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Defining perceived employability: a psychological approach

Dorien Vanhercke (Research Group for Work, Organizational, and Personnel Psychology, Department of Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium)
Nele De Cuyper (Research Group for Work, Organizational, and Personnel Psychology, Department of Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium)
Ellen Peeters (Research Group for Work, Organizational, and Personnel Psychology, Department of Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium)
Hans De Witte (Research Group Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium and Vanderbijlpark Campus, North-West University, South Africa)

Personnel Review

ISSN: 0048-3486

Article publication date: 27 May 2014

9896

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to define employability within the psychological literature with a focus upon perceived employability.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve the aim, the paper defines five objectives as follows. First, the paper discusses how employability is interpreted in the psychological literature. Second, the paper defines perceived employability within this literature. Third, the paper goes one step further by comparing the perceived employability approach to other approaches in the psychological field, namely, approaches based on competences and dispositions. The paper concludes with an integration of the three approaches into a process model to demonstrate their interrelationships, which the authors see as the fourth objective. With approach, the paper refers to a specific view on employability, including both definitions and measures, which share significant common ground. Finally, the paper highlights some implications.

Findings

The paper concludes that each approach comes with specific advantages and disadvantages. Researchers and practitioners should use an approach according to the general research question one aims to address.

Originality value

The authors believe to contribute to the employability literature in the following ways. First, the paper raises awareness that not all psychological notions of employability are equal, though they are often treated as such in the literature. Second, the paper highlights how perceived employability is tied to competences and dispositions. That is, though all notions are clearly different, they are also related.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The contribution by Nele De Cuyper and Ellen Peeters was supported by a grant from Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO), G.0987.12, and by a grant from the KU Leuven, OT/11/010.

Citation

Vanhercke, D., De Cuyper, N., Peeters, E. and De Witte, H. (2014), "Defining perceived employability: a psychological approach", Personnel Review, Vol. 43 No. 4, pp. 592-605. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-07-2012-0110

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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