Job search behaviors among African‐Americans

Abstract

PurposeResearch suggests that both internal and external resources are important in determining the level and intensity of job search behaviors among unemployed individuals. Specifically, an external resource, social support, and an internal resource, self‐efficacy, can have positive, facilitative effects on job search efforts. While these relationships are well‐established, the psychological mechanisms that explain the link between these resources and job search behaviors are unclear. This paper aims to explore positive coping and distancing as potential mediators of this linkage in an African‐American sample.Design/methodology/approachParticipants responded to a survey containing the variables of interest at two job fairs in the Southeastern USA (n=223). Of participants, 70 percent were female and the average age was 39. In total, 37 percent of respondents had an undergraduate degree or a more advanced degree, and the average length of unemployment was 9.9 months.FindingsResults suggest that the effects of both social support and self‐efficacy on job searches may be due to their impact on positive coping behaviors, which in turn are significantly related to increased search behaviors. Thus, positive coping had a consistent mediational role in explaining how higher levels of social support and more favorable levels of self‐efficacy enhance the intensity of two forms of job search behaviors. Distancing coping had a less significant and less consistent role as a mediator.Practical implicationsThis suggests that interventions meant to enhance self‐efficacy and social support of job seekers may have positive effects on actively applying for jobs and on enlisting the help of others in finding jobs among African‐Americans, as well as on the positive coping skills of the unemployed. Interventions should strive to increase these resources while simultaneously providing realistic expectations regarding the probability of finding a job well‐suited for the job seeker. This argues for the potential effectiveness of individually formulated plans for securing employment.Originality/valueThe paper emphasizes the importance of coping strategies used by unemployed individuals as a factor in job search intensity.