The Effects of Basic Psychological Needs on Career Preparation Behavior: Dual Mediating Effects of Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Directed Learning

Objectives The purposes of this study was to examine the relationship between basic psychological needs and career preparation behavior and verify the mediating effect of intrinsic motivation and self-directed learning. Methods A total of 220 university students majoring in aviation service completed the self-report questionnaires including basic psychological needs, intrinsic motivation, self-directed learning and career preparation behavior and then analyzed through SPSS23 and PROCESS Macro. Model 4 and Model 6 was used to verify the mediating effect and dual mediating effect consecutively and bootstrapping was performed to verify the significance of the mediating effect. Results The results showed statistically significant positive correlations between basic psychological needs, in-trinsic motivation, self-directed learning and career preparation behavior. Additionally, intrinsic motivation and self-directed learning mediated the relationship between basic psychological needs and career preparation be-havior respectively. Finally, the relationship between basic psychological needs and career preparation behavior was sequentially mediated by intrinsic motivation and self-directed learning. Conclusions These findings suggest that intrinsic motivation and self-directed learning may have greater impacts on career preparation behavior than basic psychological needs. Other implications and limitations of this study are discussed, along with suggestions for future studies.