This study aimed to prove the mediating effect of optimism and career adaptability in the relationship between the belief in a just world for self(BJW-self) and job-seeking stress. To verify the relationship among the variables, a total of 396 undergraduate students were invited to take part in a survey using The Korean Version in Belief in a Just World Scale: K-BJWS, Cornell Medical Index; CMI, Life Orientation Test-Revised; LOT-R, and Career Adaptability Scale for the Korean University Students, and all answers were self-reported. Among them, 381 survey responses were used for the final analysis, excluding the data of the respondents who were not in university or under 19. These collected data were statistically analyzed using SPSS 22.0 and SPSS Macro process program to verify the relationship among variables
The results obtained by analyzing the data were as follows: First, BJW-self of university students had a significant negative correlation with job-seeking stress and had a significant positive correlation with optimism and career adaptability. Second, optimism had a mediating effect in the relationship between BJW-self of undergraduates and job-seeking stress, but career adaptability had no mediating effect.
The implications of this study are as follows: First, this study is related to BJW-self, which has not been studied yet in various ways in Korea, and among these studies, few have verified the relationship between variables related to job-seeking. Therefore, the results of this study will be a helpful empirical study for university students. Second, it suggests that improving individual positive emotions for reducing job-seeking stress will be therapeutically effective. Third, BJW-self, optimism and career adaptability are cognitive variables, and cognitive intervention strategies can be effective in relieving job-seeking stress.