Structural Predictors of Future Decent Work Perception Among College Students From Rural China

Using prepositions of the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT), the current study surveyed a sample of college students (N = 456) from rural China to understand their vocational trajectories. Specifically, we examined a structural model linking lifetime experiences of economic constraints and marginalization to future decent work perception, as mediated by work volition and moderated by instructor support. Results showed that marginalization was directly, negatively associated with future decent work perception, but the mediating effect of work volition between the two was not found. Additionally, work volition mediated the relation between economic constraints and future decent work perception, but economic constraints did not directly predict future decent work perception. Finally, instructor support moderated the relation between economic constraints and work volition, as well as the indirect relation between economic constraints and future decent work perception via work volition. These findings add new evidence to the utility of PWT in understanding future decent work perception of rural college students—a unique and understudied population—in a non-Western, collectivist cultural context. Implications for follow-up studies and vocational interventions are discussed.