How political tension affects the international students’ career optimism: The roles of identity conflict and global identity

This study examines the relationship, potential mechanism, and boundary conditions between political tension, international students’ identity conflict based on home- and host-country identities, their career optimism for the host country, and global identity. We choose the political tensions between China and Australia as the research context and 377 Chinese international students studying in Australia as the sample. Our research shows that political tension is positively related to identity conflict and negatively associated with career optimism, moderated by global identity. Furthermore, the relationship between political tension and career optimism is mediated positively by identity conflict. Our research expands the perspective of marginalization in the psychology of working theory as a predictive factor to explain a novel connection between political tension as a time-specific event and international students’ career optimism as being part of the global workforce. The study further extends the mechanism of identity conflict and its influence on the vocational psychology of individuals in the context of political tensions. Using self-categorization theory, we further show that global identity buffers the effects of political tension on identity conflict. The research has practical implications for the global workforce’s career development, managerial application, and policymaking.

JEL Classification: M14, M12, J24