Action-state orientation and the theory of planned behavior: A study of job search in China

Job search is an important element of people’s careers and is especially critical for unemployed individuals. The current study surveyed a sample of 328 unemployed job seekers in China to test hypotheses related to the theory of planned behavior and action-state orientation theory. Results of the three-wave longitudinal study demonstrated that the theory of planned behavior was effective in modeling job-search intention and job-search intensity. Action-state orientation moderated the relationship between attitude and intention, as well as the relationship between intention and intensity. The current study sheds light on the motivational and self-regulatory process of job search and reemployment for Chinese unemployed job seekers.     

How did it work? An examination of the mechanisms through which an intervention for the unemployed promoted job-search behavior

Conducted process analysis of treatment mediation effects (Judd & Kenney, 1981) on longitudinal data from a large randomized field experiment with 928 recently unemployed persons. The experimental treatment included an intervention that succeeded in promoting quality reemployment outcomes, as described in earlier reports (Caplan et al., 1989; Vinokur et al., 1991). Using Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985, 1988), the analyses examined the mediating effects of job-search self-efficacy, attitude, norms, and intention on job-search behavior. The results provided substantial support for the theory of planned behavior and demonstrated the mediational role of job-search self-efficacy. For both 1- and 4-month posttests, job-search self-efficacy was shown to mediate the effects of the intervention through its direct effects on job-search intention and on short term job-search behavior, as well as through its indirect effects on subjective norms and attitude. However, in the longer term 4-month posttest, exposure to the intervention had a direct effect on job-search behavior. This long-term direct effect of the intervention was hypothesized to reflect the influence of inoculation against setbacks which is essential for sustaining the long-term behavioral efforts involved in job seeking.     

失业人员求职行为的影响因素及作用机制 ——基于沈阳市的一项研究

对失业人员求职行为影响因素的研究是开展失业人员求职培训的重要依据。本研究对272名失业人员的求职行为的影响因素及作用机制进行了研究。多元回归分析的结果表明,（1）环境变量对求职行为没有显著的预测作用,而经济压力和知觉到的就业机会对求职意向有显著的预测作用。（2）求职自我效能感和就业承诺对求职行为起到了显著的预测作用。求职自我效能感和就业承诺越高,求职行为的频率越高。（3）求职意向对求职行为有显著的正向预测作用。（4）求职意向在求职自我效能感、就业承诺对求职行为的作用过程中中介作用显著;在知觉到的就业机会、经济压力和社会支持对求职行为的作用过程中中介作用不显著     

Predicting Job Seeking Frequency and Psychological Well-Being in the Unemployed

Unemployed (n = 118) and employed (n = 120) people were contrasted on variables of well-being, confidence, and employment commitment. The unemployed scored lower on the General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg, 1972) and the General Self-Efficacy Scale (Sherer et al., 1982). No differences were Identified on levels of employment commitment. For the unemployed sample, predictors of job-seeking behavior and well-being were then examined. Intention to seek work predicted job-seeking behavior, while self-efficacy, employment commitment, and intentions to seek work predicted well-being. Results are discussed in light of current theories of job seeking behavior, and recommendations are made for practice.     

Job search and social cognitive theory: The role of career-relevant activities

Social cognitive theory was used to explain the relationships between career-relevant activities (environmental and self career exploration, career resources, and training), self-regulatory variables (job search self-efficacy and job search clarity), variables from the Theory of Planned Behavior (job search attitude, subjective norm, job search intention), and job search intensity. Based on a sample of employed and unemployed job seekers, we found that job seekers who spent more time in career exploration, attended more training programs, and used more career resources reported higher job search clarity and job search self-efficacy. Job search self-efficacy, job search attitude, and subjective norm predicted job search intention, and job search clarity and job search intention predicted job search intensity eight months later. The results of this study provide practical information on what job seekers can do to improve their job search clarity and job search self-efficacy and demonstrate the application of social cognitive theory for understanding and predicting job search behavior.     

Job seeking, reemployment, and mental health: a randomized field experiment in coping with job loss

Cognitive theories of adherence to difficult courses of action and findings from previous survey research on coping with a major life event--job loss--were used to generate a preventive intervention, tested by a randomized field experiment. The aim was to prevent poor mental health and loss of motivation to seek reemployment among those who continued to be unemployed and to promote high-quality reemployment. Ss were 928 recently unemployed adults from southeastern Michigan, representing a broad range of demographic characteristics; they were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control condition. The experimental intervention included training in job seeking with a problem-solving process emphasizing inoculation against setbacks and positive social reinforcement. A pretest was administered, followed by posttests 1 and 4 months after the experiment. The experimental condition yielded higher quality reemployment in terms of earnings and job satisfaction, and higher motivation among those who continued to be unemployed.     

The Effects of a Learning‐Goal Orientation Training on Self‐Regulation: A Field Experiment Among Unemployed Job Seekers

Finding reemployment after job loss is a complex and difficult task that requires extensive motivation and self‐regulation. This study aimed to examine whether improving unemployed job seekers’ cognitive self‐regulation can increase reemployment probabilities. Based on the goal orientation literature, we developed a learning‐goal orientation (LGO) training, which focused on goal setting aimed at improving rather than demonstrating competences and creating a climate of development and improvement. We predicted that the LGO training would influence peoples’ goal orientation towards job seeking, which in turn would relate to learning from failure, strategy awareness, and self‐efficacy, leading to job‐search intentions, resulting in increased reemployment status. Using a 2‐group quasi‐experimental design with 223 unemployed job seekers, we found support for these predictions, except for self‐efficacy. The results suggest that an LGO training is a promising tool to improve self‐regulation in and effectiveness of job search.     

unemployment,social support,individual resources,and job search behavior

The authors investigated the relation between the social support received by unemployed individuals (N = 104) and their job search behavior. A moderated mediation model demonstrated that the effect of social support on job search behaviors was mediated by self‐esteem but only if adequacy of social support was perceived as low. In addition, the effect of social support on job search behavior was partially mediated by optimistic expectations and resilience. In sum, social support seems to be a resource with complex and partially surprising effects on job search behavior.     

Job-seeking and job-acquisition in high school students

We surveyed 225 Year 9 and 10 students at T1 regarding their attitude, social norms, control, experience, plans and intentions to find a part-time job while at school. Of these, 149 did not have a job and were surveyed again four months later about their job-seeking and job outcomes (104 responded at T2). Job-seeking intentions at T1 were associated with past experience, plans and beliefs that getting a job was the right thing to do. Job-seeking at T2 was associated with beliefs about the value of job-seeking. Job interviews attended were related to job-seeking, and job offers were related to interviews attended. Students with higher job-seeking intentions and behaviours differed on most variables from students with lower intentions and behaviours. Students need to be aware of the relationship between job-seeking, interviews and offers, and be provided with strategies that increase their interviews and assist to manage unsuccessful job attempts.     

The Search for Employment: Motivation to Engage in a Coping Behavior1

The search for employment was examined as coping through engagement in motivated behavior. A model predicting social networking and employer contact behavior was tested with a sample of persons anticipating college graduation. Proposed relations among behavioral antecedents were primarily drawn from Ajzen's (1985) theory of planned behavior, with the addition of cognitively appraised challenge. Structural equations analysis revealed general support for hypothesized relations among attitude, norms, perceived behavioral control, intentions, and behaviors. Cognitively appraised challenge partially mediated the effects of perceived behavioral control on job search intentions. Significant variance in job search attitude was attributed to a valence by outcome expectancy interaction. Findings may be useful in promoting job search efforts, as well as furthering theoretical delineation of the search process.     

Development and test of an integrative model of job search behaviour

Research on job search and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) has identified job search attitude, subjective norm, and job search self-efficacy as the most proximal determinants of job seekers’ search intentions and subsequently job search behaviours. However, we do not yet know how more distal individual differences (e.g., personality) and situational factors (e.g., social context) might help to predict these key TPB determinants of job search behaviour. In an integrative model of job search behaviour, we propose specific relationships between these distal variables and the TPB determinants, which in turn are expected to mediate the effects of individual differences and situational factors on job search behaviour. The hypothesized model is tested in a large representative sample of 1,177 unemployed Flemish job seekers using a two-wave design and provides a satisfactory fit to the data. Extraversion, conscientiousness, core self-evaluations, employment commitment, financial need, and social support are found to differentially relate to instrumental job search attitude, affective job search attitude, subjective norm, and job search self-efficacy. In addition, all distal variables are indirectly related to job search behaviour through their effects on the TPB variables. These results support our expanded and integrative model of job search behaviour.     

Employability and Job Search after Compulsory Reemployment Courses: The Role of Choice,Usefulness, and Motivation

Compulsory reemployment courses aim to increase unemployed people's chances of reemployment by enhancing their employability and job search activities. However, the course outcomes vary greatly. This study examined the conditions and mechanisms that influence the outcomes of reemployment courses. In a two‐wave study of 643 participants, we assessed participants’ course experience (perceived choice and perceived usefulness), motivation for finding reemployment (internalisation), and employability and job search before and after the course. The results confirmed that a more internalised motivation was positively related to most course outcomes. Unexpectedly, perceived choice was unrelated to internalised motivation and course outcomes. Instead, high perceived choice was beneficial for motivation and some course outcomes only when the participants perceived the course to be useful for finding reemployment but was detrimental when they perceived the course to be useless. Perceived usefulness was also directly and positively related to the participants’ internalised motivation, which was in turn positively associated with most employability dimensions and job search activities after the course. Our results imply that the compulsory nature of reemployment courses may not be detrimental to people's motivation and course outcomes as long as they perceive the course to be useful for finding reemployment.     

The role of approach and avoidance motives for unemployed job search behavior

The current study investigated the role of approach and avoidance motives for unemployed job search behavior. Two approach motives (employment and PJ-fit) and two avoidance motives (low-expectation and low-interest) were distinguished. Antecedents and consequences of these motives were examined using a sample of 303 unemployed clients of reemployment agencies, and obtaining motive ratings from both the unemployed and their counselors. The findings showed that three motives (employment, low-expectation and low-interest) improved the prediction of job search behavior in addition to a set of antecedents that have been widely studied in the literature. In turn, the motives were predicted by different antecedents. The findings suggest that it is important to identify and address unemployed approach and avoidance motives since they might affect reemployment success.     

Unemployment and Mental Health: A Longitudinal Perspective

Using longitudinal data, the current study examined the relation between mental health and unemployment. It was assumed that these concepts would mutually influence each other—that is, while the perceived characteristics of the situation of being unemployed affect mental health, mental health may also influence the intention to look for a job, amount and type of job-searching behavior, and the chances of finding a job. Drawing on partly longitudinal data from 229 unemployed Dutch youth, a model relating mental health, perceptions of the unemployment situation, job-searching behaviors, and employment status was tested using structural equation modeling and logistic regression analysis. While the expectations were largely supported, there were also several unexpected results, most notably that participants who felt powerless were more likely to be active job seekers, while only mental health (and not job-seeking behavior) was (weakly) related to the likelihood of finding a job.     

Job-search persistence during unemployment: a 10-wave longitudinal study

Dynamic predictors of job-search intensity over time are examined in a large 10-wave longitudinal study of unemployed individuals. Two sets of variables relevant to the examination of job search from a dynamic, self-regulatory perspective--core self-evaluations (T. A. Judge, A. Erez, & J. E. Bono, 1998) and the theory of planned behavior (I. Ajzen, 1991)--were used to guide our examination. Results suggest core self-evaluation is related to average levels of job-search intensity over time. Job-search intentions mediated the relationship between subjective norms and job-search self-efficacy in the prediction of job-search intensity in the following 2 weeks. Both Time 1 and cumulative job-search intensity predict reemployment. This repeated-measures study contributes to research on job search that has been primarily cross-sectional or included few time waves.     

Can intervention in emotional competences increase employability prospects of unemployed adults?

The purpose of the present study is to explore the effects of a structured intervention in emotional competences (EC) on employability prospects of unemployed adults. More precisely, the objective is to analyse whether enhancing EC (such as identifying and expressing emotions, understanding emotions, and regulating one's own and others' emotions) can improve perception of employability, job search, entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial self-efficacy and improve reemployment success among unemployed participants. Seventy three participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental (40) or control group (33), and the experimental group underwent a 15 h intervention focused on improving EC and developing effective emotion regulation strategies. Both groups completed all the measures before the intervention (T1), one month later (T2), and six months after the intervention (T3). The results showed that the participants in the experimental group significantly increased their level of perceived employability, overall entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and three dimensions of entrepreneurial self-efficacy after the intervention, unlike their control group counterparts. Moreover, the experimental group showed more reemployment success and less reemployment delay than the control group. No changes were detected in job search or entrepreneurial intention in either group after the intervention. In addition, the positive effects of the intervention were not maintained six months after the intervention. The results suggest that structured interventions in EC can increase people's beliefs in their own capabilities (entrepreneurial self-efficacy) and their ability to find employment (employability) and can contribute to the actual reemployment.     

How experienced autonomy can improve job seekers' motivation,job search,and chance of finding reemployment

Job seekers can have different motivations to search for jobs. Some search to find a better job, others because reemployment guidance stimulates them to do so. Understanding how reemployment guidance impacts these different types of job search motivation, and how these types of motivation impact job search behavior, is important in fully comprehending the reemployment process. This study examined how experienced autonomy during reemployment guidance relates to job seekers' types of motivation, how these types of motivation relate to high-quality job search behavior and, in turn, how high-quality job search behavior predicts finding reemployment. In a three-wave field study (n_T1 = 440; n_T2,T3 = 172), we assessed unemployed people's need for autonomy, experienced autonomy, job search motivation, and job search behavior quantity and quality. Unemployed participants were surveyed at the start of reemployment guidance (T1) and six weeks thereafter (T2). Their reemployment status was assessed six months later (T3). Results showed that experiencing more autonomy was directly associated with autonomous job search motivation and indirectly associated with high-quality job search behaviors and a higher chance of finding reemployment, regardless of job seekers' individual need for autonomy. Additionally, experiencing less autonomy was directly associated with amotivation, and indirectly associated with low-quality job search behaviors and a lower chance of finding reemployment. The implications of our findings for the reemployment process and for reemployment guidance are discussed.     

Job loss as a blessing in disguise: The role of career exploration and career planning in predicting reemployment quality

Job loss is one of the most difficult work related situations that an individual may encounter. Yet, sometimes job loss may also turn into a blessing in disguise. Combining the careers literature with the literature on unemployment, the current paper addresses potential positive outcomes of job loss by focusing on specific career adaptability activities that individuals can undertake to obtain these outcomes. Three hundred and four unemployed outplacement attendees reported their use of self and environmental career exploration and career planning, as well as of job search (general and networking) and the availability of two resources that may foster these activities, general self-efficacy and social support. Six months later, 215 individuals reported their current reemployment status and, when applicable, the quality of that reemployment. Results replicate the positive effects of job search on finding reemployment but moreover outline the relevance of career planning and exploration during unemployment on ensuring the quality of this reemployment. Theoretical implications and directions for practice and future research are discussed.     

Predictors and outcomes of job search behavior: The moderating effects of gender and family situation

This study explored differences in the antecedents and consequences of job search behavior depending on gender and family situation in a large, nationwide sample of the Dutch population. Using Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behavior (TPB), we found no gender differences in the antecedents of job seeking. However, family situation did affect the relations in the TPB, such that personal attitude was a slightly weaker, and perceived social pressure a stronger predictor of job seeking for individuals with families than for singles. Concerning the consequences, job search behavior significantly predicted the chances of finding (new) employment, but not job satisfaction in the new job and the level of agreement between the obtained and wanted job.     

Why are unemployed aged fifty and over less likely to find a job? A decomposition analysis

Reemployment chances for unemployed aged fifty and over are low compared to those of younger persons. To explain the different chances, the job search literature has largely focused on the job search behavior of unemployed individuals. Based on job search models, we propose that not only job search behavior, but also wage setting behavior, attitudinal variables and personal variables impact the difference in reemployment opportunities. Besides gaining insight into which variables explain the difference in reemployment opportunities, we also test how much of the difference each of these variables explains. We do this by drawing on a decomposition analysis. Using data from 647 recently unemployed, we find that about one third of the reemployment gap can be explained by the variables suggested by job search models, mostly in terms of age differences in search behavior, educational levels and reservation wage. Hence, about 70 % can be ascribed to other factors, such as employer preferences for those aged between 18 and 49. Implications of these results for theory, policy and practice are discussed.