Vocational students’ career-planning clarity and learning engagement: A moderated mediation model

This study investigated the effect of career-planning clarity on learning engagement within higher vocational education. We conducted an online survey of 1,216 higher vocational college students in Guangdong Province, China. The results showed that career-planning clarity was positively correlated with learning engagement. In addition, learning motivation played a mediating role in this relationship, while the campus environment moderated the relationships between career-planning clarity and learning motivation, career-planning clarity and learning engagement, and learning motivation and learning engagement. This study enriches understanding of the learning engagement of higher vocational students and provides practical insights for educators and administrators in higher vocational education institutions.