Job-Crafting Experience in Part-Time Employment as a Determinant of the Career Resilience of Graduating University Students

Abstract

  The present study examined whether job-crafting experience during part-time employment might act as a determinant of the career resilience of graduating university students. In February-March 2023, an online survey was conducted, targeted at fourth-year university students who were going to graduate that March. The useable data, obtained from 521 students, were analyzed in order to measure job crafting (task, relational, and cognitive crafting) during part-time employment, and career resilience (ability to cope with problems and changes, social skills, interest in novelty, optimism about the future, and willingness to help others). Structural equation modeling results showed that (a) the ability to copy with problems and changes was positively related to task crafting and cognitive crafting, (b) social skills and willingness to help others were positively related to relational crafting, and (c) interest in novelty and optimism about the future were positively related to cognitive crafting. These findings suggest the importance of students engaging in part-time employment that enables them to have decision-making authority and use various skills, thereby facilitating job crafting. Such experiences are likely to promote students' career resilience.