Investigating the link between trait emotional intelligence, career indecision, and self-perceived employability: The role of career adaptability

Abstract Trait emotional intelligence (TEI) is emerging as a useful and promising individual difference in predicting vocational behavior (e.g., Di Fabio & Saklofske, 2014). Little is yet known about the underlying processes that may lead TEI to associate with career related outcomes. This study investigates the role of career adaptability in mediating the association between TEI and career decision-making difficulties and self-perceived employability, in a sample of Swiss university students ( N  = 400). The results of a series of path analysis in which we controlled for intelligence, sex and personality showed that career adaptability fully mediated the effect of TEI on self-perceived employability and career decision-making difficulties, in particular the subscales of lack of information and inconsistent information. Our findings shed light on the role of regulatory processes in shaping the effects of TEI on career-related outcomes.