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Publikationstyp: Zeitschriftenartikel

Overqualification as Moderator for the Link Between Job Change and Job Satisfaction Among Immigrants and Natives in Germany

AutorInnen: Khalil, Samir; Lietz, Almuth; Mayer, Sabrina J. Publikationsjahr: 2021

Job satisfaction is a major driver of an individual’s subjective well-beingand thus affects public health, societal prosperity, and organisations, asdissatisfied employees are less productive and more likely to change jobs.However, changing jobs does not necessarily lead to higher job satisfactionin the long run. Previous studies have shown, instead, that changingjobs only increases job satisfaction for a short period of time beforeit gradually falls back to similar levels as before. This phenomenon isknown as the ’honeymoon–hangover’ pattern. In our study, we identifyan important new moderator of the relation between job change and jobsatisfaction: the job–qualification match of job change. Based on relativedeprivation theory, we argue that a job change from being overqualified ina job lowers the likelihood of negative comparisons and thus increases thehoneymoon period and lessens the hangover period. In addition, we investigatewhether this moderating effect is less pronounced among immigrants,since the phenomenon of overqualification occurs more frequentlyamong immigrants. We use data from the Socio-Economic Panel rangingfrom 1994–2018 and focus specifically on individual periods of employeesbefore and after job changes (N=134,417). Our results confirm that achange to a job that requires a matched qualification has a stronger andlonger-lasting effect on job satisfaction, and that this effect is slightly lowerfor respondents born abroad.

doi: 10.31235/osf.io/q7nu2 Open Access
Khalil, Samir; Lietz, Almuth; Mayer, Sabrina J. (2021): Overqualification as Moderator for the Link Between Job Change and Job Satisfaction Among Immigrants and Natives in Germany. SocArXiv. DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/q7nu2.