Introduction: As the world is consistently driven by the infusion of new-generation information technology and the knowledge economy, college students are placed under mounting pressure in developing occupation-related competencies. Their employability has been receiving growing concerns from stakeholders such as higher education institutions, governments, employers, parents, and even student groups themselves as it plays a decisive role in occupational success, social stability, and economic prosperity. Under the theoretical guidance of social cognitive theory, this study set out to investigate the cognitive and psychological mechanisms through which innovation capability, social adaptability, and self-efficacy influence the employability of college students. It also attempts to analyze the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relations between innovation capability, social adaptability, and employability which has been rarely studied in academia.Methods: A quantitative approach was employed in this study. Data was collected from 726 undergraduates from 9 higher education institutions in the mainland of China by questionnaire survey method. The research model showed a good fit (χ2/df=4.46, RMSEA=0.069, SRMR=0.049, GFI=0.934, CFI=0.965, NFI=0.955, TLI=0.955). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to this study for data analysis.Results: The findings showed that innovation capability, social adaptability, and self-efficacy significantly and positively correlates with undergraduates’ employability. University students with stronger innovation capability, social adaptability, and self-efficacy tend to be more employable in the job market. Model 4 of SPSS PROCESS Macro revealed that self-efficacy played a mediating role in the correlation between innovation capability, social adaptability, and employability.Discussion: Undergraduates with higher levels of innovation capability and social adaptability are more confident in their abilities to take specific actions and achieve expected goals, which in turn intensifies their employability. The study suggests the possibility of improving undergraduates’ employability through positive interference of innovation capability, social adaptability, and self-efficacy in the era of information technology and knowledge-based economy.

Background: It is increasingly essential for translators to possess a high level of technological proficiency to succeed in their work, as technology is becoming an integral part and common practice of the translation industry. Several previous studies found that critical thinking, academic self-efficacy, and cultural intelligence independently influenced the translation competence of college students. However, the underlying psychological mechanism through which these salient factors affect student translators' technology competence has not been fully explored. Therefore, this research sought to examine the systematic interactions between critical thinking, academic self-efficacy, cultural intelligence, and translation technology competence among college students. Methods: This study adopted an empirical approach to collect data from 663 seniors from 7 colleges in China. The questionnaires of the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS), General Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (GASE), Short Form measure of Cultural Intelligence (SFCQ), and Translation Technology Competence Scale (TTCS) were used for the online survey. The quantitative data were investigated by employing descriptive statistics with SPSS 27, covariance-based structural equation modelling with AMOS 24 to test the proposed hypotheses by assessing relationships between observed and latent variables, and bootstrap method with PROCESS 3.5 to examine the mediating effects. Results: Critical thinking, academic self-efficacy, and cultural intelligence were significant predictors of students' translation technology competence. Additionally, academic self-efficacy and cultural intelligence acted as independent and chain mediators in the relationship between critical thinking and student translators' technology competence. Conclusion:The findings provide valuable insight into how psychological factors, including critical thinking, academic self-efficacy, and cultural intelligence, can impact students' competence in translation technology. This study contributes to future research and practices that seek to understand how these psychological factors can be leveraged to promote students' success in translation technologies.