The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of young male job seekers’ social problem-solving ability upon employability and the intermediation effect of self-leadership. For this, study questions were established as follows: First, ‘Wh...
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of young male job seekers’ social problem-solving ability upon employability and the intermediation effect of self-leadership. For this, study questions were established as follows: First, ‘What is the influence of young male job seekers’ problem-solving ability upon self-leadership and employability?’ Second, ‘What is the influence of young male job seekers’ self-leadership upon employability?’ and third, ‘Does young male job seekers’ self-leadership play a mediating role in the relationship between social problem-solving ability and employability?’
In order to get answer to the above study questions, a questionnaire survey of 277 would-be job seeking senior students and job seekers who were graduated from university 1~2 years ago nationwide was carried out. Collected data were analyzed using the SPSS WIN 18.0 program. In order to grasp personal characteristics of collected data, frequency analysis and descriptive statistical analysis were carried out. In order to examine validity and reliability, factor analysis and Cronbach′s alpha-oriented reliability test were carried out. In order to test study questions, such analytic techniques as independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used. Finally, in order to find out the mediating effect of self-leadership upon the relationship between social problem-solving ability and employability, three-step mediated regression analysis was carried out. Based on the above examination and analytic processes, study findings are drawn as follows:
First, social problem-solving ability, self-leadership and employability were different by such demographic features as gender, age, whether or not preparing for jobs, the level of English skills, whether or not having certificates in the area of expected jobs, the consistency of majors with expected jobs, and whether or not having experience in the area of expected jobs.
Second, young male job seekers’ social problem-solving ability had positive correlations with employability. In particular, positive problem orientation and rational problem-solving skills had significant influence upon employability, whereas negative problem orientation, impulsive-careless response modality and evasive response modality had negative (-) influence upon employability.
Third, self-leadership played a complete mediating role in the relationship between young male job seekers’ problem-solving ability and employability.
Based on the above findings, study suggestions are presented as follows:
First, all the demographic features had significant influence upon all the variables, except school years. In this vein, in order to increase employability, it is necessary to choose appropriate majors and establish career plans from lower school years by establishing accurate careers above all. Based on planning, it is necessary for would-be job seekers to have experience in jobs and prepare for jobs stepwise.
Second, factor analysis presented the fact that social problem-solving ability and self-leadership had significant positive correlations with young male job seekers’ employability. In particular, positive problem orientation and rational problem-solving skills had significant positive (+) influence upon employability. However, such dysfunctional problem-solving modalities as negative problem orientation, impulsive-careless response modality and evasive response modality had negative (-) influence upon employability. This finding seems to suggest: (1) in order to increase employability, it is necessary to minimize such factors as accepting problems negatively, evading problems, and solving problems as quickly as possible in a given conditions, rather than examining them meticulously and then solving them when facing problems; (2) self-leadership, which consists of behavior-focused strategy that providing external motives to personal behavior, self-compensation strategy that providing internal motives to personal behavior, and constructive thinking strategy that analyzing personal beliefs and hypotheses and then imagining successful performance, is closely related to social problem-solving ability; (3) self-leadership plays a complete mediating role in the relationship between social problem-solving ability and employability. This finding seemingly shows the fact that it is very important to motivate for oneself and translate it to action, in addition to having the attitudes of looking problems from positive perspectives and solving them rationally,
This study is practically meaningful in that it carried out an empirical study on the influence of young male job seekers’ social problem-solving ability upon employability and self-leadership’s mediating effect upon the increase of employability, and then presented suggestions for the increase of employability via such strategies as young male job seekers’ appropriate career planning, their responding to problems actively by seeking rational problem-solving methods for themselves, and then motivating for themselves and translating it into execution.