Competency Transfer or Competency Transformation? Reconceptualising Military-to-civilian Reintegration Through the Dynamic Competency Transformation Framework

Military-to-civilian career transition has traditionally been viewed as the transfer of military-acquired competencies into civilian employment. Yet veterans with comparable knowledge, skills and expertise often experience markedly different career outcomes, suggesting that successful reintegration depends on more than the transfer of existing competencies. As individuals move between fundamentally different institutional contexts, competencies must be continually reinterpreted, adapted and reconfigured to create organisational value. Although prior research has advanced understanding of employability, identity reconstruction and transferable skills, it provides limited explanation of the developmental process through which competencies evolve throughout military-to-civilian career transition, particularly within the Indian and broader South Asian context. To address this gap, the study develops the Dynamic Competency Transformation framework through a sequential theory-building design integrating a structured literature review, a two-round Delphi study, Total Interpretive Structural Modelling and MICMAC analysis. The findings reveal a four-level competency architecture in which Mission-to-mastery Drive provides the developmental foundation, adaptive and interpersonal competencies enable organisational integration and strategic competencies emerge progressively. By shifting the focus from which competencies are transferable to how competencies are transformed across institutional contexts, the study extends Human Capital Theory, Career Transition Theory and Dynamic Capability Theory while offering a process-based explanation of veteran reintegration.