The Influence of Personality and Employability Factor on Adaptive Performance among University Students

Abstract

Adaptive performance is defined as the ability of an individual to adapt to a constantly changing environment. As a result of the rapid changes, the current organisations prioritise graduates who have adapted their performance to work. Previous research has shown that factors and personality traits in graduates can influence their adaptive performance. Therefore, this study gives importance to determine the impact of employability and personality factors on adaptive performance. A cross-sectional study was carried out via online questionnaires involving 278 Year 3 students from two public universities. The instruments used included CareerEDGE, five-factor personality, and adaptive work performance and data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22.0. Results revealed that adaptive performance had a significant influence on employability with the dimensions of emotional intelligence and generic skills were found to portray the most significant employability factors that influenced adaptive performance. Particpants from UKM showed emotional intelligence and career development learning factors influenced adaptive performance as compared to participants from UiTM which revealed emotional intelligence as well as generic skills that contributed to adaptive performance. Almost all personality factors but conscientiousness influenced UiTM's adaptive performance. Meanwhile for UKM students, only emotional stability and openness factors were found to significantly influence adaptive performance. The impact of this study verified the vitality of intervention in personality development and employability, particularly dimensions of emotional intelligence, generic skills, and career development learning, in empowering graduates as early preparation for future career.