Employer Brand Attractiveness and Private-Enterprise Employment Intentions among Chinese University Graduates: A Moderated Serial Mediation Analysis

Hongyu Cao; Weixiang Gan

doi:10.62177/jetp.v3i2.1499

Authors

Hongyu Cao Zhenguigu Technology Co., Ltd. https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6114-5524
Weixiang Gan Lincoln University College https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5879-5395

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62177/jetp.v3i2.1499

Keywords:

University Graduates, Private Enterprises, Employment Choice Intention, Employer Brand Attractiveness, Person-Organisation Fit, Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy, Perceived Policy Support

Abstract

Against the dual backdrop of an expanding graduate population and the high-quality development of China's private economy, encouraging university graduates to choose employment in private enterprises has become important for stabilising employment and sustaining private-sector vitality. Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour, person-organisation fit theory and social cognitive career theory, this study develops a moderated chain-mediation model in which employer brand attractiveness influences the intention to choose employment in private enterprises through person-organisation fit and career decision-making self-efficacy. Perceived policy support is introduced as a moderator of the first stage of this mechanism. Survey data from 769 university graduates were analysed with SPSS and SmartPLS using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results show that employer brand attractiveness has a significant positive effect on graduates' intention to choose private-enterprise employment. Person-organisation fit and career decision-making self-efficacy each mediate this relationship, and together form a significant chain-mediation path. Perceived policy support positively moderates the effect of employer brand attractiveness on person-organisation fit, thereby strengthening the first stage of the chain mediation. The study clarifies the formation mechanism and boundary condition of graduates' private-enterprise employment intention, and proposes coordinated enhancement pathways at the levels of government, enterprises, universities and individual graduates.

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