The Effect of Family Socioeconomic Status on Career Adaptability:The Chain Mediating Role of Social Network and Tacit Knowledge

We investigated the chain mediating role of social network and tacit knowledge in family
socioeconomic status affecting career adaptability. Previous literatures have shown that family
SES as an environmental factor has long been controversial on the impact of career adaptability;
the reason for mixed results can be attributed to the neglect of indirect effects. To fill this gap, we
explore the indirect effect of family SES on career adaptability within the framework of career
capital theory, by investigating the mediation role of capital variables. We distributed family SES
questionnaire, social network questionnaire, tacit knowledge scale, and career adaptability scale
in four universities in China. A total of 1,678 valid participants were obtained. Mplus7.0
structural equation software was used for the statistical analysis, and the following results were
obtained. (1) Two simple mediation models of the effect of family SES on students’ career
adaptability show that both family social network and tacit knowledge are mediator variables. (2)
The integrated chained intermediation model shows that the indirect impact of family SES on
career adaptability is significant only through social networks to tacit knowledge. (3) In the
context of the Chinese urban-rural structure, social networks play a greater indirect role for rural
college students in this chained intermediary model, while tacit knowledge plays a greater
indirect role for urban college students.