IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v12y2025i1d10.1057_s41599-025-05117-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Post-pandemic job market: an analysis of factors influencing university students’ willingness for flexible employment based on SEM-ANN-fsQCA

Author

Listed:
  • Quanling Cai

    (Tianjin University
    Qinghai Minzu University)

  • Weidong Chen

    (Tianjin University)

  • Mingxing Wang

    (Qinghai University)

  • Kaisheng Di

    (Tianjin University
    Qinghai Minzu University)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped global work patterns, making flexible employment a critical issue. This study investigates how self-determination efficacy influences university students’ willingness to pursue flexible jobs in China. Using data from 1270 survey responses, we applied Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), and Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The results show that self-determination efficacy positively affects students’ willingness to pursue flexible employment directly and indirectly through mediating factors like work-life balance, job satisfaction, and perceived self-development. The ANN model reveals complex nonlinear relationships, indicating that the impact of self-determination efficacy on employment intention is not linear. Furthermore, fsQCA identifies multiple pathways under different conditions, highlighting the importance of self-determination efficacy in specific contexts. This research provides valuable insights for policymakers and higher education institutions on promoting flexible employment among students.

Suggested Citation

  • Quanling Cai & Weidong Chen & Mingxing Wang & Kaisheng Di, 2025. "Post-pandemic job market: an analysis of factors influencing university students’ willingness for flexible employment based on SEM-ANN-fsQCA," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05117-y
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-05117-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-05117-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-025-05117-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Saeid Karimi & Farzaneh Ahmadi Malek & Ahmad Yaghoubi Farani, 2022. "The relationship between proactive personality and employees’ creativity: the mediating role of intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 4500-4519, December.
    2. Pappas, Ilias O. & Woodside, Arch G., 2021. "Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA): Guidelines for research practice in Information Systems and marketing," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    3. Adams-Prassl, Abi & Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2020. "Inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock: Evidence from real time surveys," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    4. Adams-Prassl, A. & Boneva, T. & Golin, M & Rauh, C., 2020. "Inequality in the Impact of the Coronavirus Shock: New Survey Evidence for the US," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2022, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    5. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    6. Michalis Skordoulis & Olga Patsatzi & Stavros Kalogiannidis & Christina Patitsa & Aristidis Papagrigoriou, 2024. "Strategic Management of Multiculturalism for Social Sustainability in Hospitality Services: The Case of Hotels in Athens," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Tom Barnes, 2023. "Punish, protect or redirect? Synthesising workfare with ‘spatially Keynesian’ labour market policies in times of job loss," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(4), pages 871-889, June.
    8. Ibrahim A. Elshaer, 2024. "Come and Gone! Psychological Resilience and Organizational Resilience in Tourism Industry Post COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Life Satisfaction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-18, January.
    9. Cindy Biesenbeek & Maikel Volkerink, 2023. "The Price of Flexible Jobs: Wage Differentials between Permanent and Flexible Jobs in the Netherlands," De Economist, Springer, vol. 171(4), pages 367-401, December.
    10. Vincenzo Fasone & Giulio Pedrini, 2023. "Industry-specific upskilling of seasonal tourism workers: Does occupational gender inequality matter?," Tourism Economics, , vol. 29(7), pages 1915-1936, November.
    11. Rajesh Mamilla & Chinnadurai Kathiravan & Aidin Salamzadeh & Léo-Paul Dana & Mohamed Elheddad, 2023. "COVID-19 Pandemic and Indices Volatility: Evidence from GARCH Models," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-14, October.
    12. Cindy Biesenbeek & Maikel Volkerink, 2023. "The price of flexible jobs: Wage differentials between permanent and flexible jobs in The Netherlands," Working Papers 779, DNB.
    13. Di, Kaisheng & Chen, Weidong & Shi, Qiumei & Cai, Quanling & Liu, Sichen, 2024. "Analysing the impact of coupled domestic demand dynamics of green and low-carbon consumption in the market based on SEM-ANN," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Fiona Niebuhr & Prem Borle & Franziska Börner-Zobel & Susanne Voelter-Mahlknecht, 2022. "Healthy and Happy Working from Home? Effects of Working from Home on Employee Health and Job Satisfaction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-14, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Foliano, Francesca & Tonei, Valentina & Sevilla, Almudena, 2024. "Social restrictions, leisure and well-being," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    2. Osakwe, Christian Nedu & Ogunmokun, Oluwatobi A. & Elgammal, Islam & Kwarteng, Michael Adu, 2025. "Individuals' attitudes and their adoption intentions of central bank digital currency: Combining theories and analytics for deeper insights," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    3. Claudia Hupkau & Barbara Petrongolo, 2020. "Work, Care and Gender during the COVID‐19 Crisis," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 623-651, September.
    4. Jung, Haeil & Kim, Jun Hyung & Hong, Gihyeon, 2023. "Impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on single-person households in South Korea," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    5. Mathilde Bouvier & François Roubaud & Mireille Razafindrakoto & Roberta Teixeira, 2022. "Labour market transitions in the time of Covid-19 in Brazil:a panel data analysis," Working Papers DT/2022/02, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    6. Crossley, Thomas F. & Fisher, Paul & Low, Hamish, 2021. "The heterogeneous and regressive consequences of COVID-19: Evidence from high quality panel data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    7. Philippe Askenazy & Clément Brébion & Pierre Courtioux & Christine Erhel & Malo Mofakhami, 2023. "HRM Strategies in Response to the First Covid Lockdown: a Typology of French Workplaces," Working Papers hal-03953817, HAL.
    8. Sangeeta Gupta & Poonam Devdutt & Urmila Jagadeeswari Itam, 2022. "Centrality of psychological well-being of IT employees during COVID-19 and beyond," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 49(4), pages 365-380, December.
    9. Jemey, Nursyuhada binti & Kasim, Nor Hasniah binti, 2023. "The Impact of Covid-19 on Consumption Patterns Among Malaysian Youths," MPRA Paper 118841, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 26 Sep 2023.
    10. Florio, Erminia & Kharazi, Aicha, 2022. "Curtailment of Economic Activity and Labor Inequalities," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1166, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. Sonia OREFICCE & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2021. "Gender inequality in COVID-19 times: evidence from UK prolific participants," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(2), pages 261-287, June.
    12. Adrian Adermon & Lisa Laun & Patrik Lind & Martin Olsson & Jan Sauermann & Anna Sjögren, 2024. "Earnings Losses and the Role of the Welfare State During the COVID‐19 Pandemic: Evidence from Sweden," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 70(4), pages 981-1010, December.
    13. Borgonovi, Francesca & Ferrara, Alessandro, 2022. "A longitudinal perspective on the effects of Covid-19 on students' resilience. The Effect of the pandemic on the reading and mathematics achievement of 8th and 5th graders in Italy," SocArXiv 94erb_v1, Center for Open Science.
    14. Philip Wollborn & David Dornekott & Ulrike Holder, 2023. "Entrepreneurial efforts and opportunity costs: evidence from twitch streamers," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 1209-1238, September.
    15. Heap, Shaun P. Hargreaves & Koop, Christel & Matakos, Konstantinos & Unan, Asli & Weber, Nina Sophie, 2021. "We Cannot Disagree Forever! Reality Polarization and Citizens’ Post-Pandemic Fiscal Adjustment Preferences," SocArXiv 69tup, Center for Open Science.
    16. Andrew E. Clark & Conchita D'Ambrosio & Anthony Lepinteur, 2020. "The Fall in Income Inequality during COVID-19 in Five European Countries," Working Papers 565, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    17. Mathias Huebener & Sevrin Waights & C. Katharina Spiess & Nico A. Siegel & Gert G. Wagner, 2021. "Parental well-being in times of Covid-19 in Germany," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 91-122, March.
    18. Nicola Fuchs-Schünde & Dirk Krueger & Alexander Ludwig & Irina Popova, 2022. "The Long-Term Distributional and Welfare Effects of Covid-19 School Closures," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(645), pages 1647-1683.
    19. Can Sever & Emekcan Yucel, 2021. "Electoral Cycles in Inequality Abstract:," Working Papers 2021/01, Bogazici University, Department of Economics.
    20. Peña Blasco, Guillermo, 2021. "The coronavirus: Black swan and endowment shock," Revista Galega de Economía, University of Santiago de Compostela. Faculty of Economics and Business., vol. 30(1), pages 1-14.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05117-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.