(Abstract)
In accordance with the rapid social changes, it is necessary for individuals to have the ability to decide which career to perform, how to design their future, and to determine their career path. Korean college students are facing serious ...
(Abstract)
In accordance with the rapid social changes, it is necessary for individuals to have the ability to decide which career to perform, how to design their future, and to determine their career path. Korean college students are facing serious youth unemployment problems and have a lot of difficulties in determining their career paths. The inability to make decision is a social problem beyond the problems of college students and the study of decision making that college students experience during career development is important. Therefore, this study aimed to clarify the structural relationship between career barriers and career resilience that affects career decision making ability in college students. In particular, the mediating effect of career resilience was analyzed in relationship with career barriers and decision-making as an important factor. For that purpose, a survey was conducted among students enrolled in four 4-year universities located in Gwangju and Jeonnam for four weeks starting from September 25, 2019, and a total of 421 college students (male = 183, female = 238) were selected for the final analysis, excluding missing answers. The collected data were analyzed through a structural equation model and the results of the study are as follows.
Looking at the results of the study, first, as a result of correlation analysis between career barriers, career resilience, and career decision-making, a meaningful correlation was found between the three variables. There was a negative correlation between career barriers and career decision-making,, suggesting that the higher the overall level of awareness of career barriers, the more difficult it may be to make career decisions. The negative correlation was also found between career barriers and career resilience, suggesting that in order to reduce the negative effects of the career barriers it is very important for college students to be aware of lots of career barriers in the rapidly changing society and to have flexible attitude for overcoming the difficulties in career decision-making. Then, a positive correlation was found between career resilience and career decision-making. According to these results, it can be inferred that career resilience has a positive effect on career decision making ability by giving confidence to college students in selecting their career path.
Second, as a result of analyzing the mediating effects of career resilience in the relationship between career barriers and career decision-making in college students with a structural equation model, the higher the career barriers effect, the lower the career decision-making ability and career resilience, and the higher the career resilience, the higher the career decision-making ability. These results suggest that even if the perceived career barrier is high, increasing the career resilience of college students can raise the level of career decision making ability.
Thus, through this study, it was confirmed that career barriers and career resilience of college students are very strong independent variables that directly affect career decision making ability, and, furthermore, career resilience has a positive effect on career decision making ability, in particular more than the career barriers recognized by college students. Through this, it can be understood that students have some difficulties determining their career, such as lack of self-understanding or lack of job information, but it is believed that such difficulties will help students to decide their career paths if they maintain positive emotions to achieve their goals and have the ability to actively cope with changes.