COVID-19引起的求职焦虑和阴谋信念对求职努力的影响：一项个体内的调查

The influence of COVID-induced job search anxiety and conspiracy beliefs on job search effort: A within-person investigation

——原载美国《应用心理学杂志》2021年第106卷第5期——

<Journal of Applied Psychology>, 2021, 106 (5)

【摘要】新进入劳动力市场的人在求职时面临重大障碍，这些压力可能在COVID-19大流行期间被放大。本研究考虑COVID-19引起的求职焦虑-由于大流行病带来的问题而对自己的求职感到焦虑-有可能影响适应性的、以目标为导向的努力，以及不适应性的、目标回避的反应。本研究提出的理论是，这种求职焦虑会促使求职者进行解决问题的思考和以情感为中心的反刍，这些经历与求职者在接下来的一周是否采取各种形式的搜索相关的努力有关。特别地，研究者考虑求职者是否在进行梦想求职努力（即努力追求自己的梦想工作），以及专注的（即努力选择经过仔细筛选的工作）、探索性的（即努力以广泛的方式寻找各种工作）和随意的（即努力申请任何工作，没有明确的计划）求职努力。此外，研究者还考虑了与大流行病有关的稳定信念（即对阴谋论的信念；对COVID-19是一场公共卫生危机的信念）如何影响上述关系。通过对162名新进入劳动力市场的人进行每周研究，结果表明，COVID-19引起的求职焦虑与解决问题的思考和以情感为中心的反刍正相关；解决问题的思考促进了接下来一周的梦想、专注和探索性求职努力，而以情感为中心的反刍则阻碍了梦想求职努力。最后，COVID-19引起的求职焦虑对那些持有较高水平阴谋论信仰的人的不利影响被放大了。

【关键词】焦虑；新冠病毒；努力；求职；理想职业

[Abstract] New labor market entrants face significant hurdles when searching for a job, with these stressors likely amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we consider how COVID-induced job search anxiety—feeling anxious about one’s job search due to issues imposed by the pandemic—has the potential to affect adaptive, goal-directed efforts, and maladaptive, goal-avoidant reactions. We theorize that this anxiety can prompt job seekers to engage in problem-solving pondering and affect-focused rumination, with these experiences relating to whether job seekers engage in various forms of search-related efforts the following week. In particular, we consider whether job seekers are engaging in dream job search effort (i.e., effort toward pursuing one’s dream job), as well as focused (i.e., effort toward a selection of carefully screened jobs),exploratory (i.e., effort toward a wide swath of jobs in a broad manner), and haphazard (i.e., effort toward applying for any job without a clear plan) job search effort. Further, we consider how stable beliefs relevant to the pandemic(i.e., belief in conspiracy theories; belief in COVID-19 being a public health crisis) affect the aforementioned relationships. Using a weekly study of 162new labor market entrants, results indicated that COVID-induced job search anxiety positively related to problem-solving pondering and affect-focused rumination; problem solving pondering promoted dream, focused, and exploratory job search effort the following week, whereas affect-focused rumination hindered dream job search effort. Finally, the detrimental effects of COVID-induced job search anxiety via affect-focused rumination were amplified for those who held higher levels of conspiracy theory beliefs.

[Key words] anxiety; COVID-19; effort; job search; dream job

论文原文：Gabriel, A. S., MacGowan, R. L., Ganster, M. L., & Slaughter, J. E.(2021). The influence of COVID-induced job search anxiety and conspiracy beliefs on job search effort: A within-person investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(5), 657. DOI: 10.1037/apl0000926