The Role of Graduating Engineering Students’ Core Self-Evaluation in Job Search
Disciplines
Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Abstract (300 words maximum)
The National Survey of College Graduates (2019) reported that recent science and engineering (S&E) graduates had a higher unemployment rate than all scientists and engineers. Additionally, 7% of S&E highest degree holders were employed out of their field. However, not enough scholarly attention has been paid to the job search process among S&E students. The purpose of this study is to examine engineering students’ individual differences as antecedents of their job search behavior and outcomes. We draw on research in organizational and vocational psychology and focus on engineering students’ core self-evaluation (CSE), which consists of four traits: self-esteem, self-efficacy (i.e., generalized belief that one can complete tasks successfully), locus of control (i.e., the degree to which one believes that he or she controls the outcomes in life), and emotional stability (Judge et al., 1997). We hypothesized that students with higher CSE should also have higher level of self-efficacy specific to job search (i.e., job search self-efficacy), which should encourage them to engage in more career exploration. Career exploration, in turn, should be positively associated with the number of interviews and job offers they received. We collected survey data from 91 KSU graduating engineering students. Mediation analysis in SPSS using PROCESS found that: (1) CSE was positively related to job search self-efficacy, (2) job search self-efficacy was positively related to career exploration, (3) career exploration was positively related to the number of interviews, but not the number of job offers, and (4) job search self-efficacy and career exploration sequentially mediated the relationship between CSE and the number of job interviews received. Our findings highlight the importance of providing resources that can help students build positive core self-evaluation and encouraging students to take advantage of such resources.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
Department of Psychological Science
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Dianhan Zheng
The Role of Graduating Engineering Students’ Core Self-Evaluation in Job Search
The National Survey of College Graduates (2019) reported that recent science and engineering (S&E) graduates had a higher unemployment rate than all scientists and engineers. Additionally, 7% of S&E highest degree holders were employed out of their field. However, not enough scholarly attention has been paid to the job search process among S&E students. The purpose of this study is to examine engineering students’ individual differences as antecedents of their job search behavior and outcomes. We draw on research in organizational and vocational psychology and focus on engineering students’ core self-evaluation (CSE), which consists of four traits: self-esteem, self-efficacy (i.e., generalized belief that one can complete tasks successfully), locus of control (i.e., the degree to which one believes that he or she controls the outcomes in life), and emotional stability (Judge et al., 1997). We hypothesized that students with higher CSE should also have higher level of self-efficacy specific to job search (i.e., job search self-efficacy), which should encourage them to engage in more career exploration. Career exploration, in turn, should be positively associated with the number of interviews and job offers they received. We collected survey data from 91 KSU graduating engineering students. Mediation analysis in SPSS using PROCESS found that: (1) CSE was positively related to job search self-efficacy, (2) job search self-efficacy was positively related to career exploration, (3) career exploration was positively related to the number of interviews, but not the number of job offers, and (4) job search self-efficacy and career exploration sequentially mediated the relationship between CSE and the number of job interviews received. Our findings highlight the importance of providing resources that can help students build positive core self-evaluation and encouraging students to take advantage of such resources.