Implicit Stereotypes And Career Choice: Social Identity And Cognitive Bias As Psychological Processes

Abstract

In this paper, the researcher is going to focus on how implicit stereotypes, cognitive biases, and social identity can influence the career choices of individuals in China. Specifically, the thesis of the research is the role of implicit gender stereotypes and cognitive biases on career ambitions and self-efficacy in decision-making in a fast-evolving labor market. The number of respondents was 300 people, consisting of 150 men and 150 women living in cities and villages. The participants were given the Implicit Association Test (IAT), Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale (CDMSE), and Social Identity Scales. It was found that 70 per cent of the participants had high implicit gender biases, which is that they assigned leadership roles to males and caregiving occupations to females. Implicit bias showed a significant relationship (r = -0.35) with career decision-making self-efficacy of individuals with stronger implicit biases, reporting a lower self-efficacy in choosing non-traditional careers. Moreover, 60 percent of urban respondents preferred jobs in finance and technology, and 45 percent of respondents in the rural areas preferred jobs in traditional careers such as education and healthcare. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) established that implicit stereotypes and cognitive biases had a significantly negative effect on career decision-making self-efficacy, which was moderated by social identity (b = 0.30). The findings indicate that the implicit stereotypes and thinking biases still influence the choice of a career, especially when it comes to gendered and regional selection.