Influences of Mindfulness on Career Exploration Behaviors: Exploration of Mediating Role of Career Worry and Procrastination

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the effects of mindfulness on career exploration behaviors are mediated by personal tendency of career worry and procrastination.

To accomplish this research purpose, we surveyed four hundred and forty-four students of a university in Asan, Chungnam, Korea. They were asked to indicate their level of mindfulness, career worry, procrastination, and career exploration behaviors on a seven-point Likert-type scale. First, the validities of each measure was examined by performing exploratory factor analysis. Next, mediated moderation analysis was performed using Model 4 of the SPSS Process macro developed by Hayes.

The results of the analysis showed that the direct effect of mindfulness on career exploration behaviors was not significant. And the indirect relationships mediated by career worry and procrastination were significant. Intuitively, mindfulness was expected to have a direct impact on career exploration, but the results of this study did not confirm such an impression. The result of this study can be deduced that mindfulness represents a comprehensive psychological state, while career exploration represents a behavioral state in a limited domain of career.

One of the main implications of this study is that college students can improve their career exploration behaviors by receiving a mindfulness training program.