Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Applied Research in Business, Management and Economics
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Relationship Between Perceived Employability and Employability Skills and Attributes among Business Graduates
Wise Mainga, Marlo Murphy-Braynen, Marcia Seymour Miles, Daniel Thompson, Bernadette Robins
ABSTRACT:
Research has identified the importance of perceived employability in enhancing new graduates’ jobs search and in finding initial employment. Students with high perceived employability are likely to have high self-confidence and perseverance in job search, and that may lead to early initial employment post-graduation. Perceived employability affects how new graduating students approach competitive and congested labour markets, and is seen as one of the most important predictors of a new graduate getting and retaining a job. However, very few studies have examined the relationship between perceived employability and disaggregated employability skills and attributes. This study examines the above relationship, arguing that not all employability skills and attributes have an equal impact on perceived employability. Using factor analysis and linear regression, our study identifies a specific group of employability factors that are seen to have a significant effect on Perceived employability. These are: graduating students’ multidisciplinary decision-making skills, self-efficacy, perseverance & proactivity, enhancing female students’ confidence in job search, and on universities widening their application of integrative pedagogies in their degree programs. For universities that have adopted graduate employability as one of their missions, they are encouraged to foster the development of identified factors that influence perceived employability of graduating business students.
keywords: : Perceived employability, multi-disciplinary decision-making skills, self-efficacy, perseverance & proactivity, integrative pedagogies