Social capital and career adaptability: the mediating role of psychological capital

PurposeThis study's main objective is to determine the extent to which social capital and psychological capital can explain differences in career adaptability among higher education students.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a quantitative approach, utilizing a survey research design. Data were gathered using an online questionnaire completed by 384 fourth-year undergraduate agricultural students in Iran. The inverse square root and multistage sampling methods were used to determine the sample size. The partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) method examined the associations between latent variables.FindingsThe results suggest that social and psychological capital significantly influence the career adaptability of agricultural students, highlighting their significance in enhancing career adaptability. Moreover, psychological capital positively mediates the relationship between social capital and career adaptability.Practical implicationsAgricultural higher education institutions must focus on developing students' social and psychological capital to cultivate career adaptability in agricultural students. Agricultural higher education institutions, for example, should help students develop soft skills.Originality/valueThis study offers novel insights into the significance of individual resources, such as social and psychological capital, in enhancing the career adaptability of students. In addition, the key contribution of this study is the researchers' empirical evidence that multiple career resources are interconnected (social capital, career adaptability, and psychological capital).