Supervisor conscientiousness and professional identity for graduate students: A moderated mediation model

Abstract Background Professional identity plays a crucial role in graduate students’ career development, yet little is known about its antecedents and underlying mechanisms, especially the role of the supervisor. This study investigated how supervisor conscientiousness relates to graduate students’ professional identity, examining the roles of perceived supervisor-student relationship quality (PSSRQ) and graduate students’ extroversion. Methods A survey was conducted with 450 graduate students from three universities in Beijing, measuring professional identity, supervisor conscientiousness, PSSRQ, and students’ extroversion. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 29.0 with the PROCESS macro 4.1 to test the moderated mediation model. Results The results indicated that supervisor conscientiousness was positively associated with graduate students’ professional identity. Furthermore, PSSRQ mediated the association between supervisor conscientiousness and graduate students’ professional identity. In addition, graduate students’ extroversion moderated the relationship between supervisor conscientiousness and PSSRQ; specifically, the positive association was stronger for students with low levels of extroversion. Conclusions The study underscores the importance of supervisor conscientiousness and supervisor–student relationship quality for graduate students’ professional identity, and suggests that introverted students with less conscientious supervisors may be especially at risk.