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1 – 10 of 564This study aims to explore the relationships between career competencies and job search self-efficacy via the serial multiple mediation effect of career adaptability and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the relationships between career competencies and job search self-efficacy via the serial multiple mediation effect of career adaptability and self-perceived employability within multiple theoretical frameworks.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a cross-sectional design to collect data at a specific point in time and employs self-report questionnaires to collect data from participants. In total, 302 students from the “management and organization department” in a vocational school of a public university completed the survey forms. To test the hypothesized model, a serial multiple mediation analysis was performed using structural equation modeling (SEM) via SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures).
Findings
The results indicated that career competencies, career adaptability, job search self-efficacy and self-perceived employability all had significant and positive relationships. Additionally, the relationship between career competencies and job search self-efficacy was serially mediated by career adaptability and self-perceived employability as anticipated.
Practical implications
Considering the growing importance of the subject of how universities might better prepare their graduates for the job market, the study's findings have important policy implications. University students should also be provided with career management resources, specifically adaptation resources, to help them navigate their individual characteristics and transfer more successfully into the existing job market. This is the cause of the need for constant planning, adaptation, assessment and evaluation of career competencies in current labor markets.
Originality/value
The study contributes to international career development and vocational education research by filling a gap in the literature by demonstrating that job search self-efficacy, which is a predictor of job search behavior, can be promoted by career competencies, career adaptability and self-perceived employability. These findings are particularly significant because they highlight the importance of career-related knowledge, skills and abilities in engaging university students seeking employment in a developing country with a highly competitive labor market.
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Aizhan Shomotova and Ali Ibrahim
The purpose of this study is to validate the psychometric properties of the Self-Perceived Employability Scale in the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE-SPE) and to verify…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to validate the psychometric properties of the Self-Perceived Employability Scale in the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE-SPE) and to verify the model fit of the UAE-SPE and University Commitment Scale (UC) (Rothwell et al., 2008) for undergraduate students.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey study was carried out to collect the data using a web-based survey tool (Qualtrics) at a public university in the UAE. The sample was 646 undergraduate students.
Findings
As a result of the factor analysis, the study validated three factors of SPE for undergraduate students in the UAE that explain their perceptions of their university reputation, their field of study, the state of the UAE labour market and confidence in their skills. Confirmatory factor analysis verified good model fit indices of UAE-SPE and the UC scale. In addition, the study found a statistically significant positive relationship between the UC scale and the three factors of UAE-SPE.
Originality/value
Currently, there is a scarcity of published research on self-perceived employability amongst undergraduate students in higher education institutions in the UAE and the Arab region. This article not only contributes to research on this topic but also validates two scales, allowing cross-cultural comparisons of SPE and UC of undergraduate students in the Arab region and worldwide.
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Sanjeet Kumar Sameer and Pushpendra Priyadarshi
This paper examines the relationships between regulatory-focused job crafting, i.e. promotion- and prevention-focused job crafting, person-job fit and internal employability and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the relationships between regulatory-focused job crafting, i.e. promotion- and prevention-focused job crafting, person-job fit and internal employability and explores the direct and underlying mediation process using conservation of resources and job demands-resources theories.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data collected from 425 executives of India based public sector enterprises were used to test hypotheses.
Findings
Promotion- and prevention-focused job crafting respectively had a contrasting relationship with needs-supplies fit. The relationship with demands-abilities fit was statistically significant only in the case of prevention-focused job crafting. These two job crafting forms respectively had a positive and a negative effect on internal employability, both directly as well as indirectly through person-job fit.
Practical implications
Employees can pursue promotion-focused job crafting and avoid prevention-focused job crafting to improve their person-job fit as well as internal employability which subsequently may have multiple favourable outcomes at an organizational and individual level.
Originality/value
The study, for the first time, empirically investigates the differential role of individuals' efforts in the form of promotion- and prevention-focused job crafting, in influencing internal employability and explains its underlying mechanism through person-job fit. These interrelationships may have important implications for employees' job demand management process and job choices.
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Although commitment and employability are legitimized in the current world of work, they also have a dark side that has been ignored in the extant literature. To tackle this gap…
Abstract
Purpose
Although commitment and employability are legitimized in the current world of work, they also have a dark side that has been ignored in the extant literature. To tackle this gap, the study developed and examined a comprehensive theoretical framework including learning, motivation, commitment, employability and self-exploitation. Limited research exists that explicitly examines this relationship or explores its potential implications. The author theorizes employability as a cultural fantasy that ends up in self-exploitation.
Design/methodology/approach
The study concretizes Lacan's (1977; 1981 and 1988) psychoanalysis, utilizing a sample of 658 subjects from eight industries. The hypothesized relationships were examined using structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS.
Findings
The findings provided support for the hypothesized relationships. Employability escorts to self-exploitation. Those employees who try to remain relevant to their firms continue to engage in employability activities end up being exploited in this process.
Research limitations/implications
The study provides a new roadmap to scholars of employability who wish to explore the domain further.
Practical implications
The theoretical knowledge from this research will inform practice. It will influence managers and policymakers in the organization as well as politicians. Although the macroaspects of the organizational environment are beyond the control of an organization, the development efforts of the organization should be real and should not estrange individuals from their true nature. The real intent should be to unite the individual with its true nature. This way, it will be real development and will empower individuals rather than exploitation.
Social implications
The finding that commitment is linked to self-exploitation via employability has implications for managers and policymakers. To avoid estrangement and exploitation, the organization should focus on employee real development. To have an ideal workplace, where employees unite with their nature, the organization should invest in employees, focus on their real needs, emphasize their career prospects and constantly provide them with learning and growth opportunities. In addition to material compensation, the organization should connect people with their true spirit. An organization that is concerned with people's real needs and real development will have a pool of human capital that will create real value for the organization and society as well.
Originality/value
The dark side of employability has been ignored in the extant literature. Limited research exists that explicitly examines this relationship or explores its potential implications. This study is an initiative for such debate.
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Mattia Martini, Egidio Riva and Elisabetta Marafioti
The present study connects the literature on sustainable HRM with that on employability to investigate the relationship between sustainability-oriented human resource actions and…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study connects the literature on sustainable HRM with that on employability to investigate the relationship between sustainability-oriented human resource actions and organizational outcomes. More specifically, this study explores how training for employability affects the employer–employee relationship and employee retention. Furthermore, this study considers competitive intensity as a potential moderator in these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
The analyses draw on the fourth European Company Survey (ECS 2019) with a sample of 21?869 firms with more than ten employees. Two separate logistic regression models were used to test the hypothesis.
Findings
The results show that training for employability contributes to improving the employer–employee relationship and that competitive intensity positively shapes this relationship. Contextually, training for employability reduces the overall employee retention of the firm.
Originality/value
Although this study supports the potential win–win nature of employability support, especially for companies that operate in competitive markets and an uncertain environment, it also highlights the existence of paradoxical sustainability tensions that should be managed by employers.
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Ana Maria Silva, Jorge F.S. Gomes and Sílvia Monteiro
This study aims to analyse how people's perceived employability was affected during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study explores individuals' perceived…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse how people's perceived employability was affected during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study explores individuals' perceived financial threat, age and work situation as factors that shape perceived employability.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected via a survey at three different times between October 2020 and May 2021, which were chosen to reflect the evolution of the pandemic. The participants (n = 124) reported participants' perceived employability and financial threat during the pandemic in Portugal. Perceived employability is a multidimensional concept, as this includes the following scales: employment protective behaviour, employment risk, job-seeking behaviour, self-control and self-learning.
Findings
Participants' overall perceived employability failed to record significant variance over the period under analysis. Nevertheless, perceived employment protective behaviour decreased the most, especially in the case of young adults (aged 18 to 24). Individuals' perceived financial threat varied according to the external context, being lower during the last moment of data collection, which corresponded to the less-socially and economically restrictive period. Employees with the most stable work condition, i.e. with a permanent employment contract, were those who felt less financially threatened when compared to other respondents. A negative relationship between perceived employability and perceived financial threat was identified during the third moment of data collection.
Originality/value
The research informs about how individuals perceive themselves in a highly unpredictable and unstable context. The longitudinal approach shows how the external context affected people's perceived employability and financial threat throughout the pandemic.
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María Inmaculada Sánchez-Queija, Laura Sánchez-García, Andrew T. Rothwell and Águeda Parra
The present study analyzes differences in self-perceived employability (SPE) among Spanish university and vocational education and training (VET) students. It also aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study analyzes differences in self-perceived employability (SPE) among Spanish university and vocational education and training (VET) students. It also aims to determine whether factors such as gender, work experience and perceptions of the precariousness of the job market have a differential effect on SPE in accordance with the training pathway chosen by emerging adults.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 1,715 university students (64.7% women) and 488 VET students (37.1% women) aged between 18 and 29 years completed a self-administered questionnaire that included measures of perceived employability and precarious employment.
Findings
The results indicate higher SPE among VET students than among their university counterparts. Female university students scored lower also than their male colleagues, an effect that was not observed among VET students. Prior work experience improved internal SPE among students on both training pathways. However, among university students, work experience and precarious employment reduced external SPE, an affect that was not observed among VET students.
Practical implications
The analysis of differences in SPE between university and VET students highlights the importance of an educational curriculum that includes practical competences for enhancing employability. The results also reflect the negative consequences of precarious employment on feelings of employability during this life stage, particularly among those studying at university.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to analyze the perceived employability of emerging adults on two different training pathways in Spain.
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Danielle LaGree, Katie Olsen, Alec Tefertiller and Rosalynn Vasquez
Motivated by the organizational challenge coined the great discontent, employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, see minimal opportunities for growth and are actively searching…
Abstract
Purpose
Motivated by the organizational challenge coined the great discontent, employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, see minimal opportunities for growth and are actively searching for new roles. This research aims to take a novel approach to internal communication strategy by introducing employability culture and leadership empowerment as mechanisms for supporting employees' career growth and additional positive workplace outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was designed and administered in the United States. The final sample size includes 425 full-time employees working in a variety of roles, industries and work arrangements.
Findings
Findings point to the inherent need for revised internal communication strategy that goes beyond managing and disseminating information. Organizations must develop cultures and their leaders in ways that empower employees and help them understand the meaning of their work. Employability culture, or an organization's support for developing employees' adaptive skills as work roles change, positively predicted employees' perceptions of their career growth opportunities at their current place of employment, employee loyalty and engagement, and job satisfaction. Leadership empowerment behaviors also positively predicted all previously listed workplace variables. These perceptions as influenced by work arrangement (onsite, hybrid, fully remote) and younger versus older generations were also analyzed.
Originality/value
Research findings offer new strategies for internal communications. Internal communication teams can partner alongside executive leadership to develop a culture that helps employees envision how their skills and expertise translates to different areas of the organization, empowering them to find meaning in their work, and be driven to support organizational growth.
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Riccardo Sartori, Francesco Tommasi, Andrea Ceschi, Stefano Noventa and Mattia Zene
Given the instability and volatility of the labour market and the global talent scarcity, placing more attention on job employability is fundamental. In this context, the…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the instability and volatility of the labour market and the global talent scarcity, placing more attention on job employability is fundamental. In this context, the literature has already extensively examined employability as a crucial individual aspect, identifying some significant antecedents, including the applicability of training on the job. The present study aims to examine the impact that teaching employees to craft their job may have on the levels of applicability of training and if, in turn, this improves self-perceived employability.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors involved three private organizations that followed three workshops on job crafting behaviour. To empirically assess the intervention, the authors asked participants of the workshop to complete four quantitative diaries on a weekly basis, i.e. one per week, one before the intervention and three after the intervention. The diaries comprised measures of job crafting behaviours, applicability of training and self-perceived employability.
Findings
Multi-level analysis of data collected provided support to the positive associations between job crafting behaviour and self-perceived employability with the mediating effect of applicability of training. Notably, the applicability of training improves when individuals search for challenges, which indirectly affects perceived employability in terms of organizational sense.
Research limitations/implications
In the present study, no control group was used with which the results of our intervention could be compared. However, this does not affect the overall results, given the amount of intraindividual variability.
Originality/value
The paper proposes initial avenues for promoting employability at work via the use of behavioural job crafting intervention.
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In the current labour context, employability is an important tool for recently graduated who are entering the labour market and must face major challenges that include a decrease…
Abstract
Purpose
In the current labour context, employability is an important tool for recently graduated who are entering the labour market and must face major challenges that include a decrease in job opportunities, the rapid evolution of technology, and the need for lifelong learning.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyses the impact of the socio-emotional competencies of 470 senior students and graduates of five engineering majors at a higher education institution in Medellín, Colombia. In the sample examined, the data were analysed using inferential statistics and structural equation modelling (SEM).
Findings
Emotional intelligence (EI) was proven to be a predictor of engineers' employability, which, in turn, depends on three factors: personal strengths that increase employment potential, self-perceived employment opportunities, and career development as a realization of employment potential.
Originality/value
These results show that the higher education system should implement activities to develop students' EI competencies, thus providing them with powerful tools to deal with different situations in the labour market.
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