The Impact of Traditional Chinese Medicine Cultural Identity on Vocational Calling among Students in TCM Colleges: The Mediating Role of Professional Commitment and the Moderating Effect of the TCM Cultural Environment

DOI: 10.12201/bmr.202610.00007

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  Abstract: Students at traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) colleges generally demonstrate a high level of identification with TCM culture, yet their confidence in career action remains relatively insufficient, and professional commitment may serve as the link between the two. A cluster sample of 634 undergraduates from a TCM university in Jiangsu Province completed valid questionnaires. The Bootstrap method was employed to estimate the mediating effect of professional commitment and the moderating effect of perceived TCM cultural environment. Cultural identity was significantly and positively correlated with vocational calling (r=0.41，P<0.01). Professional commitment played a partial mediating role, with an indirect effect of 0.15 (95%CI：0.108–0.198), accounting for 36.6% of the total effect, while the direct effect was 0.26 (95%CI：0.159–0.341), accounting for 63.4%. Perceived TCM cultural environment positively moderated the path from cultural identity to professional commitment (β=0.12，t=3.16，P<0.01), but the incremental variance explained was small (ΔR2=0.018), indicating a modest effect size. Significant differences in vocational calling scores were observed across grade levels (F=4.68，P<0.01). As cross-sectional data support only predictive relationships among variables, TCM cultural identity may be regarded as a resource for career education, and professional commitment constitutes a highly operational mediating link between cultural identity and vocational calling, thereby serving as a feasible target for educational intervention. However, the moderating role of the TCM cultural environment is of limited magnitude and should not be overestimated.

  Key words: TCM cultural identity; vocational calling; professional commitment; TCM cultural environment; TCM colleges; cross-sectional survey

  Submit time: 6 October 2026

  Copyright: The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted biomedRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
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  1	2026-08-20	10.12201/bmr.202610.00007V1	Download

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