How Social Relationships Shape the Career Aspirations of Master's Students ——A Longitudinal Study of Chinese Master's Students

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Friday 7:45 am
  In Poster Session: Poster 1

Abstract

This study tracked 18 Chinese master's students longitudinally, drawing on structured theory and social support theory, to reveal that social relationships dynamically shape their career aspirations through a four-dimensional path of instrumental, emotional, informational, and evaluative support. Research has found that career aspirations are a product of the interplay between rule constraints and resource empowerment. Chinese collectivist culture endows emotional support with the characteristic of "moral binding", while weak relational networks promote career diversification transformation. Based on four types of empowerment, constraint, openness, and looseness support networks, this study proposes that vocational guidance in universities should implement layered interventions in conjunction with local cultural contexts.

Author

• xinrui li, Zhejiang University