Constructing A Model of the Impact of Human Capital and Social Capital on the Employment Quality of Chinese University Graduates: Based on the Mediating Role of Career Development
Authors: Zhao Hang , Khan Muhammad Shahid 
Published: April 2024

Introduction: This article is based on the theories of human capital, social capital, social interaction, and collaborative governance. From the dual perspectives of human capital and social capital, combined with the mediating role of career development, it studies the factors that affect the quality of employment for university students and constructs a conceptual model to determine the mediating role of career development between human capital, social capital, and the quality of employment for university graduates. Through a large amount of literature and previous research theories, suitable employment quality indicators, human capital indicators, social capital indicators, and career development indicators were selected. This article reveals the influencing factors of improving the employment quality of university graduates, providing ideas for improving the employment quality of university graduates and promoting the improvement of the higher education system and the stable development of the social economy.

Objective: It introduces a novel perspective on career development and explores the mediating role of career development in the impact of human capital and social capital on the employment quality of university graduates. This not only provides more objective and scientific guidance for university graduates' job values, self-awareness, and planning but also helps them better develop and cultivate their own human capital and social capital capability providing effective practical guidance. At the same time, it can provide objective analytical data for the reform of major settings in university education, the establishment of career courses, and the fair and reasonable formulation of employment policies, providing a new research perspective for studying the quality of employment of university graduates.

Theoretical Framework: In the developmental stage, at least four economists have made outstanding contributions: Theodore W. Schultz and Gary Becker, Jacob Mincer and Edward Denison, respectively from different angles in different fields for the formation of the basic framework of the foundation, the modern sense of human capital theory was born, not only laid the theoretical foundation for the western education economics but also opened up a new field of western economics research.

Method: The research of domestic and foreign scholars on the career development of university students is similar. Due to the differences in the focus, attention topics, and research methods, the dimensions of career development of university students are also defined differently.

Results and Discussion: The theories of human capital and social capital have received attention and recognition from scholars as the basis for studying the quality of employment for university graduates. The impact of human capital and social capital on the quality of employment for university graduates is also significant. However, in existing research, there are not many studies that focus on the quality of employment for university graduates from the perspectives of schools and social governance, based on social interaction theory and collaborative governance theory. Specifically, there is a lack of systematic theoretical support and empirical exploration in exploring the impact of major differences and career development on the quality of employment for university graduates, and overall, it is still in the exploratory stage.

Research Implications: The research results indicate that there is a significant correlation between career development, human capital, social capital, and the quality of employment for university graduates

Originality/Value: This model is not yet tested in Chinese contexts.