Mentoring and Job Search Behaviors: A Moderated Mediation Model of Job Search Self-Efficacy

Limited research exists around how to effectively enhance the job search behaviors and self-efficacy of job seekers during the job search process. In the current study, we investigated whether mentoring functions (i.e., career and psychosocial functions) are related to job search behaviors through job search self-efficacy. Moreover, we tested the interactive effects of career mentoring and psychosocial mentoring on job search self-efficacy and job search behaviors. Two-wave panel data were collected from 164 college students in China to test our hypotheses. The results indicated that psychosocial mentoring was related to job search behaviors both directly and indirectly through job search self-efficacy. In addition, our results revealed that the interactive effects of career mentoring and psychosocial mentoring on job search self-efficacy and on job search behaviors through job search self-efficacy were stronger when career and psychosocial mentoring were high. The implications of the study’s findings and directions for future research are offered.