Abstract
Career commitment refers to individuals’ dedication to their career; in the field of vocational psychology, career commitment is considered a vital factor for promoting a sustainable career. The current study examined a mediation model of career concern related to career commitment with career exploration and Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy (CDMSE) as two mediators. The participants were 1105 high school students (males = 594, females = 511) recruited from three main cities in Jiangsu Province, China. Results indicated that the hypotheses were all confirmed: the direct effect of career concern on career commitment was significant (β = 0.598, p < 0.001); the indirect effect of career concern on career commitment through career exploration and CDMSE was also significant (β = 0.255, p < 0.001); and career exploration and CDMSE mediated the relation from career concern to career commitment. Finally, the authors discussed the implications of the findings which could be applied to improve a high school student’s career commitment and the sustainability of career development. The limitations of the study and the future research needed to complement the current work are also discussed.
Highlights
Under the era of protean and boundaryless career [1], a sustainable career for individuals is considered with making contributions to the personal survival and self-realization value [2]
The present study investigated the relationships between career concern, career exploration, Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy (CDMSE), and career commitment
As the Harman single-factor test was criticized for insensitive, Partial Least Squares (PLS) was used in the current study to address the issue of common method variance [63]
Summary
Under the era of protean and boundaryless career [1], a sustainable career for individuals is considered with making contributions to the personal survival and self-realization value [2]. Sustainable career development refers to “the sequences of an individual’s different career experiences, reflected through a variety of patterns of continuity over time, thereby crossing several social spaces, characterized by individual agency, providing meaning to the individual” [3] The main career developmental task in this substage is to try to make a tentative career decision for one’s future vocation, integrally considering one’s interests, values, abilities, opportunities, and other personal traits [4]. Most Chinese high schools still have not established a career intervention system to assist students to promote sustainable career development. Career intervention in Chinese societies faces several challenges including [5]: (i) the lack of indigenous theoretical models for career research and practice; (ii) insufficient scientific assessment instruments for career intervention; (iii) meager professional training and education for researchers, practitioners, educators, and counsellors; and (iv) passive beliefs and attitudes toward career invention among Chinese counsellors and students
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