Employment stress as a moderator of the relationship between proactive personality and career decision-making self-efficacy

We investigated the moderating role of employment stress in the relationship between proactive personality and career decision-making self-efficacy among recent Chinese graduates during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main results are as follows: (a) proactive personality positively predicted career decision-making self-efficacy, (b) employment stress was negatively related to proactive personality and career decision-making self-efficacy, and (c) employment stress significantly and negatively moderated the effect of proactive personality on career decision-making self-efficacy, meaning that the moderating effect was stronger at a lower level of employment stress. The results indicate that students graduating during the COVID-19 pandemic are more prone to suffering from complex career decision-making processes exacerbated by a challenging and changing labor market. Our findings suggest that graduates should secure flexible employment options and that officials, staff, and managers in governments, universities, and industries should work together to enhance graduates’ career decision-making self-efficacy and assist them in achieving their early career aspirations by alleviating internal and external employment pressure.