RELATIONSHIP OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL AND EMPLOYABILITY IN LIAOCHENG UNIVERSITY IN SHANDONG PROVINCE

RELATIONSHIP OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL AND EMPLOYABILITY IN LIAOCHENG UNIVERSITY IN SHANDONG PROVINCE

A Doctoral Dissertation
Presented to
the Faculty of the
College of Education Graduate Studies
De La Salle University - Dasmarińas

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Major in Educational Management

LI RAN

October 2019

ABSTRACT

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
TITLE PAGE 2
ABSTRACT
APPROVAL SHEET
ACKOWLEDGMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS 3
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
Chapter
1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction 6
Conceptual Framework 10
Statement of the Problem 13
Hypothesis of the Study 15
Scope and Limitations of the Study 15
Significance of the Study 16
Definition of Terms 18
2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Psychological Capital 21
Dimensions/ Structure of Psychological Capital 23
Measurement of Psychological Capital 32
Employability 34
Dimensions/ Structure of Employability 36
Cultivation of College Students’ Employability 40
Demographic 42
Relationship between Psychological Capital and Employability 47
Synthesis 50
3 METHODOLOGY
Research Method/ Design 52
Population and Sampling 53
Respondents of the Study 54
Research Instrument 55
Validation and Test of Reliability of Instruments 56
Data Gathering Procedure 57
Statistical Treatment and Analysis of Data 58
4 PRESENTATION, ANALYSISI AND INTERPRTTATON OF DATA
Problem 1(不需要写具体问题) 61
Problem 2
Problem 3
Problem 4
Problem 5
Problem 6
Problem 7
5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
Conclusions
Recommendations
REFERENCE 61
APPENDICES
A Letter of Request 70
B Questionnaire for Respondents 71
C Focus Group Discussion Topic Guide 75
D
E
F
G About the Author 76
REPORT OF ADVISING TIME 78
 
LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Profile of the respondent students in terms of gender
Table 2 Profile of the respondent students in terms of Majors
Table 3 Profile of the respondent students in terms of Levels of students
Table 4
Table 5
 
LIST OF FIGURES

Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction
While the employment of college students is gradually becoming market-oriented, the pace of popularization of higher education in China is also accelerating, and the university admission rate is increasing year by year. Since the increase in university enrollment in 1999, the number of higher education enrollments in the country has consistently exceeded the historical record. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Education, in 1999, the number of students enrolled in higher education institutions was 1.6 million. Compared with 1998, the enrollment in 1999 increased nearly 48%. According to the 2019 Government Work Report (State Council, 2019), the number of university graduates has exceeded 800,000,000, a record high. At the same time, among the job seekers of the 2019 students, only 35.6% of the respondents reported that they had received employment offers.
Liaocheng University is a key comprehensive university in Shandong Province of China. It has 24 colleges and more than 20,000 students. In 2017, there are almost 8,000 graduates, and 42.29% of them get employment offers. In 2018, there are 7800 graduates, and 35.22% of them get employment offers. The situation gets worse in 2019. In 2019, there are 7900 graduates, and 28.53% of them get employment offers. These figures are lower than the published data (60.46% in 2017, 57.77% in 2018 and 51.26% in 2019) because they excluded students who go abroad, continue their studies and start their own businesses (Liaocheng University, 2017) (Liaocheng University, 2018) (Liaocheng University, 2019). Only the ones who get offer/ are employed are included.
Faced with the severe employment situation, many college graduates attribute their employment difficulties to the insufficient overall demand of the labor market. However, from another perspective, employers often struggle to find suitable talents. Manpower Group, the world’s leading human resources service provider, pointed out in Talent Shortage Survey in 2018 that China’s talent shortage had increased. According to the survey, 13% of employers said they were facing a shortage of talent, up 3% from the last survey in 2016. Nearly half of employers said the lack of experienced and competent candidates was the most significant obstacle to recruitment (PR Newswire, 2018). The situation is that even though there are many jobs, employers can’t find “suitable” applicants because they question whether the applicants who have the right attitude towards work and whether their psychological characteristics are positive. For example, employers inquire if applicants are impatient, complain a lot or not a team player? It appears that a high education degree does not always equate with a high-quality job applicant. In the highly competitive job market, academic qualifications and diplomas have been placed in secondary positions by more and more employers, and the ability and quality have become the key factors for employers to examine job seekers/ college students (Cheng Wei, 2016). It can be seen that another important reason why it is difficult for college graduates to find jobs is that a large number of college students have low ability and quality, that is, lack of employability, and do not have the ability required by the new social environment and new economic development. Therefore, in order to solve the employment problem of college students, it is essential for colleges and universities and college students themselves to consider other factors and dimensions (i.e. psychological capital) that influence employability.
When dealing with problems, individuals with high psychological capital can flexibly and adaptively use different abilities to meet the dynamic requirements of work. At the same time, individuals’ psychological capital can also enable them to experience a stronger sense of responsibility and happiness (Luthans 2004 cited in Shi Bianmei, 2014). However, only few previous studies have analyzed the employability of college students from the perspective of psychological capital, as well as the predictive power of college students’ psychological capital to employability, and few scholars have conducted studies on the correlation between college students’ psychological capital and employability. Zheng Weiqin (Zheng 2010 cited in Wu, 2015) believes that, cultivating the good psychological quality of college students is an effective way for college students to improve their employability and adapt to society as soon as possible. Lin Ping et al. pointed out that colleges and universities should introduce psychological capital development into the talent cultivation process of college students, and cultivate and enhance the psychological capital of college students, which can make them more competitive advantage in the future society. Is the psychological capital of college students really related to employability? If so, what is the correlation? Would it help college students enhance their employability by adjusting their psychological capital? And so on. These are all questions that are worth studying.
To explore this research gap, this study will explore the employability of college students from the perspective of psychological capital, which can enrich the research results of employability of college students. The domestic research on the improvement of college students’ employability has a short history. It mainly discusses how to improve college students’ employability from the aspects of training mode and employment guidance, but seldom discusses the influence of psychological capital on college students’ employability. The research results of correlation of college students’ psychological capital and employability can help universities to comprehensively grasp the composition of contemporary college students’ psychological capital and employability as well as their differences in different demographic variables. Meanwhile it is helpful for scientific understanding of college students with different backgrounds; helpful to develop targeted psychological capital development and employment improvement programs in universities; helpful to strengthen the cultivation of college students’ employability, hence this proposed study.

Conceptual Framework
The study will be guided by the interpretation of Luthans (Luthans 2007 cited in Zhou, 2016) and Lv (2012) along with the finding of Zhou in 2016.
In this study, students’ employability will be explored to psychological capital. Figure 1 shows the framework of the study.

The paradigm exhibits the variables considered in this study. It further illustrates the independent variable which includes the level of Psychological Capital (PC) with the following dimensions: (a) self-efficacy, (b) optimism, © hope, and (d) resilience, while the dependent variable includes the level of employability with the following dimensions: (a) practical ability, (b) adaptability, © interpersonal communication ability, (d) employment self-confidence, and (e) self-development ability.
Luthans believes that psychological capital is a positive psychological state that is manifested in the process of an individual’s growth and physical and mental development. It mainly includes four dimensional factors (components), namely self-efficacy, optimism, resilience and hope. Lv believes that college students’ employability is a kind of ability that is generally needed for employment and can be acquired through learning and experiences. It does not include the special abilities required to perform work in specific and professional fields, but more of a potential trait. The employability of college students includes five dimensions: practical ability, adaptability, interpersonal communication ability, employment self-confidence and self-development ability. Zhou (2016) believes that the dimensions of psychological capital have a positive impact on the employability of graduates. Among the dimensions that have a positive impact on the employability of the independent colleges, self-efficacy has the greatest impact.
In Lee’s study on the relationship between college students’ psychological capital and employability (2015), the differences between psychological capital and employability were compared according to the demographic variables of gender, level, student cadres’ experience or not. The results show that there are significant differences in gender and level of college students’ psychological capital, as well as employability. In Zhang’s research on college students’ psychological capital in 2015, the research results show that in terms of family origin and course, college students’ psychological capital has significant differences in overall and “self-efficacy” dimensions. In terms of only child or not and family income, psychological capital of college students only has significant difference in self-efficacy dimension. However, different samples from different studies have drawn different conclusions, or even the opposite. Therefore, it is not possible to apply the results of a study to students of Liaocheng University and draw a suitable planned development program. Based on these studies, the researcher selects four major demographic variables to investigate the difference in psychological capital according to the demographic variables, as well as the employability.
The result of the study will be the basis of planned school psychological capital development program.

Statement of the Problem
This research will try to answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondent students of Liaocheng University in terms of
   1.1 Courses enrolled in/ Colleges;
   1.2 Levels of students;
   1.3 Only child or not;
   1.4 Place of origin?
2. What is the level of psychological capital of the respondents in terms of
   2.1 Courses enrolled in/ Colleges;
   2.2 Levels of students;
   2.3 Only child or not;
   2.4 Place of origin?
3. What is the level of employability of the respondents in terms of
   3.1 Courses enrolled in/ Colleges;
   3.2 Levels of students;
   3.3 Only child or not;
   3.4 Place of origin?
4. Are there significant differences in the level of the psychological capital of the respondent when they are grouped according to their demographic profile?
5. Are there significant differences in the level of their employability when they are grouped according to their demographic profile?
6. Are dimensions of psychological capital significant predictors of employability of respondents?
7. Based on the findings, what psychological capital development program may be proposed?

Hypothesis of the Study
Pertaining to the questions of this study, the following research hypotheses were put into test:

1. There are no significant differences in the respondents when they are grouped according to college, level of students, only child or not, and place of origin as to the level of psychological capital.
2. There are no significant differences in the respondents when they are grouped according to college, level of students, only child or not, and family origin as to the level of employability.
3. There is no relationship between each dimension of psychological capital and employability.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study
Although the study explores the relationship between positive psychological capital and employability among Chinese university students, the study is focused on Liaocheng University, Shandong Province. The respondents of the study were 989 students of Liaocheng University during the school year 2019-2020.
The two data gathering instruments are Zhang Kuo’s Positive Psychological Capital Questionnaire for College Students (PPQ for short) and Lv Zhaohua’s Self-Evaluation Questionnaire for College Students’ Employability (SEQCSE).
The output of this study is a planned new school psychological capital development program, but its implementation would not be covered anymore in this study.

Significance of the Study
This study will be beneficial to the following:
Colleges and universities. As places to cultivate high-level professionals, whether students can successfully obtain employment has become a test of the effectiveness of universities’ talent training methods. Therefore, improving the employability of college students plays an important role in increasing the employment rate of colleges and universities. The result of the study improves the employability from the perspective of psychological capital, and provides a new perspective for education teaching and employment training in colleges and universities.
Curriculum planners. The result of the study will provide them information regarding college students whose level of employability is low and make use of improving their level of psychological capital. They may include it in the curriculum to ensure that college students can handle the employability well.
Teachers. By knowing the relationship between psychological capital and employability, they may assist the college students to develop their psychological capital and improve their employability. They may utilize the planned psychological capital development program proposed by the researcher.
College students. This study can make college students pay more attention to their own psychological capital, get inspiration from the relationship between psychological capital and employability, take the initiative to strengthen the development of positive psychological capital, stimulate positive potential, so as to better seize opportunities (of employment) and meet challenges.
Researchers and scholars. Although scholars have discussed much about the employment of college students, most of them have studied from the aspects of social capital, human capital, career planning, employment guidance, etc., but few have studied the employability of college students from the perspective of psychological capital. This study provides a new perspective for the study of college students’ employability, enriches the research theory of college students’ employability to a certain extent, and promotes the development of relevant research.

Definition of Terms
Psychological Capital is a kind of positive mental state displayed in the process of individual growth and continuous physical and mental development, which mainly includes four core components, namely self-efficacy, optimism, resilience and hope (Xu Haiyuan, 2015).
Self-efficacy means that facing with a challenging job, individuals have confidence and pay necessary efforts to get success (Xu Haiyuan, 2015).
Optimism means that individuals have positive attribution for present and future success (Xu Haiyuan, 2015).
Hope means that the individuals stuck to the target, and can actively adjust and select the method to achieve the goal when necessary (Xu Haiyuan, 2015).
Resilience means that when individuals are in trouble, they can persist and recover quickly, and take effective ways to achieve success (Xu Haiyuan, 2015).
College students’ Psychological Capital refers to the sum of all kinds of positive abilities (hope, optimism, self-efficacy and resilience) possessed by college students at the university stage. These positive abilities (hope, optimism, self-efficacy and resilience) can help college students gain self-recognition and achievement through effective measurement and development. (Li Linying, 2015)
Employability of college student is a comprehensive ability of exhibition which means that college graduates can defeat their competitors, find and successfully obtain jobs that satisfy their own needs, satisfy social needs and realize their own values through preparation of knowledge, abilities and other aspects during their school years, so as to promote the sustainable development of their career. (Zhang Xiaojie, 2015)
Practical ability is the necessary physiological and psychological characteristics to ensure that individuals can successfully use existing knowledge and skills to solve practical problems (Zhang Xiaojie, 2015).
Adaptability is the ability of the subject to understand, adapt, make full use of and reform the objective environment and its changes in order to survive and develop better (Zhang Xiaojie, 2015).
Interpersonal communication ability is generally considered to be an individual’s ability to effectively exchange, transform and process information with others, including the ability to express and understand (Zhang Xiaojie, 2015).
Self-confidence in employment is the belief that college students in the job market believe that they can successfully obtain job opportunities and maintain their jobs, as well as the courage to face their challenges during their working (Zhang Xiaojie, 2015).
Self-development ability is a kind of ability which is based on personal conditions and can use external conditions to explore their own advantages to show their abilities and promote self-realization. (Zhang Xiaojie, 2015)

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter will provide a review of the literature on the topic of undergraduates’ Psychological Capital, Employability and the relationship of the two. The perspectives of a variety of disciplines will be discussed from an historical viewpoint to current thinking on this topic.

Psychological Capital
As the name implies, psychological capital can be understood from two perspectives------“psychology” and “capital”. There is no doubt that the origin of psychological capital will also be analyzed from two perspectives------“psychology” and “capital”.
From the perspective of capital, the researchers focus on the “Traditional economic capital”, which shows what you have, develops to the “Human capital”, which shows what you know, develops to the “Social capital”, which shows who you know, and finally develops to the “Positive psychological capital”, which shows who you are（Li Guangyi, 2016）.
From the perspective of psychological, psychology has three missions which are “treat mental illness, help healthy people to be happier and more successful and inspiring peoples’ potential” (Xiong Meng, 2014). After the Second World War, some researchers found that some positive psychological factors can effectively prevent and even cure psychological diseases. Then Martin Seligman, former President of the American Psychological Association, known as the father of positive psychology, started the “positive psychology movement”. On this basis, Fred Luthans, an organizational behaviorist, founded the Positive Organizational Behavior (POB). In 2004 he extended the concept of psychological capital to management and defined it clearly. Positive Psychological Capital is a kind of positive mental state displayed in the process of individual growth and continuous physical and mental development. Positive Psychological Capital is referred to as Psychological Capital for short (Zhang Kuo 2013 cited in Li Guangyi, 2016), which mainly includes four core components, namely self-efficacy, optimism, resilience and hope.
The study of psychological capital can be roughly divided into three orientations, which are named as Trait Theory, State Theory and Comprehensive Theory.
According to the Trait Teory, psychological capital is a personality trait, which is the result of innate and acquired effects. It has good stability and persistence and is not easy to change. Tettegah (Tettegah 2002 cited in Zhang Xiaojie, 2015) argued that psychological capital is a relatively stable psychological tendency or characteristic that individuals develop in their early years of life. State theory believes that psychological capital is a specific positive psychological state, and it can be developed. Individuals can obtain this state through a certain way of learning or adjustment (Luthans, 2017). According to the comprehensive theory, psychological capital can be developed through certain ways and methods, and it also has relatively stable and long-lasting characteristics, that is, psychological capital has both state and traits.
At present, the study of psychological capital is dominated by State Theory. This study intends to use F. Luthans’s view of state theory orientation and his definition of psychological capital.

Dimensions/ Structure of Psychological Capital
There are many ways to divide the element of psychological capital, and there are also differences in its components. Scholars have not yet reached a consensus on this. This paper summarizes the structure of psychological capital by consulting the existing literature, and finds that it can be roughly divided into four structural views/ theories which are two-elemental view, three-elemental view, four-elemental view and multi-elemental view. The researcher concretely summarizes and sort out the domestic and foreign views on the element of psychological capital structure.
Although there are various views on the structure and constituent elements of psychological capital, the four most frequently occurring elements are optimism, self-efficacy, hope and resilience. This is the division of the four elements of the structure of psychological capital by former US management association presidents Luthans and Avolio (Luthans 2007 cited in He Ming, 2017). These four dimensions are also used in this study.

Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy means that facing with a challenging job, individuals have confidence and can pay necessary efforts to get success. Bandura defines self-efficacy as the individual’s belief (confidence) about being able to motivate the engine, mobilize cognitive resources, and take the necessary actions to successfully complete a particular job in a particular situation.
Self-efficacy has five characteristics (He Ming, 2017). Firstly, self-efficacy is related to specific fields. Specifically speaking, having confidence in one field does not mean having confidence in other fields as well. Self-efficacy is related to the field being analyzed and cannot be directly transferred to other fields. Secondly, self-efficacy is based on practice or mastery. Generally speaking, the most confident jobs are those that have been practiced and mastered over and over again. Third, there is always room for improvement in self-efficacy. Even in very confident areas, there are still some tasks that make people feel more laborious. Fourthly, self-efficacy is influenced by others. Others’ opinions on individuals have an impact on individuals’ understanding of themselves, such as the Pygmalion effect. Finally, self-efficacy is variable, influenced by controllable and uncontrollable factors.

Optimism
Optimism means that individuals have positive attribution for present and future success. The optimism here is different from the optimism what we use every day, and its meaning is much deeper. In 2002, Martin Seligman argues that optimism can be seen as an attribution style, that is, to explain positive things as being due to their own, persistence, and universality; and to treat negative events as due to external, temporary, context-related causes (Luthans, F., & Youssef-Morgan, Carolyn M., 2017). This view is generally accepted in the workplace as an operational definition of optimism, emphasizing the definition from the perspective of positive psychology. In addition, some researchers believe that optimism is a personality trait, that is, a general tendency to expect good things and positive outcomes to occur more frequently than negative outcomes. In this study, the researcher views optimism as the ability to summarize past experience and apply it to future planning.
Realistic and flexible optimists can fully enjoy the pleasure of all kinds of events in their work and life, and summarize their experience to the greatest extent (Lee-Peng, 2017). When optimistic people are in good times, they can feel the cognitive and emotional impact of optimism on them more because they can control their own success, control their own destiny, and do not unconsciously put themselves in increasing danger or suffer from the contempt of others (Gao Yunpeng, Liu Qin. 2016). Highly optimistic people usually have a sense of gratitude and can express gratitude and gratitude to those who help them succeed. They can take advantage of the opportunities that may arise in the environment to develop and improve their skills and abilities so that they can have more opportunities in the future (Carmona, 2018). At the same time, when in adversity, they can eliminate interference, explore the nature of things, learn from mistakes, accept what they can’t change, and then they will move on.

Hope
Hope means that the individuals stuck to the target, and can actively adjust and select the method to achieve the goal when necessary. Rick Snyder defines hope as a positive motivational state based on the experience of the intersection of the motivation for success (the energy level towards the target) and the path (the plan for achieving the goal). According to Rick Snyder’s research, hope is a state of cognitive thinking about the favorable propensity of the future (Madrid，2017). In this state, individuals can achieve their pre-set goals through self-improvement and self-motivation.
In the workplace, the higher the hope of employees, the stronger the profitability of the organization; the higher the hope of organizational leaders, the higher the profitability, employee satisfaction and retention rate of their departments. Managers and leaders who are full of hope can transmit their energy and determination to their subordinates and motivate them to achieve higher performance (Guadalupe, 2017). In the past, people believed that hope was a personal trait that was hard to change. However, the related research on psychological capital shows that hope can also be developed, and people can successfully develop and cultivate hope through specific methods. Target setting, step-by-step progress, participation, incentive mechanism, resources and training are considered to be six effective measures (He Ming, 2017).

Resilience
Resilience means that when individuals are in trouble, they can persist and recover quickly, and take effective ways to achieve success. Through theoretical construction and empirical research, positive psychologists such as Ann Masten and Reed have realized that resilience is an intrinsic psychological mechanism in the face of difficulties. It can be used to adapt to the current predicament and stimulate the driving force (McElroy, 2018). Through relevant research, it is found that resilience is a dynamic, malleable and exploitable psychological ability or advantage that is measurable and exploitable.
Resilience not only plays a role in negative events, but also in coping with positive events (Tomlinson, 2017). Resilience not only restores leaders and employees to their normal selves, but also helps them to focus on their “possible selves” and never improve their abilities.
Xu Haiyuan (2015) analyzed the constituent elements of college students’ psychological capital and pointed out the interaction between four elements. He believes that self-efficacy is the foundation, hope is the guide, optimism is the help, and resilience is the guarantee. In the individual growth and development of college students, self-efficacy is mainly to solve the improvement of individual ability and bear the role of self-cognition. Hope is mainly to solve the motivation of individual development. Optimism is mainly to solve the attribution of the individual’s failure. Resilience is the “stabilizer” that keeps individuals from getting bogged down by adversity or stress and from getting carried away by unexpected achievements.
Combined with a large number of literature studies in China and abroad, it is not difficult to find that psychological capital can be improved by development intervention. For example, self-efficacy can be developed through skilled mastery/successful experience, alternative learning and imitation, social persuasion, physical and psychological awakening(Ye Xinfeng，2014); hope can be developed by setting goals, participating, formulating alternative contingency plans and ultimately achieving goals; optimism can be developed by embracing the past, cherishing the present and looking for future development opportunities; resilience can be tempered by focusing on Strategies of resilient assets, hazards and processes.

The emergence of the concept of psychological capital begins in the fields of economics, investment, and sociology. Its direct purpose is to improve the competitiveness of enterprises and continuously improve their corporate performance and happiness. Its emergence is generally based on the theories and researches of human capital and social capital, and surpasses these two capitals.
The original intention of Positive Organizational Behavior (POB) is to develop and enhance people’s inner strength, so as to promote the improvement of employee performance. The development of psychological capital has been boosted by POB, so the most important research on psychological capital is also focused on the research of corporate competitiveness and employee performance. Numerous studies have confirmed that psychological capital has a strong predictive effect on employee performance. Yu Haijian (2015) and other scholars even found that the impact of psychological capital on individual real wages even exceeds human capital such as vocational skills, working age and theoretical reserves, and high psychological capital individuals often have lower turnover rates and can invest more (Paek, 2015; Wan Pengyu, 2016). In addition, the mental health problems of the staff have always been the focus of scholars, and the improvement of psychological capital can not only slow down their anxiety, reduce the stress response, keep their mentality in a healthy state, but also improve the individual’s satisfaction with work and life (Luthans, 2010; Ren Wei, Wen Zhonglin, Chen Qishan & Ye Baojuan, 2013; Yu Haijian, 2015; Liu Xu, 2016; Liu Li, 2016). Wu Hao further verified its important role in the mental health of individuals through the test of the psychological capital-occupational happiness model.
As a new force in society, college students’ psychological capital status is directly related to their future development and social progress. Therefore, the research on the psychological capital of college students has gradually increased. Numerous studies have shown that psychological capital has an important impact on the mental health of college students. Individuals with high psychological capital often feel happier, less frustrated when they encounter setbacks, less pessimistic about the development of things and more security (Peng Jie, 2014; Shi Yanhua, 2015).
In addition to the study of college students’ mental health, scholars also pay great attention to the relationship between college students’ psychological capital and academic performance. Studies have shown that individuals with a high level of psychological capital are often able to effectively deal with procrastination in learning and are less likely to suffer from burnout (Fu Lifei, 2010; Song Hongfeng, 2014; Xu Tao, 2016). College students with a high level of positive psychological capital are often more willing to improve themselves; have a greater desire to improve themselves; have a greater enthusiasm for learning tasks; and often get good academic performance (Meyers, 2015). Ke Jianglin found through paired investigation that both dimensions of local psychological capital positively promoted long-term entrepreneurial intention, but weakened short-term entrepreneurial intention. In addition, the improvement of positive psychological capital can promote the development of their employability and make them show a higher success rate in the process of choosing a career, but resilience does not play a significant role in this (Wang Yaojun, 2013; Zhao Xia, 2014).

Measurement of Psychological Capital
In the early research, the measurement of psychological capital was indirect. It was measured separately by the single dimension of each component dimension of psychological capital, and then the standard was added. This method has certain limitations and low reliability and validity. Later, Luthans et al. used the previous research to propose a psychological capital intervention model and developed a Psychological Capital Questionnaire which is called PCQ for short (Antunes, 2017). PCQ unified the Rickett six-point scale, including self-efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism, with a total of 24 questions.
Chinese scholars such as Zhong Lifeng and Zhang Kuo also contributed to the measurement of psychological capital. Among them, Zhang Kuo et al., based on literature analysis and reference to relevant measurement tools, analyzed the results of 181 college students, and finally formed “Positive Psychological Capital Questionnaire for College Students” (PPQ) with a total of 26 topics including self-efficacy, resilience, optimism and hope. The reliability analysis results show that the Cronbach α coefficient of PPQ is 0.90, and the Cronbach α coefficient of each subscale is between 0.76 and 0.86, indicating that the reliability of the questionnaire is good. In terms of validity, exploratory factor analysis showed that the questionnaire had good structural validity. The results of confirmatory factor analysis also support the four-element structure of college students’ psychological capital. At the same time, some studies have found that the questionnaire has reasonable discriminant validity and good empirical validity (Zhang Kuo, 2017).
Chinese scholars not only have done a lot of localized research on the measurement of college students’ psychological capital, but also have studied the measurement tools of psychological capital for different groups of people. From the perspective of localization, Li Bing (2014) reconstructed and evaluated the psychological capital of blue-collar workers who had long-term mechanical repetitive work in the workshop, resulting in an optimized formal psychological capital scale in the local context with a topic item. Zhao Hengyi (2015) analyzed the reliability and validity of Ke Jianglin’s Indigenous Psychological Capital Scale. On this basis, a psychological capital measurement scale for grass-roots police is developed. Zhang Jing (2018) compiled the Questionnaire on Psychological Capital of College Psychological Committees, investigating the status and characteristics of psychological capital of college psychological committees, providing screening tools for psychological committees (members of the Chinese class committees), and providing directions and ideas for the development and training of psychological capital of psychological committees.

Employability
To clarify the meaning of employability, we need to understand the meaning of “ability” first. The term “ability” is very common in everyday life and academic research, but there are many different opinions about its meaning. In general, the author believes that ability is the necessary condition for individuals and organizations to complete certain activities (Song Qiming, 2017).
Employability is the subordinate concept of ability. The understanding and interpretation of employability is constantly evolving. In the 1950s, British psychology researcher Feintuch (Feintuch 1955 cited in Bowey, Liu Wei, 2016) first proposed “Employability”, which refers to the ability of individuals to obtain employment opportunities. It extends from the initial dichotomy judgment of whether an individual is suitable for employment to whether an individual has certain ability and qualification in employment, and further extends to various knowledge, ability and characteristics that an individual has that can adapt to the needs of the labor market. The fundamental changes in the meaning of the concept are actually related to the subject of labor market policy. Current labor market policies are increasingly focusing on the ability of individuals to be competent in the needs of a flexible and changing labor market, and tend to focus on what specific knowledge, capabilities or characteristics contribute to the individual’s resilience and that