Abstract To investigate the societal value of digital peer groups in the context of youth unemployment, one of society’s most pressing problems, we developed a novel mobile peer-group-based career counseling approach. Following a design-oriented methodology, we constructed an intervention in which we supplement offline one-on-one counseling sessions between youths and career counselors with mobile peer groups where youths can support one another in a trusting environment, independent of time and place. We evaluated the career counseling intervention, implemented on a WhatsApp platform, in a randomized field experiment conducted at the German Federal Employment Agency. Results suggest that the mobile peer-group-based career counseling approach offers substantial added value compared with traditional career counseling. It significantly increases a youth’s chances of finding employment while improving his or her attitude towards career choice, career maturity, and career search intensity. Our study contributes to literature on the societal impacts of information and communication technologies and to research in design science. The proposed mobile intervention has important policy implications for addressing youth unemployment.

中文翻译：

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移动同伴团体的力量：一种以设计为导向的解决青年失业问题的方法

摘要 为了调查青年失业背景下数字同伴群体的社会价值，这是社会最紧迫的问题之一，我们开发了一种新颖的基于移动同伴群体的职业咨询方法。遵循以设计为导向的方法，我们构建了一种干预措施，在这种干预中，我们通过移动同伴小组补充青少年和职业顾问之间的线下一对一辅导课程，青少年可以在不受时间和地点限制的信任环境中相互支持。我们在德国联邦就业局进行的随机现场实验中评估了在 WhatsApp 平台上实施的职业咨询干预。结果表明，与传统的职业咨询相比，基于移动同伴群体的职业咨询方法提供了大量的附加值。它显着增加了青年找到工作的机会，同时改善了他或她对职业选择、职业成熟度和职业搜索强度的态度。我们的研究为有关信息和通信技术的社会影响的文献以及设计科学的研究做出了贡献。拟议的移动干预对解决青年失业问题具有重要的政策意义。