TITLE:
Exploring Industry 4.0 Competencies in Career Guidance: Development and Preliminary Evaluation of the Careers 4.0 Skill Assessment Tool
AUTHORS:
Fotini Vlachaki, Maria Tountopoulou
KEYWORDS:
Industry 4.0, Careers 4.0, Skill Assessment, Psychometric Validation, RIASEC Model, Vocational Education, Soft Skills
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.7,
July
17,
2026
ABSTRACT: The structural changes associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) have increased the need for vocational education and training (VET) approaches that support the development and recognition of transversal and future-oriented competencies. The present study describes the development and preliminary psychometric evaluation of the Careers 4.0 Skill Assessment Tool, an ICT-based self-report instrument designed to assess 18 competencies related to employability, adaptability, and career development within contemporary labor market conditions. The study also explores a conceptual connection between these competencies, Holland’s RIASEC model, and selected ESCO classifications in order to support more competency-oriented career guidance approaches. The instrument underwent a back-translation and cultural adaptation process into four European languages and was administered to a cross-national convenience sample of 303 young participants from five European countries. Exploratory construct evaluation was conducted using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation. The retained items demonstrated factor loadings ranging from 0.42 to 0.74, while Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from 0.69 to 0.85 across the competency scales. Additional analyses indicated differences in competency scores across gender and country groups. Overall, the findings provide preliminary support for the internal consistency and exploratory construct structure of the instrument and suggest that the Careers 4.0 Skill Assessment Tool may offer a useful resource for career guidance and VET contexts within rapidly changing labor market environments.