Abstract
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is fundamentally transforming the nature of work, which creates an urgent need in the field of career psychology for individuals to identify essential career competencies for navigating the rapidly evolving work landscape. This study aimed to develop and validate an empirically grounded framework of essential career competencies for effective career management among South Africa’s 4IR workforce.
There is limited empirical research on the specific career competencies required for success, particularly in the context of an emerging economy such as South Africa. While existing 4IR literature emphasises technological disruption, the career psychology field lacks empirically validated frameworks that integrate established career theories with contemporary workforce demands. Furthermore, the prevailing assumptions about technology dominance remain largely untested in diverse organisational and cultural settings. This gap creates challenges for career psychologists, human resource management professionals, educators, and policymakers, who require evidence-based guidance for developing a 4IR-ready workforce.
The research employed a sequential exploratory mixed methods design, combining qualitative expert interviews with a modified Delphi consensus-building process to identify career competencies essential for the 4IR in South Africa. A non-probability purposive sampling design was employed to identify and select participants based on their specialised knowledge and direct professional engagement with 4IR career competencies. Phase 1 involved semi-structured interviews with 14 experts whose insights were used to identify an initial list of 38 career competencies through thematic analysis. Phase 2 employed a modified Delphi technique over two validation rounds. Round 1 (n = 17; 57% response rate) evaluated competency clarity using 5-point Likert scales. Round 2 (n = 13; 76.5% response rate) consisted of a detailed three-part assessment: (a) validation of refined competency clarity, (b) ambiguity evaluation, and (c) importance ranking on a 7-point Likert scale. Dual threshold consensus criteria required mean ratings of 4.0 or above for clarity of the construct and 5.5 or above for importance, with strict thresholds for the coefficient of variation and interquartile range...