The role of career competencies and proactive personality in early-career employee career adaptability

Abstract

Employees with high career competencies are more successful in career development. However, it is unclear whether proactivity matters for early-career employees. Thus, this study aims to investigate the influence of career competencies and proactive personality on career adaptability and the moderating role of proactive personality in this relationship.This study adopts a quantitative methodology, collecting data through online questionnaires from respondents (n = 400) who had less than five years of work experience in the UAE. A measurement model and hypotheses testing were conducted using AMOS software. Multigroup structural equation modelling was used to test the moderation model.The results show a direct relationship between career competencies and career adaptability. However, a proactive personality is insignificantly related to career adaptability. Further, early-career employees with low proactive personality benefit from high career competencies.This study offers contributions to the emerging understanding of career construction by emphasising the important role of career competencies for early-career employees who manifest a low proactive personality.

Keywords : Career adaptability, Career competencies, Proactive personality, Early-career, Employees, United Arab Emirates