Understanding Career Adaptability Through Personality Traits and Transformational Leadership

This study examines personality traits, transformational leadership, and job engagement as determinants of career adaptability among professionals in their early and mid-career stages in Bangkok, Thailand. 350 participants from various industries filled out verified questionnaires evaluating transformational leadership, work engagement, career adaptability, and the Big Five personality traits. On all scales, descriptive studies verified strong internal dependability and normal distributions. Conscientiousness, openness to new experiences, and extraversion were found to be significant positive predictors of career adaptability, but neuroticism was found to be a negative predictor, according to correlation and hierarchical regression analyses. The element of agreeableness did not show up as significant. Transformational leadership and work engagement also significantly contributed to the prediction of career adaptability, with work engagement demonstrating the strongest influence. The prediction of career adaptability was also highly influenced by transformational leadership and work engagement, with work engagement showing the largest influence. 49% of the variation in career adaptability was explained by the final regression model. These results lend credence to an integrated paradigm in which adaptive professional behaviours are shaped by both contextual and dispositional influences. The findings, which highlight the importance of leadership and motivational resources, are consistent with the Career Construction Theory and the Job Demands–Resources model. In terms of application, the study emphasises the importance of developing transformational leadership and employee engagement as well as integrating personality testing into career development programs. There is discussion of the implications for theory, practice, and future research approaches, especially in the setting of Southeast Asian professional environments.