Examining the impact of emotional intelligence on career adaptability: A two-wave cross-lagged study

Developing career meta-competencies has become crucial to cope with the unpredictability of today's global work context, both at the emotional and cognitive levels. It is often argued that individuals rely on both emotional intelligence (Di Fabio & Kenny, 2014) and career adapt-abilities (Savickas, 2005) to respond to career changes. Though the link between emotional intelligence and career adaptability has been previously demonstrated, no longitudinal evidence has been provided yet. The present study investigates the impact of emotional intelligence on career adaptability in a two-wave longitudinal study among a sample of adult learners (N = 282 for Time 1; N = 208 for Time 2). Using cross-lagged panel analysis, our results supported the causal relationship from emotional intelligence to career adaptability. Emotional intelligence at Time 1 predicted career adaptability at Time 2 while controlling for prior levels of career adaptability and socio-demographic variables. Neither a reversed causality model nor a reciprocal causality model provided a better fit to the data. While this study brings additional evidence for the career construction model and emphasizes the role of two career metacompetencies in crafting sustainable careers, it also raises the importance to consider career development in the context of adult learning.