How Do Career Shocks Shape Occupational Calling? Testing a Moderated Chained Mediation Model

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Xie, Baoguo; Xu, Jia; Fan, Jinyan; Long, Lirong; Litchfield, Robert
• 署名单位: Wuhan University of Technology; Wuhan University; Auburn University System; Auburn University; Huazhong University of Science & Technology
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/apl0001331
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY; DOUBLE-EDGED-SWORD; CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR; prosocial behavior; JOB-PERFORMANCE; FIT INDEXES; work; Covid-19; IMPACT; personality

摘要

The present study examined how several career shocks experienced by students in the health care fields during the COVID-19 pandemic shaped their subsequent occupational calling. Drawing on social information processing theory, we posit that the perceived impact of career shocks is positively related to an improvement in the perceptions of occupational characteristics (i.e., perceived task significance and social worth) and resultant improvement in psychological states (i.e., meaningful work and prosocial motivation), which in turn are expected to be positively related to an improvement in occupational calling. We further posit that intrinsic motivation should weaken the above links through the perceptions of occupational characteristics. A four-wave prospective field study with baseline measures was conducted with 703 students in the health care fields in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results based on path analysis largely supported the hypothesized moderated chained mediation model. In addition, several novel relationships were discovered between perceived occupational characteristics and psychological states (i.e., the perceived task significance-prosocial motivation link and the perceived social worth-meaningful work link). Theoretical and practical implications, as well as future research directions, were discussed.