation of previous research that focused on linear relationships, discovering an inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage. This not only reveals possible reasons for contradictory findings in previous research and enriches studies on perceived overqualification's effect on work passion, but also corroborates previous conclusions about the nonlinear effects of perceived overqualification (e.g., Duan et al., 2022; Li, Zheng et al., 2025; Lin et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2020), responding to research calls regarding the "too much of a good thing" effect of perceived overqualification (e.g., Duan et al., 2022; Liu et al., 2024) and further inspiring scholars' dialectical exploration of the "mixed blessing" nature and complex effects of perceived overqualification.

Second, this study examines the influence mechanism of perceived overqualification on work passion based on self-concept theory, enriching mediation mechanism exploration and expanding the application of self-concept theory in perceived overqualification research. Although a few studies have examined the influence mechanisms of perceived overqualification from a self-concept perspective, most have introduced variables such as internal identity cognition and organization-based self-esteem (e.g., He & Li, 2024; Li et al., 2019) using self-representation theory. This study, grounded in Leonard et al.'s (1999) self-concept theory, comprehensively constructs a dynamic mechanism of "self-cognition activation—motivation triggering—behavior transformation," finding that perceived overqualification influences work passion and job performance by affecting perceived relative job advantage. Moreover, distinguishing from previous studies applying self-concept theory to examine perceived overqualification mechanisms (e.g., Ma et al., 2020), this study not only emphasizes the effect of self-concept but also depicts the process of employees' dynamic self-concept construction by introducing perceived relative job advantage. This not only enriches research examining perceived overqualification mechanisms from self-concept theory but also theoretically addresses the insufficient exploration of mediation mechanisms between perceived overqualification and work passion in previous research (e.g., Cheng et al., 2020; Guo et al., 2022). Finally, by identifying the nonlinear relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage, this study overcomes the limitation of previous self-concept model applications that were generally based on linear assumptions (e.g., He & Li, 2024; Li et al., 2019), helping scholars more comprehensively understand the formation and influence paths of self-cognition and motivation among employees with different levels of perceived overqualification.

Third, this study reveals the moderating roles of organizational performance feedback and leader-provided work meaning feedback, helping to enrich boundary effect research on the relationship between perceived overqualification and work passion and further clarifying the important roles and distinctions between task feedback and social feedback in self-concept theory. On one hand, from the task feedback perspective, this study examines the negative moderating role of perceived justice of performance evaluation in the relationship between perceived overqualification and perceived relative job advantage, helping scholars understand the important "cognitive calibration" role of organizational performance feedback characteristics (e.g., fairness, objectivity) in employees' work ability perception formation (Ni & Zheng, 2023). On the other hand, by verifying the positive moderating role of leader work meaning enhancement, this study shows that when leaders provide positive social feedback, the positive effect of perceived relative job advantage on work passion is further strengthened. This helps understand the important "meaning construction" role of social feedback in organizations (e.g., colleague evaluations, organizational recognition) in employees' work meaning motivation formation (Ma, Zhu et al., 2023). In summary, the distinction between different types of feedback effects on employees' psychological paths in this study is consistent with previous research (e.g., Ashford et al., 2003; Leonard et al., 1999; Leonard & Harvey, 2008). However, unlike previous self-concept theory applications that examined task feedback and social feedback effects on the same psychological processing path (e.g., Ma et al., 2020), this study examines the moderating roles of different feedback types in different psychological processing paths, further clarifying the distinctions and differential effects of task feedback and social feedback.

Fourth, by examining the effect of work passion on job performance, this study enriches research on the influence of work passion on distal work outcomes. The results show that harmonious work passion can significantly and positively predict supervisor-rated job performance, but obsessive work passion cannot predict supervisor-rated job performance. This finding verifies previous research on the positive relationship between harmonious work passion and job performance (e.g., Amarnani et al., 2020; Laurent et al., 2023) while confirming significant differences in the predictive effects of the two types of work passion on job performance, revealing that obsessive work passion has no significant effect on job performance. This is inconsistent with previous findings that obsessive work passion negatively affects job performance (e.g., Birkeland & Buch, 2015; Ho et al., 2011), possibly because obsessive work passion may also have positive effects or its effects depend on boundary conditions of organizational contexts. This conclusion helps inspire future research to further verify the differential effects of work passion on job performance across different organizational contexts (Amarnani et al., 2020).

4.2 Managerial Implications

First, managers should deeply recognize the widespread phenomenon of perceived overqualification in contemporary society and understand its impact on employees' psychology and work behaviors. On one hand, they need to balance the "sweet spot" where perceived overqualification exerts its effect, controlling employees' actual perceived overqualification at an optimal level to promote win-win development for individuals and organizations. On the other hand, managers should take multiple measures to reduce the negative effects of perceived overqualification and promote employees' "high-quality and full employment." Second, organizations should foster a fair organizational climate to reduce potential adverse effects of perceived overqualification, such as flexibly adjusting employees' positions through fair performance evaluation and assessment to promote "high-quality and full employment" through "fairness and justice." Third, managers should emphasize enhancing work meaning to improve employees' work passion and performance. Therefore, when perceived overqualification is widespread and organizational management systems remain imperfect, leaders' roles can be leveraged, such as sharing organizational vision and mission through regular meetings to inject intrinsic value into employees' work. Fourth, leaders should recognize the important role of work passion and cultivate employees' harmonious work passion to facilitate the positive transformation of work passion into job performance.

4.3 Research Limitations and Future Directions

Despite its valuable findings, this study has several limitations. First, regarding research design, this study used subjective questionnaire data. Although we minimized common method bias through multi-source, multi-time-point surveys, limitations remain in research design. Future research could select more objective and rich outcome variables to strengthen the robustness of our findings, such as using employees' objective performance data to measure in-role performance and using variables like team spirit, innovation, and proactivity to measure extra-role performance.

Second, although this study adopted a "multi-time-point–multi-source" questionnaire method, it still cannot make strict causal inferences about the results. One possible alternative explanation is that employees with relative job advantage perceive stronger status superiority, promotion opportunities, and work autonomy, making them more likely to experience perceived overqualification and simultaneously more likely to perceive performance evaluation justice and leader affirmation of their work meaning. To further rule out the possibility of "reverse causality," future research could consider using laboratory experiments or field experiments to clarify the causal relationships between perceived overqualification, perceived relative job advantage, and work passion. Additionally, combining quantitative and qualitative methods could help deeply explore the psychological mechanisms through which employees with perceived overqualification develop work passion.

Third, this study's sample was entirely from various branches (or sub-branches) of a large state-owned bank in Southwest China. Although this helps eliminate potential effects of regional, industry, and organizational differences on the results, the generalizability of the findings is consequently limited. Future research could increase sample diversity by considering data from multiple provinces and industries to replicate and test our results, thereby enhancing external validity. Moreover, within the banking system, employees' personal expectations and actual positions generally have significant gaps due to solidified work content, limited career development opportunities, and technological change impacts (McKinlay, 2013), making them more likely to perceive overqualification. Considering that occupational work environments significantly affect employees' attitudes and behaviors (Ashkanasy et al., 2014; Poethke et al., 2023), whether this study's results can be extended to other industries or enterprises awaits further verification in future research.

Finally, when constructing the theoretical model based on self-concept theory, this study selected perceived relative job advantage as the representative variable of perceived self to depict the mediation mechanism and selected perceived justice of performance evaluation and leader work meaning enhancement as representative variables of task feedback and social feedback, respectively, to explore boundary effects. However, these cannot fully reflect individuals' perceived self and different types of feedback in organizations, nor can they fully reflect the potential mechanisms and boundary conditions of perceived overqualification's effect on work passion. Future research could consider incorporating other constructs representing perceived self, task feedback, and social feedback as mediators and moderators into the research framework for empirical testing, further strengthening the credibility of our theoretical arguments.

References

[The reference list would be preserved here with proper formatting]

Research Questionnaires

Time 1 Employee Questionnaire

Perceived Overqualification Scale

Please indicate your level of agreement with each statement based on your actual situation (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree):

1. My education level exceeds the requirements of my current job.
2. I cannot fully utilize my talents in my current job.
3. My actual work experience exceeds what is needed to complete this job.
4. My skill level exceeds the requirements of my current job.

Perceived Justice of Performance Evaluation Scale

Please indicate your level of agreement with each statement based on your actual situation (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree):

1. My performance evaluation results are very fair.
2. I agree with my year-end performance rating.
3. I agree with the way my leader evaluates my performance.
4. My performance evaluation fairly reflects my actual performance from last year.

Control Variables

1. What is your gender? (1 = male; 2 = female)
2. What is your age? (in years) [open-ended]
3. What is your highest education level? (1 = high school or below; 2 = college; 3 = bachelor's; 4 = master's and above)
4. How long have you worked at your current branch? ___ years ___ months [open-ended]
5. What is your job type? (1 = teller; 2 = lobby manager; 3 = senior teller)

Time 2 Employee Questionnaire

Perceived Relative Job Advantage Scale

Please indicate your level of agreement with each statement based on your actual situation (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree):

1. I have better promotion opportunities.
2. My promotion speed is faster.
3. I am seen as having greater promotion potential.
4. I receive more respect from others.
5. I have higher status (or prestige) in the company.
6. I have more autonomy to set my own work goals.
7. I have more freedom at work and can act independently of my leader.
8. I can take more responsibility for my own decisions.

Time 3 Employee Questionnaire

Leader Work Meaning Enhancement Scale

Please indicate your level of agreement with each statement based on your actual situation (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree):

1. My leader helps me understand the relationship between my goals and the company's goals.
2. My leader helps me understand the importance of my work to the company's overall effectiveness.
3. My leader helps me understand how my work fits into the big picture.

Harmonious Work Passion Scale

Please indicate your level of agreement with each statement based on your actual situation (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree):

1. My work brings me diverse experiences.
2. New things I have discovered about my work have deepened my liking for it.
3. My work brings me unforgettable experiences.
4. My work allows me to show qualities I like about myself.
5. My work is in harmony with other activities in my life and does not conflict with them.
6. My passion for work remains within a controllable range.
7. I am completely absorbed by my work.

Obsessive Work Passion Scale

Please indicate your level of agreement with each statement based on your actual situation (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree):

1. I cannot live without work.
2. I cannot help but want to work.
3. I cannot imagine life without work.
4. I am emotionally dependent on my work.
5. I cannot control my need to work.
6. I have an almost obsessive passion for my work.
7. My mood depends on whether I can work.

Time 4 Supervisor Questionnaire

Please evaluate the employee you manage: ________.

Please recall his/her behavior over the past four weeks, evaluate his/her performance at work, and check the corresponding number after each item (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree).

In-Role Performance Scale

1. He/she provides excellent service to customers.
2. He/she achieves excellent service performance.
3. His/her service performance exceeds our expectations.

Extra-Role Performance Scale

1. He/she proactively helps colleagues with heavy workloads.
2. He/she helps new employees adapt to the work environment.
3. He/she is willing to provide help and assist colleagues in solving work-related problems.
4. He/she actively makes suggestions to improve work procedures or processes.
5. He/she actively makes suggestions to help the organization operate more efficiently or effectively.
6. He/she works hard and shows strong responsibility even when work outcomes do not affect personal performance evaluation.
7. He/she is willing to work overtime without extra pay.
8. He/she takes the initiative to work overtime when necessary to complete work.
9. He/she arrives early and starts work immediately.