Personality and Career Mobility: A Mixed‐Methods Analysis of Job Hopping Through the HEXACO Model

Abstract

This study investigates the phenomenon of job hopping among Indian employees through the lens of the HEXACO (honesty, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience) personality model. Job hopping, characterized by frequent changes in employment, has become increasingly prevalent in the Indian workforce, posing challenges for employers, employment counselors, and employees. To comprehensively understand the underlying factors driving job hopping behavior, this research adopts a mixed methods approach combining qualitative survey analysis with a partial least squares–artificial neural network (PLS–ANN) hybrid analysis. Employees’ experiences, motivations, and attitudes towards job hopping were obtained through open‐ended surveys, and finally HEXACO model reflected their personality traits. Responses from 187 employees across diverse sectors such as marketing, finance, human resources, operations, and information technology helped in extracting perspectives on workplace dynamics and job hopping. The PLS–ANN hybrid approach enabled the identification of key predictors and their nonlinear relationships with job‐hopping behavior, enhancing the predictive accuracy and robustness of the model. The PLS results revealed that all six HEXACO personality traits significantly and negatively influence job hopping intention (JHI), with conscientiousness, openness to experience, and agreeableness showing high effect sizes. The ANN analysis confirmed these findings, highlighting honesty as the most influential predictor of JHI, followed closely by openness to experience. Integration of qualitative and quantitative methods offers a comprehensive understanding of job‐hopping behavior among Indian employees. The findings contribute to theoretical and practical insights for managers, employers, and employment counselors.