ORIGINAL RESEARCH

published: 28 January 2020

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00028

The Relationship Between Career

Social Support and Employability
of College Students: A Moderated
Mediation Model
Tiansheng Xia1, Honglei Gu2*, Yamei Huang3, Qian Zhu4 and Yufang Cheng5
1
 School of Art and Design, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, China, 2 Cognition and Human Behavior Key
Laboratory of Hunan Province, Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China, 3 School of
Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China, 4 School of Administrative Law, Northwest University of Political Science
and Law, Xi’an, China, 5 Continuing Education College, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China

This study examines the underlying mechanism that connects career social support with
employability through a survey of 392 Chinese college students. The results showed that
career social support had a positive effect on career adaptation and employability of
college students, and career adaptation mediated the association between career social
Edited by: support and employability. Furthermore, proactive personality was found to play a
Douglas F. Kauffman,
moderating role in linking career adaptation and employability. More specifically, higher
Medical University of the
Americas – Nevis, United States levels of a proactive personality strengthen the enhancing effect of career adaptation on
Reviewed by: the employability of college students. Therefore, there was a moderated mediation effect
Tomika W. Greer, between career social support and employability of college students.
University of Houston,
United States Keywords: career social support, career adaptation, proactive personality, moderated mediation, employability
Melinde Coetzee,
University of South Africa,
South Africa

*Correspondence:
INTRODUCTION
Honglei Gu
GHL@hunnu.edu.cn
The employment of college students is now a persistent hot topic in China. Since the expanded
enrollment in 1999, the number of Chinese college graduates has increased sharply during
Specialty section: recent years. According to a survey conducted by China’s Ministry of Education (Mycos Research
This article was submitted to Institute, 2019), the number of college graduates in China reached over 8.3 million in 2019,
Educational Psychology, which was a historical high. The employment rate of college graduates was 91.5% in 2018,
a section of the journal and it was lower than that in 2014 (92.6%), indicating that the employment rate in China
Frontiers in Psychology was on a gentle, but steady, downward slide. Among the factors influencing successful employment,
Received: 16 June 2019 employers usually regard the candidates’ employability as a fundamental determinant of recruitment
Accepted: 07 January 2020 (Guilbert et  al., 2016). Mcardle et  al. (2007) propose that the lack of employability is the
Published: 28 January 2020
primary cause of employment difficulty for college students. Therefore, it is worthwhile to
Citation: identify the influential factors that underpin undergraduates’ employability, which will be beneficial
Xia T, Gu H, Huang Y, Zhu Q and to improve the employability of college students and alleviate the social problems of unemployment.
Cheng Y (2020) The Relationship
Employability is conceptualized as a set of human capital, social capital, personal characteristics,
Between Career Social Support and
Employability of College Students: A
and personal behaviors that makes graduates more likely to gain employment (Clarke, 2018).
Moderated Mediation Model. From the inputs point, employability associates with factors, such as competency, which increase
Front. Psychol. 11:28. the likelihood of getting and maintaining a job (De Cuyper et  al., 2012). Yu et  al. (2014) proposed
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00028 that employability consisted of eight factors: interpersonal relationships, team cooperation, learning

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Xia et al. Career Social Support and Employability

ability, resolving problems, social support, network difference, an career adaptability resources (Savickas, 2005). Concern for the
optimistic and open personality, and career identification. The future enables individuals to think ahead and prepare for what
interpersonal relationships, team cooperation, learning ability, and might happen. Control enables a person to be more responsible
resolving problems factors were competencies related to coping for shaping themselves as well as the surroundings to meet
with interpersonal relationship and problem solving. Social support future needs by adopting self-discipline and persistence. Curiosity
and network difference reflected the social capital, and an optimistic facilitates a person to recognize themselves in different situations
and open personality reflected positive personality characteristics. and roles. Confidence prompts the person to implement their
Fugate et al. (2004) define employability as a person-centered, life design (Savickas and Porfeli, 2012).
psycho-social construct, and propose that people with well- Considering the rapid change of the global market, it is
developed social and human capital often utilize formal (e.g., important that people gain the competence to adapt to the
parents) and informal support systems (e.g., friend of a friend) requirements of career development and employment (Hou et al.,
to devote to the job search behaviors. According to Resource 2012b). Career Construction Theory (Savickas, 2002) suggests
Conservation Theory (Hobfoll et  al., 2003), individuals will that social support is an important contextual determinant of
always strive to maintain and utilize resources that contribute career adaptability. Previous research demonstrated a strong and
to their successful employment, and the more social psychological consistent association between social support and career adaptability
resources (e.g., support from parents and friends, and power) (Wang and Fu, 2015; Fawehinmi, 2016; Ghosh and Fouad, 2017).
can result in a greater chance of their successful employment. For example, in a sample of graduating seniors, Ghosh and
As an important social network and capital resource, career Fouad (2017) indicated that social support can significantly
social support may be  highly influential in determining the predict the concern resource. In line with the statement of Ghosh
success of college students’ employment. and Fouad (2017), Wang and Fu (2015) recruited 879 Chinese
Career social support is considered to be  a significant and college graduates as the sample and documented that career
successful way into the labor market, and it also affects the adaptability can be  enhanced by social support.
resources available to individuals when considering, choosing According to Career Construction Theory, the adaption results
and pursuing career choices (Chronister and Mcwhirter, 2004). are produced by adaptive readiness, adaptability resources, and
Different to general social support, career social support is a adapting responses (Savickas and Porfeli, 2012). People who
domain-specific social support related to career-relevant tasks are willing (adaptive) and able (adaptability) to adjust behaviors
or issues. More specifically, it includes information and advice according to changing conditions (adapting) were expected to
about career planning, financial support for job search behavior, have higher levels of adaptation (outcome). As a core component
comfort and encouragement after unsuccessful interviews, and in career development, previous research suggested that career
other resources that individuals can obtain from their social adaptability was a significant predictor for job satisfaction (Han
networks such as parents, siblings, teachers, friends, and relatives and Rojewski, 2015), turnover intention (Chan and Mai, 2015),
(Hou et al., 2010; Jiang et al., 2017). Numerous empirical findings job performance (Ohme and Zacher, 2015), and employability
have shown that social support has significant positive impacts (Mcardle et al., 2007; Dumulescu et al., 2015; Veld et al., 2016).
on college students’ employability (Michailidis et  al., 2017), Consequently, the first hypothesis is proposed:
career self-efficacy (Wang and Fu, 2015), career maturity (Cho Hypothesis 1: Career adaptability will play a mediating role
and Choi, 2007), and career preparation (Hirschi et  al., 2011). between career social support and employability.
According to Resource Conservation Theory, people with
more resources are less likely to suffer from resource loss The Moderating Role of Proactive
attacks. Instead, they are more likely to gain resources (Hobfoll, Personality
2001). Career social support and employability are both important Recent research has called attention to the joint contribution
personal resources and, according to the Career Construction of social psychological capital and individual attributes to
Theory (CCT), career adaptability is a social psychological employability (Van der Heijden and Spurk, 2019). According
resource to cope with working tasks (Savickas, 1997). Individuals to Resource Conservation Theory, a proactive personality can
with more career social support are likely to improve their not only alleviate the adverse effect of resource scarcity, but
career adaptability, and then career adaptability and proactivity, also gain favorable effects when resources are sufficient.
which are regarded as a self-regulating resource together, Accordingly, we  explored whether the mediating role of career
influence the individual’s employability. Therefore, this study adaptability was moderated by a proactive personality. Proactive
comprehensively investigates how these factors affect the personality is deemed as a tendency to take personal initiative
employability of college students in the Chinese context. in a wide spectrum of activities and situations (Crant, 2000).
High initiative individuals tend to create conditions for
The Mediating Role of Career Adaptability themselves, take the initiative to obtain relevant professional
The term “Career adaptability” is considered a fundamental support, formulate their career planning, and pursue career
psychological resource enabling people to deal with present goals they have set (Bateman and Crant, 1993). Previous studies
and anticipated tasks, transitions, and traumas in their have shown that these proactive career behaviors are beneficial
occupational roles that change their social integration (Savickas, to enhance individuals’ employability (De Vos and Soens, 2008;
1997), while concern, control, curiosity, and confidence constitute Chughtai, 2019).

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Xia et al. Career Social Support and Employability

sophomores, 40.6% were juniors, and 8.9% were seniors.

Furthermore, 78.6% of these participants were female, 75.3%
had one or more siblings, and 65.3% reported their place of
residence as urban.

Measures
Career social support was measured using the Career Social
Support Inventory (CSSI) for Chinese College Students designed
by Hou et  al. (2010). The CSSI is composed of five subscales,
namely parents’ support, siblings’ support, teachers’ support,
friends’ support, and relatives’ support. Each subscale consists
FIGURE 1 |  The conceptual model of the proposed moderated mediation of 20 items measuring the following four types of support:
framework.
information support (seven items), advice support (six items),
emotional support (four items), and material support (three
A proactive personality may reinforce the effect of career items). Sample items include, “tell me some information about
adaptability on employability. On the one hand, a proactive college life in advance” (information support), “provide me with
personality facilitates promotion of career adaptability and some advice about future employment and development” (advice
personal growth. Individuals with proactivity are likely to support), “care about how I  feel” (emotional support), and
be future-oriented, pay more attention to their career concerns, “provide me with tuition” (material support). Items were rated
and obtain high self-efficacy in the world of work (Seibert on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (very
et  al., 1999; Tolentino et  al., 2014). On the other hand, during much). The psychometric characteristics of the CSSI have been
difficult situations, proactive individuals often employ goal assessed in previous studies (e.g., Hou et  al., 2012a). In this
management strategies rather than risk management strategies. study, Cronbach’ α was 0.96.
For instance, proactive individuals will choose a constructive Career adaptability was measured by means of the Career
way for further employability enhancement, and they often Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS; Savickas and Porfeli, 2012), which
seek proactive information about occupations and their assessed four dimensions including concern (e.g., “Preparing
requirements (Brown et al., 2006), and they tend to take concrete for the future”), control (e.g., “Taking responsibility for my
measures to search for employment, commit to skill development, actions”), curiosity (e.g., “Becoming curious about new
and thus get a job (Mcardle et  al., 2007). In addition, for the opportunities”), and confidence (e.g., “Working up to my
employees with a proactive personality, they are more likely ability”). Each subscale consisted of six items, and all items
to develop and maintain high-quality relationships with their were rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1  =  “not strong”,
superiors and strengthen their employability (Li et  al., 2010). 5  =  “strongest”). The CAAS has been previously validated in
Consequently, the second hypothesis is proposed as follows: Chinese samples (e.g., Hou et  al., 2012b; Hui et  al., 2018). In
Hypothesis 2: A proactive personality will play a moderating the present study, Cronbach’ α was 0.91.
role in the mediation effect of career adaptability between Employability was assessed using the University Student’s
career social support and employability. Specifically, a proactive Employability Questionnaire (USEQ; Yu et  al., 2014). This
personality will moderate the second half path of the mediating measure consisted of 36 items assessing eight dimensions
link (i.e., the relationship between career adaptability covering interpersonal relationships (five items; Sample item:
and employability). “I like to get along with others”), team cooperation (three
In brief, we  established a moderated mediation model (see items; Sample item: “I am willing to share information resources
Figure  1), and the purpose of this paper was twofold: (1) to with team members”), learning ability (four items; Sample item:
explore whether career adaptability mediated the relationship “I always want to learn new knowledge”), resolving problems
between career social support and employability; (2) to test (five items; Sample item: “I am able to properly handle multiple
whether a proactive personality moderated the mediation effect complex tasks”), social support (four items; Sample item: “My
of career adaptability. The moderated mediation model not relatives can provide resources for my job hunting and career
only replies to the question of how career social support affects development”), network difference (three items; Sample item:
employability, but also provides a response when the enhancing “The people I  interact with have very different hobbies and
effect is stronger or weaker. specialties”), an optimistic and open personality (six items;
Sample item: “I will not be discouraged by failure”), and career
identification (six items; Sample item: “I have clear employment
METHODS goals”). All items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging
from 1  =  strongly disagree to 5  =  strongly agree. The USEQ
Participants has shown good reliability and validity in previous research
Participants were 392 college students (Mage  =  21.12  years, (e.g., Ye et  al., 2017). In this study, Cronbach’ α was 0.90.
SDage  =  2.13, range  =  19–24) recruited from two universities Proactive personality was assessed by the means of the
in China. Among the sample, 50.5% of these participants were Proactive Personality scale (Bateman and Crant, 1993), which

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Xia et al. Career Social Support and Employability

TABLE 1 |  Means, standard deviations, and correlations of the variables.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1. Age —
2. Gender −0.06 —
3. Only child 0.04 0.25*** —
4. POR 0.12*** −0.10* −0.46*** —
5. CSS 0.06 0.08 0.08 −0.08 —
6. CA 0.28*** 0.09 0.08 −0.06 0.17** —
7. PP 0.25*** 0.10 0.04 −0.12 0.15** 0.59*** —
8. EM 0.31*** 0.03 −0.01 −0.00 0.29*** 0.65*** 0.63*** —
M 21.12 0.79 0.75 0.35 2.53 3.60 3.48 3.33
SD 2.13 0.41 0.43 0.48 0.52 0.53 0.54 0.42

n = 392. POR, place of residence; CSS, career social support; CA, career adaptability; PP, proactive personality; EM, employability. Gender was coded as 0 = male and 1 = female;
Only child status was coded as 0 = no and 1 = yes; Place of residence was coded as 0 = rural and 1 = urban.*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

with each other, and proactive personality showed a positive

relation to employability. Moreover, age significantly correlated
with proactive personality, career adaptability, and employability.
To avoid possible spurious effects, age was included as a control
variable in the models.

Testing for Mediation Effect

Next, we  tested whether career adaptability mediated the
relationship between career social support and employability.
FIGURE 2 |  The mediating effect of career adaptability in the association
between career social support and employability. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.
As seen in Figure 2, career social support significantly predicted
employability [b  =  0.29, SE  =  0.05, 95%CI  =  (0.20, 0.39)] and
career adaptability [b  =  0.17, SE  =  0.05, 95%CI  =  (0.07, 0.27)].
consisted of 10 items. Respondents were asked to rate each Furthermore, when career social support [b  =  0.19, SE  =  0.04,
statement on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1  =  strongly 95%CI  =  (0.11, 0.27)] and career adaptability [b  =  0.61,
disagree to 5  =  strongly agree. A sample item is “I often find SE  =  0.04, 95%CI  =  (0.54, 0.69)] were entered as predictors,
new ways to improve my life”. The psychometric characteristics they both showed significant effects on employability. The bias-
of this scale have been previously validated in Chinese samples corrected percentile bootstrap method revealed significant
(e.g., Kim et al., 2009). Cronbach’ α was 0.83 in the present study. indirect effect [indirect effect = 0.10, SE = 0.03, 95%CI = (0.04,
0.16)] and direct effect [direct effect  =  0.19, SE  =  0.04,
Data Analysis 95%CI  =  (0.11, 0.27)]. The mediation effect accounted for
First, descriptive statistics and correlations were analyzed using 36.0% of the total effect. Thus, career adaptability played a
SPSS version 24.0. Second, we used the PROCESS macro (Model partially mediating role in the relationship of career social
4; Hayes, 2013) of SPSS software to examine the indirect effect support with employability, and both Hypotheses 1 and 2
of career adaptability in linking career social support and were verified.
employability. The bias-corrected bootstrapping method based
on 2000 samples was used to test the significance of the Testing for Moderated Mediation Effect
indirect effect. We examined whether a proactive personality moderated the
Third, we  conducted a moderated mediation analysis using mediating effect of career adaptability. Results from Figure  3
PROCESS (Model 14) to determine whether the indirect path indicated that (1) career social support significantly predicted
was moderated by a proactive personality. Finally, we calculated career adaptability [b  =  0.17, SE  =  0.05, 95%CI  =  (0.07, 0.27)],
conditional indirect effects so as to further test whether the and (2) both career adaptability [b  =  0.40, SE  =  0.04,
indirect effect varied under the condition of different values 95%CI  =  (0.32, 0.49)] and the interaction effect of career
of the moderating variable. adaptability and a proactive personality [b  =  0.07, SE  =  0.03,
95%CI  =  (0.01, 0.13)] significantly affected employability. The
findings suggested that the indirect effect between career social
RESULTS support and employability was moderated by a proactive
personality. More specifically, a proactive personality moderated
Descriptive Statistics the second half path of the mediating effect. Thus, Hypotheses
Table  1 shows means, standard deviations, and correlations 3 was supported.
for all study indicators. As expected, career social support, For clearly demonstrating the moderating role of proactive
career adaptability, and employability were positively correlated personality, this study conducted simple slope tests. The results

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Xia et al. Career Social Support and Employability

FIGURE 3 |  The moderating effect of proactive personality on the second stage of the indirect association. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

revealed that higher career adaptability was strongly related to Second, this study identified that career adaptability mediated
higher employability (bsimple  =  0.47, t  =  10.42, p  <  0.001) under the association between career social support and employability,
the condition of a high proactive personality (i.e., one SD above indicating that establishing a good social support system is
the mean). The relation between adaptability and employability conducive to the cultivation of career adaptability of college
was much weaker (bsimple  =  0.33, t  =  7.47, p  <  0.001), however, students (Creed et  al., 2009), which in turn improves their
in the condition of a low proactive personality (i.e., one SD employability (Koen et  al., 2012; Kang et  al., 2016). Thus,
below the mean). career adaptability could serve as a “bridge” linking career
Finally, the test of conditional indirect effects showed that social support and employability, and career adaptability should
the total indirect effect was more noteworthy for college students be  considered as a valuable psychosocial asset which may
with high levels of a proactive personality [indirect effect = 0.08, be  fostered by providing diverse aspects of social support (e.g.,
SE  =  0.03, 95%CI  =  (0.03, 0.14)], than for those with low information support, advice support, emotional support, and
levels of proactive personality [indirect effect = 0.06, SE = 0.02, financial support).
95%CI  =  (0.02, 0.10)]. Furthermore, the index of moderated Third, this study indicated that college students with high
mediation (Hayes, 2015) was 0.011 [SE = 0.008, 95%CI = (0.001, levels of a proactive personality were more likely to approach
0.030)], indicating that proactive personality strengthened the powerful employability. More importantly, we  found that a
mediating effect of career adaptability. proactive personality strengthened the salutary effect of career
adaptability on employability. This implies that college students
with higher proactivity may still take advantage of all the
DISCUSSION opportunities to actively seek employment information related
to their career development, take the initiative to seize practical
With a steady increase in the number of university graduates, training, and further improve their employability, when they
the employment of college students has become a common have stable career adaptability. Conversely, for those with lower
concern of higher education and even society as a whole in proactivity, even if they have enough confidence in facing various
China. This study extended previous research by establishing challenges, they could not find and make use of beneficial
a moderated mediation model, which systematically tested the opportunities in a timely manner. Thus, it is impossible to further
synergistic impacts of individuals (i.e., career adaptability and identify what professional skills they need to improve, which
proactive personality) and contextual (i.e., career social support) in turn reduces the increase in employability (Fawehinmi, 2016).
factors on college students’ employability. The moderating role of proactive personality may be explained
First, in accordance with Resource Conservation Theory in two ways. First, Social Cognitive Theory suggests the
(Hobfoll et  al., 2003) and previous empirical findings individuals’ behavior depends on their self-efficacy, and high
(European Training Foundation, 2002; Fabio and Kenny, levels of proactivity is likely to enhance individuals’ career
2015), the current study verified the positive function of confidence and make them spend more energy on career
career social support in cultivating college students’ exploration, and thus improve their employability (Cai et  al.,
employability. The Resource Conservation Theory emphasizes 2015). Second, Self-regulation Theory believes that individuals
the links between individuals’ conditional resources (e.g., can adjust their views, emotions, and behaviors based on the
social support obtained from important others) and the outcomes of their action, and that individuals with high levels
chance of their successful employment (i.e., employability). of proactivity are more likely to adjust their career concerns
Meanwhile, our results verify the view that the more powerful and control their career behavior based on the outcomes, and
an individual’s social support network, the stronger his or thus contribute to career success (Merino-Tejedor et  al., 2016).
her employability (Michailidis et  al., 2017). These findings indicate that college students should improve

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Xia et al. Career Social Support and Employability

their career adaptability and proactivity simultaneously so as DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

to gain powerful employability.
Despite the importance of the findings, some limitations The datasets generated for this study are available on request
deserve to be  mentioned. First of all, the study relied on a to the corresponding author.
convenience sample of Chinese college students, and the mean
age of the sample was only 21.12  years, which limited the
generalizability of results. As such, further research should ETHICS STATEMENT
be designed to replicate the current study to samples consisting
of other cultures and age groups. Second, the data we collected The study protocol was approved by the Hunan Normal University
was at a single point in time. Long-term and continuous studies Research Ethnics Committee. All participants gave written
should be conducted to examine the causal links among career informed consent.
social support, career adaptability, and employability. Finally,
the current study used college students self-report to collect
data, and further studies would benefit from assessing the AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
constructs using multiple informants.
Despite the above-mentioned limitations, this research has HG and YH designed the study. HG, QZ, and YC collected
several practical implications. To begin with, the present study data, developed, and performed the statistical analysis in
corroborates the importance of career social support. Supports conjunction. TX and HG wrote the first draft of the manuscript
from family, teachers, and friends may help college students to and revised the manuscript.
gain more valuable employment information and financial
assistance, which is beneficial for college students’ successful
employment. Therefore, career social support should become a FUNDING
focus for future employability intervention plans. Besides the
external support, college students should grow awareness of This research was funded by grants from the National Social
developing their own career adaptability persistently. On the Science Foundation of China (18BYY089), the Humanity and
other hand, this study offers preliminary evidence that a proactive Social Science Youth Foundation of the Ministry of Education
personality enhances the significant influence of career adaptability of China (16YJC190022), the Scientific Research Foundation
on employability. Accordingly, we should not overlook the protective of Hunan Provincial Education Department (19C1148), the
roles of personality trait resources (e.g., proactive personality). Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project of Henan
In conclusion, this research deepens the understanding Province (2018CJY036), the 13th Five-Year Plan for Science
of how and when good career social support increases college of Education Project in Henan Province ([2018]-JKGHYB-0191),
students’ employability through considering individual (career Experience Design Integrated Innovation Research Team of
adaptability and proactive personality) and contextual Guangdong Province (2016WCXTD013), Social Science Research
(career social support) variables simultaneously. Overall, good Base of Guangdong Province Center for Design Science and
career social support can promote college students’ career Art, the Philosophy and Social Sciences 13th Five-Year Planning
adaptability, which in turn facilitates employability. Moreover, Co-construction Project of Guangdong Province (GD16XYS16)
the beneficial role of career adaptability is strengthened by and the 13th Five-Year Planning for Philosophy and Social
high levels of a proactive personality. Science of Guangzhou City (2018GZQN31).

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Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 7 January 2020 | Volume 11 | Article 28