Abstract: Employees’ skills, knowledge and experiences are important factors to promote their innovation. However, researches show that a large number of employees’ skills, abilities, education and experience are neither required nor utilized on the job. Based on a paradox theory, this study proposes that there is a U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and individual paradox mindset, and it in turn plays a non-linear mediating role between perceived overqualification and creative deviance, so it is necessary to further investigate the moderating role of individuals’ experience of tensions. We collect 287 individuals questionaire data and the results show that (1) there is a U-shaped relationship between perceived overqualification and employees’ paradox mindset. (2) paradox mindset plays a non-linear mediating role between perceived overqualifications and employees’ creative deviance. (3) individuals’ experience of tensions modertes the U-shaped relationship. When individuals have strong conflict experience, the negative or positive relationship between perceived overqualification and paradox mindset tends stronger. (4) individuals’ experience of tensions moderates the curvilinear indirect effect through which perceived overqualification affects employee creative deviance behavior. This study enriches the non-linear mechanism of perceived overqualification on employees’ positive behaviors and finds that paradox mindset plays an important role in promoting employees’ creative deviance. The results of this study suggest that human resource managers should cultivate individual paradox mindset and guide employees to effectively integrate the tension between positive emotions and negative emotions when there is a mismatch between people and their position.

Key words: perceived overqualification, experience of tensions, paradox mindset, creative deviance