Sustainable Career Development for College Students: An Inquiry into SCCT-Based Career Decision-Making

As an important factor in predicting the future sustainable development of college students, career decision-making (CDM) has attracted widespread attention in the field of vocational education. Based on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this study proposed a moderated mediation model to investigate the relationship between work values and CDM, the mediating role of career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE), and the moderating effect of career goals. A total of 1300 questionnaires were collected using the snowball sampling method, and 1203 valid questionnaires were collected. The differences in background variables were examined by the independent sample t-test, and the validity of the research hypotheses was tested by SEM and multigroup analysis. The results of the study showed the following: (1) There were significant differences in CDM performance among college students of different genders and different grades. (2) CDMSE plays a partial mediating role between work values and career decision-making. (3) Career goals play a moderating role between CDMSE and CDM, and compared with low-level career goals, high-level career goals can promote the impact of CDMSE on CDM. In the future, colleges and universities can promote college students’ CDM by shaping work values, improving CDMSE, and guiding the establishment of career goals.