How overqualification, job crafting, and workgroup emotional climate affect college teachers’ innovation behavior

College teachers are producers of scientific knowledge, and innovative behavior is important to this group, especially since overqualification is a common phenomenon. However, there is much debate about the effect of overqualification on innovation behavior. Therefore, we used statistical analysis software to explore the interaction mechanisms between overqualification and college teachers’ innovation behavior using data from 368 questionnaires. Overqualification was found to be negatively related to college teachers’ innovation behavior, and job crafting played a mediating role in this relationship. Further, workgroup emotional climate was positively related to college teachers’ innovation behavior, and also had a moderating effect on the relationship between overqualification and college teachers’ innovation behavior. This study can help scholars to further understand the influence of individual- and organization-level variables on college teachers’ innovation behavior.