A New Model in Designing the Professional Competence System of the Petrochemical Industry with a Sustainable Development Approach

•Lower levels are psychological abilities and professional public performance.•The least important dimensions are competence and compatibility.•Job information, job development desire and managerial skills are active ones. The purpose of this study is to identify and prioritize professional competency indicators and strategies to improve it in the petrochemical industry. This research is a combination because it uses qualitative and quantitative methods in order to collect and analyze data. To identify indices and indigenous components of professional competence, a qualitative and meta-analysis approach and in a quantitative approach, the fuzzy structural equation modeling method has been used in the petrochemical industry. Based on data, a new model with a sustainable development approach has been reached. Which includes the following components: Creativity and Innovation, General Professional Performance, Analytical Skills, Specific Professional Skills, General Professional Skills, Management Skills, Job Information and Awareness, Psychological Competencies, Perceived Self-Efficacy, Adaptability, Basic Expertise, Job Commitment, Professional attitude, tendency to career development, Intrinsic individual characteristics, Increasing factors, Intrinsic individual characteristics, Responsibility, Professional motivations. The results showed that the dimensions of psychological capabilities and general professional performance were located at the basic and lower levels and were identified as the main and most effective dimensions in the development of the most professional competence of the petrochemical industry. And the two elements of increasing competence and adaptability are the least important among the studied dimensions. The components of job information and awareness, career development desire, and managerial skills were identified as the most active components because these components have the highest interactions with other components.