Meritocracy beliefs and empathic concern among Chinese college students: a moderated serial mediation model of zero-sum thinking and Protestant work ethic

As meritocratic values have become increasingly emphasized in educational contexts, it is important to understand how students’ endorsement of meritocracy belief is associated with empathic concern. Based on Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, this cross-sectional study constructed a moderated serial mediation model to examine the associations between meritocracy belief and empathic concern among Chinese college students, as well as the mediating roles of zero-sum thinking and Protestant work ethic and the moderating role of intellectual humility. Data from 1,986 Chinese college students recruited through Credamo were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicated that the direct association between meritocracy belief and empathic concern was relatively weak ( β = −0.067, p = 0.034). However, significant indirect associations were observed through zero-sum thinking (indirect effect = −0.079) and Protestant work ethic (indirect effect = −0.105), and through the sequential pathway of zero-sum thinking and Protestant work ethic (indirect effect = −0.029). Furthermore, intellectual humility significantly moderated the association between Protestant work ethic and empathic concern (interaction β = 0.170, p < 0.001), and this moderating effect extended to the overall chain mediation path. These findings suggest that meritocracy belief is not directly associated with empathic concern to a substantial extent. Rather, its relationship with empathic concern primarily operates through cognitive pathways involving zero-sum thinking and Protestant work ethic, with intellectual humility serving as an important boundary condition. They extend the application of Social Cognitive Theory and provide practical implications for fostering empathic concern among college students.