Personality, Work Values, and Adversity Quotient as Predictors of Career Adaptability among Final-Year Management Students

Deci Ririen; Nurjayanti Nurjayanti; Febblina Daryanes

doi:10.35445/alishlah.v18i2.8511

Personality, Work Values, and Adversity Quotient as Predictors of Career Adaptability among Final-Year Management Students

Deci Ririen, Nurjayanti Nurjayanti, Febblina Daryanes

Abstract

Career adaptability has become an essential competency for university students preparing to enter an increasingly dynamic labor market. Although previous studies have identified personality as an important antecedent of career adaptability, limited evidence explains the psychological mechanisms through which personality influences career adaptability, particularly through the simultaneous roles of work values and adversity quotient. This study addresses this gap by examining the direct and indirect relationships among these variables.A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed involving 131 final-year management students from the Indragiri Institute of Technology and Business, Indonesia. Data were collected using validated Likert-scale questionnaires measuring personality, work values, adversity quotient, and career adaptability. Structural Equation Modeling–Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) with bootstrapping was applied to test the proposed hypotheses and mediation effects.Personality significantly influenced adversity quotient and work values but did not directly affect career adaptability. Work values significantly predicted both adversity quotient and career adaptability, while adversity quotient exerted a strong positive effect on career adaptability. Mediation analysis revealed that personality indirectly influenced career adaptability through adversity quotient and work values, whereas work values also affected career adaptability indirectly through adversity quotient. These findings indicate an indirect-only mediation model in which personality contributes to career adaptability through motivational and resilience-related mechanisms. This study extends career development literature by demonstrating that career adaptability is shaped primarily by developable psychosocial resources rather than stable personality traits. The findings highlight the importance of strengthening students’ work values and resilience through career counseling, experiential learning, and curriculum-based career development programs to enhance graduate employability.

Keywords

career adaptability; personality; adversity quotient; work values; higher education students

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.35445/alishlah.v18i2.8511