Do I decide my career? Linking career stress, career exploration, and future work self to career planning or indecision

Zemei Zhang; Xuan Yu; Xuhong Liu

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.997984

Do I decide my career? Linking career stress, career exploration, and future work self to career planning or indecision

Front Psychol. 2022 Aug 23:13:997984. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.997984. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zemei Zhang¹, Xuan Yu², Xuhong Liu³

Affiliations

¹ Business School, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
² School of Economics and Management, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, China.
³ Department of Police Management, Sichuan Police College, Luzhou, China.

Abstract

Career planning and career decision are important tasks for college students. The process may be affected by career stress, career exploration, and future work self, with some students facing career indecision. Combining both construction career and proactive motivation model, this study investigated the relationships between career stress, career exploration, future work self, career planning and career indecision among 1,012 Chinese college students using the Structure equation model (SEM) to test the proposed mediation model. Results show that career stress negatively predicts career planning, while career exploration positively predicts career planning. The mediating role of future work self has on career stress and career exploration's effects on both career planning and career indecision was verified. Moreover, the study also found future work self's positive effects on both career planning and career indecision in Chinese college students. Finally, the study's theoretical and practical significance and implications are discussed.

Keywords: career exploration; career indecision; career planning; career stress; future work self.