A Longitudinal Study On The Impact Of College Students' Personal Growth Initiative On Career Engagement: A Moderated Mediation Mode

The Volatile,Uncertain,Complexity and Ambiguous(VUCA)of the social environment at home and abroad are getting worse increasingly,and college students need long-term and sustain occupational engagement in career management to cope with the unpredictability of the current employment environment.Under this background,based on the theory of career construction,this study explored the relationship between college students’ personal growth initiative and occupational engagement and its internal mechanism.The study adopted a longitudinal research to explore the influence of personal growth initiative on occupational engagement.And on this basis,we further explored the role of vocational identity and the big five personality traits.In this study,a questionnaire survey method was used,and 700 questionnaires were distributed to conduct two follow-up surveys on students in a university in Qingdao,Shandong Province.The results showed as follows:(1)There were significant differences in personal growth initiative,vocational identity and occupational engagement among college students in grades and majors.(2)Personal growth initiative could significantly increase occupational engagement.(3)Vocational identity mediated the relationship between personal growth initiative and occupational engagement.(4)Among the big five personality traits,neuroticism played a moderating role between vocational identity and occupational engagement,and individuals with higher neuroticism had a weaker positive predictive effect of vocational identity on occupational engagement.The study found that improving college students’ personal growth initiative can enhance their vocational identity,and then improve their occupational engagement;Neuroticism and vocational identity will also work together on occupational engagement,thus indirectly affecting college students’ occupational engagement.This study contends that under the current environment of VUCA,universities should carry out targeted career education,understand students’ interests and personality characteristics,help them manage their career planning,promote students’ personal growth initiative,and then enhance their vocational identity,so that college students can flexibly use their professional skills and knowledge under the background of VUCA and realize long-term and sustained occupational engagement.