Career Self-Efficacy as a Mediator Between Emotional Intelligence and Employment Planning Among US College Students

This study examines the dynamics of personality traits that tend to interfere with occupational decisions in young adults. Three multiple regression analyses were conducted to predict career decision self-efficacy (CDSE), e.g., planning and indecision with the Big 5 personality measures. We hypothesized that emotional intelligence (EI) and other personality traits affect employment conflicts (Study 1) and that CDSE mediates EI and planning difficulty (Study 2). Conscientiousness and openness significantly predicted CDSE, F(5, 128) = 15.64, p <.001, R-2 =.38, while neuroticism was statistically significant in predicting the career student planning scale (CSPS), F(5, 128) = 3.94, p <.01, R-2 =.13, and was significant for personality variables: a negative correlation was found between EI and career indecision (r = -.25, at p <.01). This demonstrates that the positive effect of CDSE mediates EI to career indecision, showing that conscientiousness predicted participants' indecision (beta = -.17, p <.05).