Despite the widespread phenomenon of perceived underqualification, empirical evidence on underqualified employees remains scarce. Based on cognitive-motivational-relational theory, this research validates the impact of perceived underqualification on employee performance and behavior. It further explores the mediating role of guilt and the moderating effect of job tenure. Through a multi-wave survey and an experiment from China, it has been demonstrated that employees perceiving underqualification experience guilt toward colleagues, subsequently improving task performance and fostering organizational citizenship behavior. Additionally, job tenure negatively moderates the positive relationship between perceived underqualification and guilt toward colleagues, with this relationship being stronger when job tenure is shorter. Job tenure also moderates the mediating role of guilt toward colleagues in the influence of perceived underqualification on employee performance and organizational citizenship behavior. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms through which perceived underqualification impacts task performance and organizational citizenship behavior, offering significant theoretical and practical implications.
