Regulatory Focus and POQ: Is Motivation to Lead the Key Mechanism?

• In Event: Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 8: Supervisor-Subordinate Communication

Abstract

Drawing on regulatory focus theory, this study examines how promotion and prevention regulatory focus relate to perceived overqualification (POQ). We propose that these effects operate via employees’ motivation to lead and are contingent on supervisors’ humble leadership. The model thereby integrates individual motivational orientation, a proximate psychological mechanism, and a contextual boundary condition to explain POQ. Data was collected via a three-wave structured questionnaires from 308 respondents across a large research institute and five branch units in Beijing City, China. This study examined all the hypotheses with Mplus 8.3. The study indicates that promotion focus positively predicted POQ, whereas prevention focus predicted POQ negatively. Motivation to lead partially mediated both relationships: promotion focus increased motivation to lead, which in turn increased POQ, whereas prevention focus reduced motivation to lead and thus POQ. Humble leadership strengthened the positive effect of promotion focus and attenuated the negative effect of prevention focus. The study extends POQ research by identifying regulatory focus as a proximal antecedent, revealing motivation to lead as a mediating mechanism, and demonstrating humble leadership as a theoretically meaningful boundary condition. These findings deepen understanding of how individual motivational orientations and leader behaviors jointly shape employees’ perceived person–job fit.

Authors

• Jiajing Wang, Harbin Institute of Technology

• Chenguang Yang, Harbin Institute of Technology

• Li Zhang