Exploring professional identity, self-efficacy, and employment readiness: Insights from public administration education in China

Public administration has long been marked by a recurring debate over identity, legitimacy, and intellectual coherence. This study argues that such disciplinary tensions are reflected in how students understand their field and prepare for employment, an urgent question in China, where competition for civil service positions has intensified to 97:1 for 38,100 positions in the 2026 recruitment cycle. Using survey data from 544 undergraduate students across seven universities in the Pearl River Delta, the study examines relationships among professional identity, learning self-efficacy, and core competencies. Findings reveal moderate professional identity, with employment identity scoring the lowest (2.98/5). A clear disparity exists between general (3.42) and professional learning self-efficacy (3.00), suggesting that students lack confidence in their discipline-specific knowledge. Value-based competencies (3.72) significantly exceed tool-based competencies (3.31), indicating that programs successfully transmit public service values but lag in developing practical skills. No significant competency differences emerged between students from elite 211 Project universities and those from independent colleges. Most importantly, learning self-efficacy mediated 54.1% of the relationship between professional identity and core competencies. The study contributes to the literature by linking macro-level disciplinary debates to micro-level student outcomes and identifying self-efficacy as a key mechanism in competency formation and employment readiness.