Mentor support and postdoctoral sustainable careers
Evidence from China
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22232178 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hongfeng Song (Beijing Forestry University), Anqi Hu (0009-0005-9201-9757, Beijing Forestry University, corresponding author), Xueyan Li (0009-0002-2230-6468, Renmin University of China) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2662-9992 • E-ISSN: 2662-9992 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1057/s41599-025-04835-7 |
| OpenAlex | W4409288064 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 89 |
Postdocs encounter numerous challenges as they transition from students to independent scholars, with the sustainability of their academic careers often marked by uncertainty and obstacles. While the career challenges faced by postdocs have attracted considerable attention, research on their career development from a sustainable perspective remains limited. Given China’s increasing emphasis on building scientific and technological talent to drive the development of New Quality Productive Forces, this study aims to explore the relationship between mentor support and sustainable careers, focusing on the roles of work engagement and academic career identity among Chinese postdocs based on Conservation of Resources theory. Based on analyses of 343 questionnaires from Chinese postdocs, the results indicate that mentor support is significantly and positively associated with postdocs’ employability, subjective career success, and mental health—three key indicators of sustainable careers. The mediation effect analyses demonstrate that work engagement and academic career identity simultaneously and sequentially mediate the relationship between mentor support and sustainable careers. This study not only offers new insights into how mentor support, as an essential job resource, contributes to postdoctoral career sustainability, complementing the existing literature on mentor support and sustainable careers, but also provides valuable practical guidance for postdoctoral stations on how to enhance postdoctoral career sustainability by strengthening the role of mentors
China · Engineering ethics · Political science · Sociology · Cardiac Health and Mental Health · Engineering · Mentoring and Academic Development · Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies · Psychology
Work Engagement
Job demands and resources as antecedents of work engagement
The loss spiral of work pressure, work–home interference and exhaustion
How obstacles and facilitators predict academic performance
Workaholism, Burnout, and Work Engagement
Reciprocal relationships between job resources, personal resources, and work engagement
Job Resources Buffer the Impact of Job Demands on Burnout.
Callings and work engagement
Mentoring College Students
Academic engagement
Work engagement, performance, and active learning
When do job demands particularly predict burnout?
Job demands–resources theory
To Invest or Not? The Role of Coworker Support and Trust in Daily Reciprocal Gain Spirals of Helping Behavior
Organizational career growth, affective occupational commitment and turnover intentions
Mentoring Relationships in Graduate School
Self‐perceived employability
The Influence of Culture, Community, and the Nested‐Self in the Stress Process
Getting to the “COR”
Social Exchange Theory
Employability Is a Journey
Embarking on the postdoc journey
Sustainable careers across the lifespan
The lagged influence of organizations' human resources practices on employees' career sustainability
Predictors and outcomes of nursing students' engagement trajectories at the beginning of their program
Sustainable careers
The Measurement of Work Engagement With a Short Questionnaire
Reconceptualizing the work–family interface
Personal Goals and Psychological Growth
Conservation of Resources in the Organizational Context
Identifying organizational identification as a basis for attitudes and behaviors
Job demands, job resources, and their relationship with burnout and engagement
Psychological success
Work and family conflict in academic science
The Relationship between Job and Life Satisfaction
Job Satisfaction among University Faculty
A resource perspective on the work–home interface
Burnout and Work Engagement
The protean career
Conservation of resources
Social and Psychological Resources and Adaptation
The direct and mediating roles of positive emotions on work engagement among postdoctoral fellows
From early career researcher to research leader
Precarious careers
The function of social support in engaging and disengaging experiences among post PhD researchers in STEM disciplines
Striving Transition for University Academics
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |