The Influence of Parenting Styles on Proactive Career Behavior: The Mediating Role of Career Self-efficacy

From a lifespan development lens, there is a burgeoning fascination with unraveling the foundational roots and pivotal influences shaping career management. Based on the social cognitive career theory, this study constructs a conceptual model of the influence of parenting styles on proactive career behaviors mediated by career self-efficacy.A multiple linear regression and Bootstrap method are employed to test the conceptual model, based on survey data from 397 employees in various regions. The results indicated that authoritative parenting style positively predicted proactive career behavior, and that career self-efficacy had a significant mediating effect between authoritative parenting style and proactive career behavior. Conversely, while the theoretical implications suggest a negative correlation between authoritarian parenting and both career self-efficacy and proactive behaviors, this nexus awaits further empirical corroboration. These results have implications for theories on parenting style as well as research fostering proactive career behaviors and provide some reference for managers and employees to better deal with the potential impact of family background.