Research On The Effect Of College Students' Vocational Self-concept On Employment Quality And The Underlying Mechanism

With the rapid development of higher education institutions,the number of university graduates has been increasing.As a result,it has been more difficult for graduates to find a job,and worse more,the employment quality of today's graduates have decreased.How to improve the employment quality of college graduates is important to both graduates themselves and the stability of our society.Current literature tried to find ways to improve employment quality from the perspective of economic and social policies.However,it does not make great differences in a short time.How to improve employment quality from the perspective of individuals?That means,apart from learning knowledge and skills,there are things graduates can do to improve their employment quality.In this literature,we built an empirical framework from the perspective of career development,specifically,we examined the relationship between vocational self-concept and employment quality.Meanwhile,we clarified the mechanism in which vocational self-concept influence employment quality.Furthermore,in order to clarify how employment market makes an influence on job search strategy,in this literature,we examined the moderation effect of perceived employment opportunity in the relationship between vocational self-concept and job search strategy.In a two-wave study,203 graduates indicated their vocational self-concept,job search strategy used,perceived employment opportunity and employment quality.Our results indicated that:(1)the maturity of vocational self-concept could lead to higher employment quality;(2)the vocational self-concept has a positive effect on focused strategy and has a negative effect on exploratory and haphazard strategy;(3)the use of a focused strategy contributes to higher employment quality,whereas the use of an exploratory and haphazard strategy reduce the quality of employment;(4)vocational self-concept make effects on employment quality via different job search strategies;(5)perceived employment opportunity plays a moderation role in the relationship between vocational self-concept and focused strategy.These findings were discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.