To stay or leave: a career dilemma faced by Chinese college counselors

Abstract

The high turnover rate of Chinese college counselors has become a social issue that is increasingly being concerned about. Many scholars have tried to analyze the reasons for this issue from different perspectives. This study selects a qualitative approach to explore the college counselors’ turnover intention from the perspective of subjective career success while analyzing the relationship between subjective career success and turnover intention. This study finds that the three dimensions of career success criteria could be successfully applied to evaluate counselors’ subjective career success. Career safety and stability can, in combination with the interview results, be incorporated into the measurement of subjective career success under the dimension of external compensation. Meanwhile, college counselors’ subjective career success is correlated with turnover intention. College counselors will evaluate different dimensions of subjective career success and balance the same against their work values. The findings of this study provide empirical support on college counselors’ evaluation of their career status and turnover intention, which helps colleges analyze counselors’ turnover intentions from a new perspective and reduce turnover rate.