Studying the Mediating Role of Core Self-Evaluation in Relationship between Personality and Career Adaptability

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of the current study was to investigate the role of core self-evaluation as a mediator between personality and career adaptability among all University of Isfahan’s bachelor students who were in the last two years of their education. Methods: The method applied was a correlational study analyzed by the structural equation modeling approach. Total of 401 participants were selected through stratified sampling (considering the gender and population of each field of study) among all University of Isfahan’s bachelor students who were in the last two years of their education. The Career adaptability scale (Savickas and Profeili, 2012), the core Self-evaluation scale (Judge & Durham, 2003), and the big five personality traits questionnaire (Mc-Crae & Costa, 2004) were applied to collect data. Results: Results indicated that core self-evaluation partially mediated the relationship between conscientiousness (p<0/001) and extraversion (p<0/001) with career adaptability. On the other hand, the relationship between career adaptability with openness to experience (p<0/05) and neuroticism (p<0/001) was indirect, and a direct relationship was noticed between career adaptability and agreeableness (p<0/02). Conclusion: Results of the current study confirm the importance of conscientiousness, extraversion, and core self-evaluations’ roles on increasing career adaptability of the students who will graduate in the upcoming years. Furthermore, it seems that it is necessary to plan for the programs which enhance students’ core self-evaluation that increases their career adaptability. Also, in planning these programs, individual's big five personality traits should be considered.