Examining predictors and outcomes of future decent work perception among Nigerian emerging adults

Abstract

High levels of poverty and unemployment are pervasive barriers to Nigerian emerging adults entering the job market. The current study employed the Psychology of Working Theory to explore career engagement, academic satisfaction, and life satisfaction predictors in a nation experiencing the intersections of high poverty and high unemployment rate. We tested a model predicting these outcomes from economic constraints and marginalization mediated by work volition, career adaptability, and perceptions of future decent work. We administered online surveys to 310 undergraduates in Nigeria. Career adaptability and work volition predicted the perception of future access to decent work. Also, those who reported higher chances of securing decent work after graduation reported greater academic and life satisfaction and career engagement. While economic constraints predicted career adaptability in this model, marginalization did not predict career adaptability. In contrast with previous studies, economic constraints, and marginalization were not predictive of work volition or future decent work perception. We also found a positive relationship between economic challenges and career adaptability against the propositions of the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT). The implications of our findings were discussed.

Keywords

psychology of working theory future decent work perception work volition career adaptability youth unemployment in Nigeria career engagement

Emerging adulthood is a critical stage in vocational development, as it is a period when people develop a vocational identity (i.e., a stable vocational self-concept that reflects an individual’s choice of occupation and ability levels; (Arnett, 2000; Super, 2020). Vocational identity influences what young people believe they can achieve and their perceived career opportunities. Obstacles to vocational trajectory and perceptions of future career opportunities at this developmental stage can have far-reaching consequences, impacting the sense of self and the actions one takes toward transitioning to the working world (Arnett et al., 2014; Van Lill & Bakker, 2022). Considering work’s significant role in people’s lives, the International Labor Organization (ILO) has called for global attention to access to decent and meaningful work (Blustein et al., 2017). While unemployment and lack of access to decent and meaningful work remain global challenges, these challenges are more pronounced in high-poverty nations where the general population, and especially emerging adults, have fewer hopes of getting jobs and fulfilling their vocational goals (Olorunfemi, 2021). In the context of such high poverty and unemployment rates, people’s vocational experiences may differ enormously from the mainstream understanding of vocational outcomes, as many of these mainstream vocational theories originate from more advanced countries with greater job opportunities. Thus, scholars have repeatedly called for intersectional research that integrates varied cultural factors into vocational research (Fouad & Kantamneni, 2008; Kantamneni & Fouad, 2022).

Nigeria stands high among countries with a high poverty index. Using the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) estimates that over 63% of Nigerians lived below the poverty line in 2022. The poverty rate was worse for rural dwellers, with an MPI of 72% for rural dwellers the same year. Amid this high poverty rate, youth unemployment is 42% (NBS, 2022). College graduates have a fair share of this high unemployment and poverty, as the World Bank estimates that the unemployment rate of Nigerian college graduates was 17.15% in 2019 (World Bank, 2022). Despite the high unemployment rate of college graduates, there is a widely held belief among Nigerians that education is among the most affordable ways of breaking out of poverty (Asaju & Adagba, 2014). For this reason, many families with limited resources strive to send their children to school. There is also a cultural expectation that these students would help lessen their families’ financial burdens and lift them out of poverty when they graduate and start earning an income. While students from impoverished families desire to break out of economic challenges through their educational experiences, Psychology of Working theorists propose that people who have consistently experienced high levels of economic constraints and marginalization are less able to access decent work (Duffy et al., 2016). Empirical studies have supported this assertion (Duffy et al., 2018; England et al., 2020). Likewise, perceptions of future decent work among college students have predicted positive educational and vocational outcomes (Kim et al., 2019; Ma et al., 2021; Wei et al., 2022). No known research has tested the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT) within the Nigerian context, despite the prevalence of poverty and unemployment among Nigerian college graduates. Similarly, minimal PWT research has been done in cultures with high poverty levels and unemployment, like Nigeria. Such research at the intersections of culture, poverty, and unemployment in a very poor country is vital to a global understanding of PWT.

Impact of economic challenges on Nigerian college students

With the poverty rate in Nigeria at 63% (NBS, 2022), a high percentage of Nigerian university students come from low-income families (Nnamani et al., 2014). The implications of high poverty rates among Nigerian college students are far-reaching, influencing physical and psychological functioning. For example, an investigation of depression among Nigerian university students suggested an indirect association between socioeconomic level and depression (Adewuya et al., 2006). The authors reported a direct positive relationship between housing problems (common due to the high poverty level) and depression.

Lack of university funding compounds the woes of poor students in Nigerian universities: they often lack access to textbooks and essential technologies like reliable internet (Osinulu, 2020), have poor reading environments, and poor student housing (Nnamani et al., 2014).

Psychology of working theory

The Psychology of Working Theory (PWT) was developed to understand contextual factors that predict people’s vocational outcomes and overall wellbeing (Duffy et al., 2016). One of the unique contributions of PWT to the study of vocational behaviors and outcomes is its focus on decent work and its outcomes. Decent work refers to jobs that fulfill five factors outlined by ILO: safe working conditions, adequate compensation, adequate self-care, sufficient rest time, and job values that align with family values (ILO, 2015). According to the PWT model, decent work is directly linked to basic needs satisfaction: social connection, survival, and self-determination needs, and it indirectly predicts work fulfillment and wellbeing (Autin et al., 2019; Duffy et al., 2016). While decent work access is linked to these positive values, PWT theorists propose that people who consistently experience marginalization and economic constraints throughout their lives have less access to decent work. Decent work is hypothesized to mediate this relation via work volition (i.e., perceived freedom of work choice despite barriers) and career adaptability (i.e., the ability to adjust to unpredictable environments and resolve issues associated with vocational development tasks; Autin et al., 2017; Duffy et al., 2019b; Duffy et al., 2016).

Previous studies have generally supported PWT tenets. Specifically, studies have consistently supported links from economic constraints and marginalization to work volition, and work volition as a mediator in the link from predictor variables to decent work (England et al., 2020; Duffy et al., 2018). Although career adaptability has consistently predicted decent work directly, results regarding its mediating role are mixed. Career adaptability significantly mediated the link between economic constraints and decent work in Tokar and Kaut (2018); this relationship was insignificant in Duffy et al., 2019b. Access to decent work has consistently predicted the satisfaction of survival, connection, and self-determination needs and indirectly predicted physical and mental health (Duffy et al., 2019b; Wang et al., 2019). PWT has also been tested among different populations: racially and ethnically diverse employed adults (Duffy et al., 2018), undocumented immigrants (Autin et al., 2018), and urban workers (Wang et al., 2019). These studies indicate a negative relationship between marginalization and economic constraints with decent work outcomes, as mediated by work volition.

Perception of future decent work access among college students

Although PWT was developed to understand the experiences of working adults, recent research has expanded the PWT to college students to understand their perception of work life and how such perception impacts their current psychosocial functioning, academic engagement, and life satisfaction. PWT’s application to college students draws from the theory’s general concept of how people’s context impacts their perceptions of vocational opportunities and how these perceptions of opportunities impact their career-related behaviors, mental health, and wellbeing. Thus, PWT research on college students has focused on how students’ experiences of barriers and opportunities impact their expectations of their future jobs regarding working conditions, remuneration, and work-life balance and how this perception of future work outcome impacts the way they approach their studies, their mental health, and wellbeing (Kim et al., 2019; Ma et al., 2021; Wei et al., 2022).

Early research into perceptions of future decent work among college students out of China, Korea, and the U.S. has supported basic PWT tenets, but has opened interesting lines of inquiry with nuanced findings. Among a sample of Chinese college students, one study found that perceptions of future decent work outcomes positively predicted academic engagement (Ma et al., 2021), and another found that economic constraints negatively correlated with work volition (Ma et al., 2020). However, in a sample of Chinese college students from impoverished backgrounds, marginalization failed to predict work volition and future decent work perception (Wei et al., 2022). Interestingly, in the same study, economic constraint was only a significant predictor of work volition and perception of future decent work access for first-year students, but not for students in other years. The authors hypothesized that senior students may have developed more career decision-making skills, giving them greater confidence about career choices after graduation.

In a sample of Korean emerging adults, economic resources significantly predicted future decent work perceptions via work volition and career adaptability (Kim et al., 2019). However, in a subsequent cross-cultural comparison study, authors found that economic constraints predicted future decent work perception among U.S. college students but not Korean college students. The mediating role of career adaptability among college students’ perception of future decent work has also been mixed. Career adaptability significantly mediated the link between Chinese vocational school students’ economic constraints and their future decent work perceptions (Ma et al., 2020). This finding, however, was not supported among Korean vocational schools (Kim et al., 2019).

Career engagement as an outcome of future decent work perception

Career engagement is defined as the extent to which one proactively develops their career using specific career behaviors (e.g., career self-exploration, networking; Hirschi et al., 2014; Sou et al., 2022). Students who engage in these activities are more likely to be successful in their career outcomes (Sou et al., 2022) and research suggest career engagement is positively linked to job satisfaction after graduation (Hirschi et al., 2014). Although career engagement is related to career adaptability, a predictor of decent work in the Psychology of Working Theory, the two constructs are distinct. Career adaptability reflects the psychological resources an individual uses to adjust to unpredictable environments and resolve issues associated with vocational development tasks; career engagement implies individuals’ behaviors with those psychological resources. Similar to academic and occupational engagement, career engagement captures career-related behaviors that students engage in to promote school-to-work transition. Previous research reports that positive perceptions of future decent work predicted higher degrees of occupational and academic engagement (Kim et al., 2019; Ma et al., 2021). Given that we are examining expectations of future decent work (vs. actual securement of decent work), we conceptualize the behaviors associated with career engagement as a logical outcome variable. Thus, we hypothesize that students with more positive perceptions regarding their likelihood of obtaining future decent work will be more likely to exhibit higher levels of career engagement.

Academic and life satisfaction as an outcome of future decent work perception

PWT hypothesizes that decent work predicts wellbeing in work and general life domains (Duffy et al., 2016). In the current study, we expand this to be more relevant to college students, positioning future decent work perception as a predictor of academic and life satisfaction. Extant research has supported the relationship between career constructs and academically related variables. Students who reported higher work volition also reported higher academic satisfaction (Jadidian & Duffy, 2012). A longitudinal study investigating this relationship further supported a positive relationship between work volition and academic satisfaction (Allan et al., 2020). Similar to the work volition findings, students who reported greater control, concern, curiosity, and confidence in their careers reported higher academic satisfaction (Duffy et al., 2015). Beyond academic satisfaction, work volition has been found to predict life satisfaction among college students (Allan et al., 2021). Although limited research has investigated the outcomes of future decent work perception among college students, findings show a positive relationship between future decent work perception and academic engagement and satisfaction among Chinese college students (Ma et al., 2021). No known research has investigated the relationship between future decent work perception and life satisfaction among college students. Consistent with previous PWT theory and research among the college population, we predict that future decent work perception will predict academic and life satisfaction in this study.

Present study

In the current study, we tested a model predicting career engagement, academic satisfaction, and life satisfaction from a Psychology of Working perspective. We hypothesize that economic constraints will negatively predict work volition (hypothesis 1) and career adaptability (hypothesis 2); marginalization will negatively predict work volition (hypothesis 3) and career adaptability (hypothesis 4); work volition and career adaptability will positively future decent work perception (hypotheses 5–6); higher economic constraints and marginalization will negatively predict perception of future decent work (hypotheses 7–8); perceptions of future decent work will positively predict career engagement behaviors (hypothesis 9), academic satisfaction (hypothesis 10), and life satisfaction (hypothesis 11).

For mediation effects, we proposed that work volition and career adaptability will mediate the link between economic constraints and future decent work perception (hypotheses 12 – 13); work volition and career adaptability will mediate the link between marginalization and future decent work perception (hypotheses 14 – 15); future decent work perception will mediate the relation between career adaptability and academic satisfaction (hypothesis 16), career adaptability and life satisfaction (hypothesis 17), and career adaptability and career engagement (hypothesis 18); future decent work perception will mediate the relationship between work volition and academic satisfaction (hypothesis 19), work volition and life satisfaction (hypothesis 20), and work volition and career engagement (hypothesis 21). See Figure 1 for the full hypothesized model.
Figure 1.
Structural model with standardized path estimates. Note: EC = Economic Constraints, Marg = Life Time Experience of Marginalization, WV = Work Volition, CA = Career Adaptability, FDW = Future Decent Work Perception, CE = Career Engagement, ACLS = Academic Life Satisfaction, LSAT = Life Satisfaction. *p < .05; p < .01. The dotted lines represent the added paths for the alternative model which we used for our analysis.

Method

Participants

We recruited 310 undergraduates from 64 universities in different geopolitical zones in Nigeria, with a mean age of 22.97. Among them, 128 (41.3%) identified as male, 180 (58.1%) identified as female, and 2 (<1%) identified as non-binary. 247 (79.7%) had no job, while 63 (20.3%) had a job. More than 68% of those who reported that they had jobs had monthly salaries below the minimum wage of N30, 000 (about 80 USD).

After we received IRB approval, we collected survey data using Qualtrics, an online survey platform. We sent a link to the survey to professors and student representatives at different universities in Nigeria. These professors and student representatives distributed the survey to students via university WhatsApp groups (it is common for Nigerian universities to use WhatsApp for institutional communications). The link was also shared through college student groups on Facebook managed by university admins who admit only eligible students to their group. The researcher also sent survey links to college students in the researcher’s contacts and requested they share the link with eligible participants. Participants received two hundred Naira (approximately .35 USD) worth of airtime buyers (Airtime buyer is a prepaid voucher used to upload money on one’s phone to make phone calls, send messages, and use the internet on one’s phone). This compensation was equivalent to the minimum hourly wage in Nigeria. The scales were administered in English, the official language in Nigeria.

We included validity checks to filter out participants who answered randomly. We also included open-ended questions to evaluate data quality, eliminating participants whose responses indicated they did not pay attention to the questions. Finally, we assessed response speed, removing cases that completed the survey in less than 10 minutes. One thousand two hundred and five participants attempted the survey. Three hundred and twenty-four were screened out for ineligibility to participate in the survey. Five hundred and seventy-one participants were screened out for failing validity checks, leaving 310 participants for our analysis.

Instruments

Marginalization

We measured marginalization experiences using the 3-item Lifetime Experiences of Marginalization Scale (LEMS; Duffy et al., 2019b). The participants were instructed to rate items after reading the definition of marginalization: “By marginalized, we mean being in a less powerful position in society, being socially excluded, and/or having less access to resources because you are a member of a specific group, have a specific identity, or life history.” A sample item is: “During my lifetime, I have had many interpersonal interactions that have often left me feeling marginalized” (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree). The LEMS showed a high correlation with other measures of Marginalization (Duffy et al., 2019a). The Cronbach’s alpha for the original study was .94, and for our current study is .87.

Economic constraints

We measured economic constraints using the 5-item Economic Constraints Scale (ECS; Duffy et al., 2019b). As PWT is developmental, ECS assesses an individual’s experience of economic challenges throughout the individual’s life. Participants were instructed to answer questions about their experience of economic constraints throughout their lives. Participants rated their experiences using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Sample item: “Throughout most of my life I have struggled financially.” In its original study, ECS showed adequate correlation with other measures of economic deprivation such as poverty wage employment and financial deprivation and high internal reliability (α = .94; Duffy et al., 2019a). The Cronbach’s alpha for this study is .88.

Career engagement

Career engagement was assessed using the 9-item career engagement scale by Hirschi et al. (2014). This item measures career planning, career self-exploration, networking, skill development, and environmental career exploration. The respondents used a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (almost never) to 5 (very often) to indicate how much they have engaged in each behavior during the last six months. The construct validity of this scale was confirmed by a positive relationship between vocational identity clarity, career self-efficacy beliefs, and career engagement among university students. Sample items include, “Undertook things to achieve your career goals”, “Assumed duties or positions that will help you progress professionally.” Hirschi et al. (2014) showed that this scale does not vary across gender. Cronbach alpha for the original study was .87 and for the current study is .83.

Work volition

Work volition was assessed using the 7-item Volition subscale of the Work Volition Scale – Student Version (WVS-SV; Duffy et al., 2012). Previous research on college students assessing work volition and future decent work perception used this subscale (Ma et al., 2021; Wei et al., 2022). Participants responded to each item on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Sample item: “I feel total control over my future job choices.” The subscale showed adequate reliability in the validation study, α = .70. The Cronbach’s alpha for the current study was .84.

Career adaptability

Career adaptability was assessed using the 11-item career adaptability subscale of the Career Futures Inventory (Duffy et al., 2019a; Rottinghaus et al., 2005). Following suggestions of PWT experts (Duffy et al., 2019a), we dropped the two reverse-coded items in this scale as they represent a lack of volition rather than adaptability. Thus, we used nine of the items. Participants rated their experiences using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Sample item: “I can adapt to change in my career plans.” Construct validity showed adequate correlation with related variables such as problem-solving skills and confidence (Rottinghaus et al., 2005). Previous studies report suitable internal consistency and reliability (e.g. α = .94; Autin et al., 2022). The Cronbach’s alpha for the current study is .88.

Future decent work

We measured perception of future decent work access using the 15-item Future Decent Work Scale (FDWS; Kim et al., 2019). Sample item: “I will feel emotionally safe interacting with people at my future work.” (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree). The internal consistency of FDWS showed a reliability with Cronbach’s alphas for subscales ranging from .73 to .94, and the total score is .91). Total scale score Cronbach’s alphas for previous studies were at or above .86 (Kim et al., 2019; Wei et al., 2022). The Cronbach’s alpha for the current study is .86.

Satisfaction with academics

We assessed Academic satisfaction using the Academic Life Satisfaction Scale (ALSS; Nogueira et al., 2019). The instrument consists of eight items grouped into two subscales: Personal Satisfaction and Satisfaction with the Academic Environment. The ALSS is rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = totally agree). Sample item include, “I am satisfied with my academic performance.” The ALSS showed internal reliability in the original study with Cronbach’s alpha = .80 for the total score and .72 and .74 for the personality and academic subscales respectively. The Cronbach alpha of the total scale in our study = .82. The Cronbach alpha for the personality and academic subscales for our current study are .73 and .79 respectively.

Life satisfaction

We measured students’ satisfaction using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al., 1985). The SWLS consists of five questions that ask participants to rate their agreement or disagreement with the statements using a 7-point Likert scale where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree. Sample item: “In most ways my life is close to my ideal.” Construct validity showed adequate correlation with related subjective wellbeing measures. The SWLS has a good reliability with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient = .87. The Cronbach’s alpha for the current study is .80.

Preliminary analysis

We ran all preliminary analyses using IBM SPSS 28. All variables had absolute skewness and kurtosis values within the acceptable range of <|3| for skewness and <|10| for kurtosis (Weston & Gore, 2006). Our skewness values range from – 1.14 to .20 and kurtosis values range from 2.22 to −.06. We visually inspected our histograms and boxplots, which appear to be normally distributed. A visual inspection of scatterplots shows that assumptions of heteroscedasticity, linearity, and normality of residuals were met. We tested multivariate outliers using the Mahalanobis Distance. We found two cases that showed significant extreme values. These two cases were eliminated from the final analysis. We were left with 310 cases for our analysis. The dataset was complete.

Model testing

We used latent Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in AMOS 28 to test our hypothesized model paths. We used a two-step procedure suggested by Anderson & Gerbing, 1988. First, we tested a measurement model, allowing all latent variables to correlate with each other. We then ran a structural equation model including all the hypothesized directional paths. Individual items were used as indicators for economic constraint, marginalization, career adaptability, life satisfaction, and career engagement scales. Decent work and academic satisfaction were represented using a bifactor model. The fifteen decent work items loaded both onto a general decent work factor and five subfactors corresponding to subscales, while 8 academic satisfaction items loaded both onto a general academic satisfaction factor and two subfactors corresponding to the subscales (Duffy et al., 2019b; Nogueira et al., 2019).

We created parcels for latent variables with more than five items. Parcels are shown to increase reliability, produce better model fit, and reduce levels of skewness and kurtosis (Little et al., 2002). Thus, we created parcels for the following: work volition subscale, career adaptability, and career engagement. We followed Little et al.’s (2002) parceling procedure. We fit a single-factor solution to career engagement, work volition subscale, and career adaptability using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). We created three parcels for each of these constructs. We used the factor loadings from the EFA as a guide in assigning items to the parcels. The three items with the highest loading were placed in each of the three parcels as the anchor. The highest loaded item in each of these parcels were matched with the lowest loaded item in a countervailing order. Next, we placed the lower-loaded items with the higher-loaded parcels to create three items in each parcel for career engagements and career adaptability. Since work volition has 7 items in total, we followed the same process to assign three items to one of the parcels and two items to the other two parcels.

We evaluated our model fit using the following model fit indices: Chi-Square χ2, comparative fit index (CFI), Tucker Lewis Index (TLI), and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). Recommended values for adequate fit have ranged from more to less conservative (from TLI ≥ .95; CFI ≥ .95; RMSEA ≤ .06; SRMR ≤ .08 to TLI ≥ .90; CFI ≥ .90; RMSEA ≤ .10; SRMR ≤ .1 (Weston & Gore, 2006). Weston and Gore (2006) advised that adopting the more conservative when the sample size is less than 500 can lead to erroneously rejecting acceptable models. This was also supported by Taasoobshirazi and Wang (2016) which indicated that model fit improved with greater sample sizes. Thus, we adopted the less conservative model fit considering our sample size (TLI ≥ .90, CFI ≥ .90, SRMR ≤, and RMSEA ≤ .10; Hu & Bentler, 1999; Weston & Gore, 2006). We used RMediation to calculate indirect effects (Tofighi & MacKinnon, 2011). The RMediation from R package uses path coefficients and standard error estimates to produce confidence intervals for indirect effects. The mediation effect is nonsignificant if the confidence interval includes zero as it indicates incremental validity (Shrout & Bolger, 2002).

Results

Measurement model

The preliminary measurement model had a good fit to the data, χ² (894) = 1307.152, p < .001, CFI = .94, TLI = .93, SRMR = .058, RMSEA = .039, 90% CI [.034, .043]. Most indicators loaded onto their factors at r = .40 or above. Three academic satisfaction items and four decent work items loaded onto factors at r < .40. However, because these two scales were specified using bifactor models, all loaded well onto either their general factor or subfactor; thus, we retained them in our analysis. Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics and intercorrelations of study variables.
Table 1.
Descriptive statistics and correlations of study variables.

Measure EC Marg WV CA FDW ACSAT LSAT CE

EC

Marg .284

WV .001 .044

CA .226** .131* .395

FDW .012 .021 .475 .226

ACSAT −.096 .015 .395 .220 .388

LSAT −.321 −.078 .334 .114* .273 .467

CE −.048 .081 .243 .299 .198 .295 .225**

M 22.19 13.01 34.05 49.50 73.16 27.57 18.46 32.16

SD 7.77 4.61 8.05 9.07 13.50 5.70 6.52 6.72

Note. EC = Economic Constraints, Marg = Life Time Experience of Marginalization, WV = Work Volition, CA = Career Adaptability, FDW = Future Decent Work Perception, CE = Career Engagement, ACLS = Academic Life Satisfaction, LSAT = Life Satisfaction. *p < .05; **p < .01.

Structural model

Our proposed structural model (PWT model) had an acceptable fit to the data, χ² (909) = 1421.690, p < .001, TLI = .91, CFI = .92, RMSEA = .043, 90% CI [.038, .047] SRMR = .074. The PWT model specifies that work volition, career adaptability, and decent work fully mediates the effects of marginalization and economic constraints on decent work outcomes. Thus, there is no link from the predictor variables to the outcomes of future decent work. Following Weston and Gore (2006) suggestion that social scientists should test alternative models that is less restrictive; we tested an alternative model suggesting that work volition, career adaptability, and decent work partially rather than fully mediates the effects of marginalization and economic constraints on decent work outcomes. Thus, we added direct paths from economic constraints and marginalization to future decent work outcomes (career engagement, academic life satisfaction and life satisfaction). We compared the two models using Chi-Square test, model fit indices, and average variance explained (AVE). We obtained the following results from the alternative model. Χ² (903) = 1379.213, p < .001. TLI = .92, CFI = .93, RMSEA = .041, 90% CI [.037, .046]. SRMR = .065. The Chi-Square difference, χ² (6) = 42.477 is significant at α = .05. The AVE for work volition, future decent work perception, and career adaptability remained the same. However, AVE for academic life satisfaction, career engagement, and life satisfaction increased from 49%, 12%, and 24% to 51%, 13%, and 37% respectively. Following the significant Chi-Square difference, improvement in the other fit indices, and increased AVE, we adopted the alternative model for our analysis.

For direct effects, economic constraints and marginalization did not significantly predict work volition and future decent work perception (hypotheses 1, 3, 7, and 8). While the direct path from marginalization to career adaptability was nonsignificant, the direct path from economic constraint to career adaptability was significant (hypotheses 2 and 4). The direct paths from work volition and career adaptability to future decent work perception were significant (hypotheses 5 and 6). The direct paths from future decent work perception to academic life satisfaction, future decent work perception, and life satisfaction were significant (hypothesis 9–11). See Figure 1 for the structural model with standardized path estimates.

For the indirect effects, work volition and career adaptability indirectly predicted academic life satisfaction, career engagement, and life satisfaction through future decent work perception. Economic constraint indirectly predicted future decent work perception through career adaptability. Marginalization did not predict future decent work perception through work volition and career adaptability. Economic constraint did not predict future decent work perception through work volition. See Table 2 for the results of the hypothesized indirect path estimates.
Table 2.
Indirect effects from structural model.

Paths Indirect effects 95% Confidence interval bootstrap bias corrected

ᵝ SE Lower bound Upper bound

EC→CA→FDW .027 .012 .008 .053

CA→FDW→ACLS .032 .012 .011 .058

CA →FDW→LSAT .043 .016 .015 .077

CA→FDW→CE .067 .027 .022 .126

WV→FDW→ACLS .062 .017 .032 .099

WV→FDW→LSAT .083 .022 .043 .131

WV→FDW→CE .13 .039 .061 .215

EC→WV→FDW .001 .019 −.038 .036

Marg→WV→FDW .016 .022 −.027 .061

Marg→CA→FDW .007 .009 −.009 .02

We conducted a one-way ANOVA to evaluate for differences between those who did and did not currently have jobs in perceptions of future decent work. We found no differences (F [1, 308] = 1.76, p = .185).

Due to the unexpected nonsignificant relation from economic constraint to work volition and positive relation to career adaptability, we conducted a post-hoc analysis to compare the means and standard deviations of the results of our study with previous studies that used similar scales to measure economic constraints and marginalization using the “Summary Independent Sample t test” in SPSS 28. Summary Independent Sample t test allows researchers to compare t-tests computed from summary data. We found out that our population had a higher mean compared to other samples both for the economic constraints and marginalization. For economic constraints, the mean difference between our study and Song and Lee’s (2023) study for Korean college students were significant at t (629) = 11.27, p < .001) [M = 22.19, SD = 7.77 - current study; M = 15.74, SD = 7.01 – Song and Lee (2023)]. For a sample of 1231 Chinese college students, the mean difference was also significant at t (315) = 40, p < .001 [M = 22.19, SD = 7.77 - current study; M = 4.42, SD = 1.64 – Ma et al. (2021)]. For Marginalization, the mean from our study is significant at t (386) = 33.31, p < .001when compared to the mean from 254 Chinese college students used in Wei et al. (2022) (M = 13.01, S. D = 4.61 – current study; M = 3.74, SD = 1.50 – Wei et al. (2022)]. Compared to Song and Lee (2023), the mean difference was significant at t (589) = 19.72, p < .001) [M = 13.01, S. D = 4.61 – current study; M = 6.60, SD = 3.71 = Song and Lee (2023)].

Discussion

The current study aimed to predict career engagement, academic satisfaction, and life satisfaction among Nigerian undergraduates from the Psychology of Working perspective. Thirteen of twenty-one hypotheses were supported. Future decent work perception directly predicted academic satisfaction, life satisfaction, and career engagement. Consistent with previous research, career adaptability and work volition directly predicted future decent work perception (Kim et al., 2020; Ma et al., 2020, 2021; Wei et al., 2022). Contrary to our hypotheses, marginalization did not predict future decent work perception. While economic constraint indirectly predicted future decent work via career adaptability, it did not predict work volition. The direct path from economic constraints to future decent work was nonsignificant.

The nonsignificant link from economic constraints and marginalization to work volition mirrors previous findings among college students but contrasts with others. For example, among Chinese college students, impoverishment and economic challenges predicted work volition directly and indirectly predict future decent work perception through work volition (Ma et al., 2020; Wei et al., 2022). While marginalization was inversely related to career adaptability for the Chinese college student sample in Ma et al. (2020), marginalization was not a predictor of career adaptability in Wei et al. (2022). In cross-cultural research to test PWT model among Korean and United States young adults (Kim et al., 2020), economic resources predicted the perception of future decent work and work volition for the United States sample, but not for the Korean sample.

Cultural factors may have contributed to these mixed findings. For instance, Wei et al. (2022) pointed out that they translated and adapted three of the scales used in their study into the Chinese context; thus, they suggested that adapted versions may not have effectively captured the Chinese students’ perceptions. Kim et al. (2020) also suggested that the differences in the impact of economic constraints on work volition and future decent work perception found among the Korean and the USA population may be a combination of the United States’ masculine culture and its tendency to value monetary resources. The authors noted that since the United States’ individuals tend to value money more, they are likelier to believe that having economic resources is essential to their future career success compared to the Korean sample. There is also a possibility that differences in the perception of work values between collective and individualistic cultures may have contributed to the mixed findings as Kantamneni and Fouad (2013) suggested that there is a significant difference between perception of work values among young people from collective and individualistic cultures leading to different vocational development and outcomes for these cultures.

Cultural factors may also explain why economic constraints and marginalization did not predict work volition, career adaptability, and future decent work in our study. PWT was developed in an affluent, racially diverse western culture compared to a more homogeneous and developing country like Nigeria. While unequal access to available jobs due to systemic marginalization of racial/ethnic minorities may be a major barrier to employment in countries like the USA with many job opportunities (Duffy et al., 2018; O’Brien et al., 2020), lack of available jobs may be the greatest challenge of securing jobs in Nigeria (Onoyase, 2019). In other words, the rich and the poor graduate from college in Nigeria without hopes of securing decent jobs. Thus, college students’ economic standing may not significantly impact their perceptions of possible job access since both the rich and the poor have similar unemployment experiences. Furthermore, previous literature shows that youth from collectivist cultures are more influenced by family expectations whereas personal interest may be the driving influence in individualistic cultures.

Thus, for collective cultures, career confidence and self-efficacy often depend on congruence with parents’ interests (Akosah-Twumasi et al., 2018). This suggests that collective constructs such as family influence may be a better predictor of vocational outcomes among collective cultures than economic challenges and marginalization.

Although our findings are consistent with previous PWT research on the relationship between work volition and career adaptability and perception of future decent work, our research has unique findings. First, economic constraint had a positive relationship with career adaptability. Students who experienced economic hardship reported higher career adaptability. Similarly, students with higher levels of economic constraint may likely perceive higher chances of securing decent work after graduation due to higher career adaptability skills. Cultural values may have contributed to these findings. Nigerians generally understand that education is a way to lift people out of poverty (Asaju & Adagba, 2014). Since students who face economic hardship consider education the most feasible way of succeeding, they may have developed resiliency and psychological resources to address their career challenges. The collective cultural values in Nigeria amid high poverty rate may have also significantly contributed to this finding. There is a cultural expectation of students to support their parents and siblings immediately after they graduate from college. Many parents take loans or sell property to send their wards to college with the hope that their children would repay the loans when they graduate. While students from wealthier families may not have the pressure to support their family upon graduation, those from economically constrained families need to maximize their college opportunities to favorably position themselves upon graduation.

The higher mean for economic constraints and marginalization in our study compared to other studies suggests that the economic climate in Nigeria may have contributed to our findings. Besides the high poverty level, there are very few available jobs. Although not tested in the current study, this is consistent with Duffy and colleagues’ (2016) assertion that economic climate moderates the links from economic constraints and marginalization to decent work.

We also found that positive perceptions of future decent work significantly predicted career engagement. This suggests that those students who had more positive perceptions of future decent work were more likely to engage in career-supportive behaviors. This suggests that improving students’ perception of access to decent work may influence their actions towards their career goals. Given the challenging labor market in Nigeria, proactive career behaviors may provide an important competitive edge. Indeed, one study among African students showed that those who exhibited proactive career behaviors were more likely to have advantages in a job search than their counterparts (Baluku et al., 2021).

Finally, mirroring previous research (Ma et al., 2021), the perception of future decent work was positively related to academic and life satisfaction. Thus, results supported previous theoretical assertions that perceptions of future decent work is an important determinant in students’ well-being in multiple domains.

Practical implications

With high levels of poverty and unemployment among Nigerian college graduates, this research has practical implications for PWT research and career counseling. We found that students’ perception of future decent work access impacts their career behaviors. Thus, the higher their perceived chances of securing decent work after graduation, the more they engage in proactive behaviors that enhance their school-to-work transition. Recognizing limited job availabilities in the Nigerian context and consistent with previous research (Baluku et al., 2021; Hirschi et al., 2014), students who engage in these career behaviors are more likely to be successful in securing jobs after graduation. Similarly, we found out that work volition and career adaptability directly predicted the perception of future decent work access and indirectly predicted career engagement. Since work volition, career adaptability, and future decent work perceptions are malleable psychological variables that can be changed with corrective experiences, interventions targeting these variables, such as reorienting Nigerian college students on career opportunities and how to take control of their career journey, can be helpful.

Our findings are also important for counselors working with students dissatisfied with academics and life. As work volition, career adaptability, and future decent work perception predicted academic and life satisfaction, exploring the level of choice students feel they possess in making career decisions can illuminate the source of their academic and life dissatisfaction. Similarly, assisting students to gain a positive future career outlook can be advantageous in addressing their academic and life concerns.

Limitations and future directions

This study has limitations that call for further research. We applied a cross-sectional design that cannot confirm causal relationships in the PWT model (Tokar & Kaut, 2018). Future research might employ longitudinal designs to better assess temporal relations of study variables (Autin et al., 2017). We also used self-reported surveys, which are associated with biases of over-reporting or under-reporting data (Lucas, 2018; Vanderbruggen et al., 2020). Our participants consist of only those who agreed to complete our survey. Thus, this research does not capture the vocational experiences of students who did not accept to complete this survey. Future researchers should find ways to incentivize college students in Nigeria to participate in research to get more robust data. The failure of economic constraints and marginalization to predict future decent work perception is significant for PWT research. Similar findings have emerged in research evaluating these relationships in another collective culture (Kim et al., 2020). This suggests that economic challenges may impact the vocational experiences of college students in collective cultures in ways that are different from individualistic cultures. Cross-cultural research would help to answer this question. Future research should also consider cultural factors such as family influence that have been reported to impact vocational outcomes in collective cultures (Fouad et al., 2010).

Conclusion

This study investigated the vocational experiences of emerging adults in a nation with high levels of poverty and unemployment. It examined how culture, poverty, and unemployment may intersect to impact the vocational experiences of young people. We saw that while PWT may apply to a more homogenous and developing country like Nigeria, different from a more affluent and racially diverse western culture where the theory was developed, researchers should pay attention to cultural factors that might impact research results in these cultures.

Measure	EC	Marg	WV	CA	FDW	ACSAT	LSAT	CE
EC
Marg	.284**
WV	.001	.044
CA	.226**	.131*	.395**
FDW	.012	.021	.475**	.226**
ACSAT	−.096	.015	.395**	.220**	.388**
LSAT	−.321**	−.078	.334**	.114*	.273**	.467**
CE	−.048	.081	.243**	.299**	.198**	.295**	.225**
M	22.19	13.01	34.05	49.50	73.16	27.57	18.46	32.16
SD	7.77	4.61	8.05	9.07	13.50	5.70	6.52	6.72

Paths	Indirect effects	95% Confidence interval bootstrap bias corrected
EC→CA→FDW	.027	.012	.008	.053
CA→FDW→ACLS	.032	.012	.011	.058
CA →FDW→LSAT	.043	.016	.015	.077
CA→FDW→CE	.067	.027	.022	.126
WV→FDW→ACLS	.062	.017	.032	.099
WV→FDW→LSAT	.083	.022	.043	.131
WV→FDW→CE	.13	.039	.061	.215
EC→WV→FDW	.001	.019	−.038	.036
Marg→WV→FDW	.016	.022	−.027	.061
Marg→CA→FDW	.007	.009	−.009	.02

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iDs

Gabriel N. Ezema

Kelsey L. Autin

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Paths	Indirect effects		95% Confidence interval bootstrap bias corrected
Paths	ᵝ	SE	Lower bound	Upper bound
EC→CA→FDW	.027	.012	.008	.053
CA→FDW→ACLS	.032	.012	.011	.058
CA →FDW→LSAT	.043	.016	.015	.077
CA→FDW→CE	.067	.027	.022	.126
WV→FDW→ACLS	.062	.017	.032	.099
WV→FDW→LSAT	.083	.022	.043	.131
WV→FDW→CE	.13	.039	.061	.215
EC→WV→FDW	.001	.019	−.038	.036
Marg→WV→FDW	.016	.022	−.027	.061
Marg→CA→FDW	.007	.009	−.009	.02