Job Choice Under Crisis Conditions: Differences in Motivational Systems and Job-Attribute Preferences of Young Adults

The COVID-19 pandemic delivered a fundamental shock that significantly impacted individual working conditions and increased job insecurity across numerous occupations and industries. Against this background, this study analyzes how two basic motivational systems, the behavioral activation system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS), which shape human responses to (perceived) threats, influence the formation of job-attribute preferences. BIS and BAS have been shown to impact human decision-making and behavior in many different domains pervasively. However, despite their fundamental nature, they have remained understudied as possible deep-level influences on the formation of occupational preferences of young people about to choose a job to embark on. We address this research gap by applying an adaptive choice-based conjoint experiment based on a sample of 1,005 young adults. Results show that the perceived relative importance of significant job attributes in a crisis-ridden environment is related to the sensitivity of specific BIS and BAS subscales.