My job matters: Perceived societal usefulness buffers employee consequences of human capital-related underemployment

Underemployment—referring to employment that is below a defined standard—is a salient issue in contemporary labor markets. One widespread form of underemployment is when individuals have more human capital than is required in their jobs, which can include perceived skill underutilization and perceived overqualification. Drawing on relational job design and relative deprivation theories, we explore how perceived societal usefulness—workers' perception of their job's utility and potential worth to society—moderates the relationship between human capital-related underemployment and both job satisfaction and organizational commitment as two key job attitudes. We hypothesize that perceived societal usefulness attenuates the negative relationship between underemployment and job attitudes by providing an alternative source of fulfillment and recognition. Two studies support this framework: Study 1, using nationally representative data from 38 countries, demonstrates that perceived societal usefulness attenuates the negative relationships between perceived skill underutilization and the two job attitudes. Using a two-wave dataset, Study 2 extends previous findings and reveals that perceived societal usefulness (a) correlates with a more objective operationalization of societal usefulness, and (b) moderates the indirect effect of perceived overqualification on job satisfaction, but not on organizational commitment, via relative deprivation as the underlying theoretical mechanism. By integrating relational job design and relative deprivation theories, this study suggests that perceived societal usefulness acts as an important boundary condition for previously observed effects of underemployment and that these can be partially explained by relative deprivation. These findings suggest practical implications for managers, emphasizing the importance of societally useful positions to mitigate the adverse effects of underemployment. • Relational job design theory informs how individuals may reframe underemployment. • Perceived societal usefulness buffers employee consequences of underemployment. • Moderating effects were observed in a large multi-country employee sample. • Relative deprivation explains why underemployment relates to lower job satisfaction. • Perceived societal usefulness aligns with more objective usefulness indicators.