2023 Volume 41 Issue 2 Pages 47-60
The present study aimed to explore the process of career goal clarification among freshmen and sophomores in Chinese local universities and examine the difference in the process of career goal clarification by career decisionmaking self-efficacy. Specifically, the effects of self-improvement motivation and career exploration on career goal clarity were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM), as well as the varying effects of career decisionmaking self-efficacy levels on the career goal clarification process through multiple group analysis. The participants were 138 freshman students and 176 sophomore students. As a result, it was suggested that self-improvement motivation could be split into self-fulfillment orientation and be-myself orientation. Self-fulfillment orientation directly influences career goal clarity and indirectly influences mediations by career exploration. Be-myself orientation indirectly influences career goal clarity mediated by career exploration. And environmental exploration strongly influenced promoting career goal clarity in the process. Additionally, several differences were found between the low and high career decision-making self-efficacy groups in the process. However, only in the low self-efficacy group was the relation between be-myself orientation and career goal clarity confirmed. In contrast, only in the high self-efficacy group was the connection between self-fulfillment orientation and career goal clarity confirmed. Furthermore, the influence of self-exploration on environmental exploration was significantly weaker in the low self-efficacy group than in the high self-efficacy group. Therefore, to promote lower-grade university students’ career goal clarity, providing career support per career decision-making self-efficacy is imperative.
