544875

research-article2014

ALH0010.1177/1469787414544875Active Learning in Higher EducationQenani et al.

Article

An empirical study of selfperceived employability:

Improving the prospects for
student employment success
in an uncertain environment

Active Learning in Higher Education

2014, Vol. 15(3) 199213
The Author(s) 2014
Reprints and permissions:
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DOI: 10.1177/1469787414544875
alh.sagepub.com

Eivis Qenani

California Polytechnic State University, USA

Neal MacDougall

California Polytechnic State University, USA

Carol Sexton

California Polytechnic State University, USA

Abstract
Employability of graduates has taken more prominence in recent years due to the bleak economic
situation, the impact of student debt, and an increasingly competitive global labor market. Given the
substantial individual and public investment made in higher education, it is particularly important that
graduates are employable upon graduation. The focus of this study is students self-awareness through a
measure of their expectations of gaining employment. Through the use of regression analysis, we examine
the relationship between students expectations of finding employment upon graduation and a series
of related variables and identify those factors that serve as boosters to self-perceived employability.
Findings point out to the increasingly important role university can play in developing and enhancing
graduates employability.

Keywords
employment prospects, personal capital variables, self-confidence, self-managing behavior, self-perceived
employability

Corresponding author:
Eivis Qenani, Department of Agribusiness, California Polytechnic State University, 1 Grand Avenue, San Luis Obispo,
CA, 93407, USA.
Email: eqenanip@calpoly.edu

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Active Learning in Higher Education 15(3)

Employability and understanding of the concept of graduate

employability
Historically, universities have conceived themselves to be repositories of culture and creativity and
as cultivators of knowledge, traits, and skills that students need for personal success. Universities
have also seen their role as promoters of the values, ideals, and civic virtues that contribute to the
progress of the society (Condliffe Lagemann and Lewis, 2012). Underlying much of the modern
history of higher education, though, is the implicit idea that universities also engender economic
growth through the knowledge, skills, and understanding that students develop at university as well
as through the direct contributions by the university. More recently, factors such as the rapid rise of
information technologies, globalization, demographics, calls for direct economic outcomes,
increased cost of education, and decreases in government funding have come to further influence
the behavior and strategies of universities (Samarasekera, 2012). This has resulted in universities
making more explicit the economic purpose and scope of higher education.
Given this shifting landscape in which more students are being educated and the knowledge
economy demands more from all levels of the workforce, concern about getting a job has heightened the employability element of a university education. Universities are becoming increasingly
aware of the need of placing greater emphasis on the employability of their graduates (Lees, 2002)
and are responding by embedding employability into the curriculum and providing effective student support for career development and employability (QAA, 2009). Some of the literature
(Knight and Yorke, 2003; Yorke and Knight 2006; QAA, 2009) suggest that a strategic implementation of employability in higher education requires that it becomes a prominent, organic part of the
academic curriculum concurrently with appropriate and effective assessment. An employabilityoriented curriculum can be developed by embedding employability throughout the whole curriculum, in the core courses, or by using employability-related modules. The curriculum should help
students build not only an understanding of the subject matter and develop various skills but also
help them with personal aspects of development, such as self-efficacy and metacognition. Strategies
that develop these metacognitive achievements and guide students in learning how to learn
become particularly important in enhancing graduate employability (Knight and Yorke, 2003;
Moon, 2004). However, developing employability skills is not enough. Students should be able to
articulate their employability skills gained through courses and extracurricular activities to prospective employers (Knight and Yorke, 2003). Whether for the workplace or for anywhere else,
people who possess skills, knowledge, and attitudes that they can apply in a variety of situations
and who have the ability and willingness to continually adapt in a changing environment are
needed (QAA, 2009: 8). Preparing graduates with the necessary set of skills and attributes that can
contribute successfully is a particularly high priority for public higher education which depends to
a large part on taxpayer contributions.
As a direct result of the recent downturn in the economy the world over, it is perhaps not surprising that there is currently interest in exploring employability and its associated factors given that,
with fewer jobs and more graduates applying for them, we in higher education have been asked by
various stakeholders to take a closer look at employability, hence the recent proliferation of
research into our understanding of the concept of graduate employability (De Vos etal., 2011; De
Vos and Soens, 2008; Fugate etal., 2004; Fugate and Kinicki, 2008; Hinchliffe and Jolly, 2011;
Holmes, 2001; Knight and Yorke, 2002, 2003; McQuaid and Lindsay, 2005; Pool and Sewell,
2007; Rothwell etal., 2008, 2009) and the strategies that can be used by the institutions of higher
education to enhance it (Knight, 2006; Knight and Yorke, 2002, 2003).
A widely accepted definition by Hillage and Pollard (1998) defines employability as the ability
of the individual to gain initial employment, maintain employment, move between roles within the

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same organization, obtain new employment if required, and, ideally, obtain suitable and fulfilling
jobs (p. 2). They maintain that individual employability is a combination of four fundamental elements: assets (knowledge, skills, and attitudes), deployment (abilities such as career management
skills, job search skills, and adaptability), presentation (the ability to present to the market employability assets in an accessible way), and finally, personal circumstances and external labor market.
According to the current benchmark for understanding the concept of employability (Knight and
Yorke, 2002), employability is influenced by four broad and interrelated components: namely,
understanding, skills, efficacy beliefs (students self-theories and personal qualities), and metacognition (self-awareness regarding students learning, and the capacity to reflect on, in, and for
action). However, Yorke (2006) and Knight (2006) caution that todays graduates need not only to
have a wide range of achievements, attitudes, and dispositions such as imagination, creativity,
adaptability, self-management, and willingness to learn but also that graduates should be prepared
to meet these expectations (Knight, 2006). Graduates need all these skills and abilities and selfconfidence, self-awareness, motivation, and emotional intelligence not just for the workplace but
also for life. What graduates do, whether in the workplace or anywhere else, how successful they
are is also influenced by additional factors, such as ethnicity, socio-economic background, the
reputation of the institution attended, and the subject studied. De Vos and Soens (2008) suggest that
individuals who reflect more actively about their goals and develop stronger insights in what they
want to attain report a higher level of career success. Building upon these ideas of developing selfefficacy, self-confidence, and self-esteem is the notion of graduate identity (Holmes, 2001). Rather
than looking at employability per se, Holmes suggests that
the concept of graduate employability should be understood as the extent to which an individual who has
graduated is successful in gaining affirmation of their identity as a graduate in relation to the social settings
for which this is deemed relevant. (p. 115)

Graduate identity is, thus, about the development of an individual rather the job the individual gets.
Hinchliffe and Jolly (2011) develop further the concept of graduate identity by defining it based
on four elements: value, intellect, social engagement, and performance. For them, graduate identity
can be seen as the social capital acquired over time, with skills and knowledge as part of this identity that serves them in the long run.
As a multidimensional psycho-social construct with subjective and objective elements, employability has been studied from an individual perspective with focus on individual dispositions, attitudes, and behaviors (Fugate, Kinicki and Ashforth, 2004: Fugate and Kinicki 2008; Rothwell
etal., 2008; Van der Heijden etal., 2009), as well as an organizational perspective (De Vos etal.,
2011; Nauta etal., 2009) by combining individual attitudes, attributes, and personal circumstances,
with external circumstances (McQuaid and Lindsay, 2005). The common thread among employability discussed above is that if students become more self-aware, more informed, and motivated,
they will make better decisions after they graduate, whether those are decisions about their career
or decisions about anything else which they will face in life. Focusing on self-efficacy, raising
student self-awareness, and strengthening self-confidence are, therefore, more important than individual skills and competences (Lees, 2002).

Importance of self-perceived employability and its determinants

The extent to which students believe that they can make a difference is of critical importance.
Self-efficacy and self-perception impact employability both directly and indirectly through skills,
understanding, and metacognition. So, if we are to better understand employability, then a better

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understanding of these self-concepts is needed. Self-efficacy and self-perception are two closely
related concepts (Bandura, 1994) and have been treated either as interchangeable constructs
(Daniels etal., 1998; Washington, 1999) or as significant predictors of each other (Berntson etal.,
2008; Knight and Yorke, 2002). Perceived self-efficacy is concerned with peoples beliefs in their
capabilities to exercise control over their own functioning and over events that affect their lives
(Bandura, 1994). Self-perception of employability refers to students perceptions and beliefs about
their possibilities to succeed in obtaining full-time employment upon graduation (Berntson etal.,
2006; Rothwell and Arnold, 2007). Self-perception of employability precedes self-efficacy, and a
strengthening of individual perceptions of employability has beneficial effects on efficacy beliefs
(Berntson etal., 2008). There is a crucial role played by the human desire to develop and maintain
favorable views of the self in social interactions (Crosnoe etal., 2007). Individuals process and
make decisions closely based on their level of self-perception as opposed to what is objectively
true of their actual abilities (Bandura, 1997; Pool and Qualter, 2013). For this reason, how individuals feel and behave can often be better predicted by the beliefs they hold about their capabilities than by what they are actually capable of accomplishing.
These self-perceptions help determine what individuals do with the knowledge and skills they
have, though they cannot be a substitute for necessary skills and knowledge (Pajares, 2002). Selfperception is a very valuable attribute that confers a consumption value, a signaling value, and a
motivation value to the individual throughout their life experiences (Benabou and Tirole, 2002).
The consumption value is created based on the fact that thinking of oneself favorably makes a
person happier and self-image becomes a variable in the utility function. By believing oneself to
be of high ability, it makes it easier to convince others (even if inaccurately) that one does have
such qualities (the signaling value). Most importantly though, self-confidence in ones abilities
improves an individuals long run motivation to undertake projects, to adjust, and persevere in the
pursuit of ones goals in spite of various setbacks (Benabou and Tirole, 2002). Self-perceptions, in
general, impact not only individual behavior but also individuals feelings, health, emotions, and
happiness throughout life (Berntson etal., 2006;). Although being employable is important for
everyone, self-perceptions of employability become particularly important for new graduates
entering the fast changing labor market (Berntson etal., 2006). Feeling employable hypothetically
provides the individual with feelings of security and independence, motivations, and behaviors that
can lead to effective negotiations, better job performance, resilience to adversity, more successful
careers, and better health and life satisfaction (Berntson etal., 2006; De Vos and Soens, 2008; Pool
and Qualter, 2013).
To enhance the understanding of employability from an individual perspective, a better understanding of its determinants is needed. Research (Berntson etal., 2006; Rothwell, Herbert and
Rothwell, 2008) has suggested that a variety of individual and external factors may play an important role by shaping individual perceptions of various situations. Individual factors that impact
employability self-perceptions include individual knowledge and skills gained through formal education or through work experience (Knight and Yorke, 2002, 2006; Rothwell and Arnold, 2007;
Rothwell, Herbert and Rothwell, 2008). In addition, social capital by increasing knowledge and
awareness of the labor market has been recognized as a contributor (Fugate etal., 2004).
Furthermore, individual attitudes, dispositions, and personality traits play an essential role. Lees
(2002) notes that the inclusion of personal qualities is of particular importance given the considerable bearing they have on an individuals success. There is general consensus that non-cognitive
skills, that is, personality traits, might be as important as cognitive skills for individual development, employment opportunities, future earnings, and labor market success (Semeijn etal., 2005).
Other individual factors of considerable influence include demographics such as race, age, and
gender. Self-management skills (De Vos etal., 2011; Hillage and Pollard, 1998; Lees, 2002) and

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proactive behavior (McQuaid and Lindsay, 2005) are also suggested as factors affecting perceived
employability. External labor market conditions also play an important role in shaping perceived
employability (Berntson etal., 2006).
Despite the proliferation of literature on employability models, and some recent measures of
self-perceived employability (Berntson etal., 2006; Daniels etal., 1998; Rothwell and Arnold,
2007), an empirical approach to employability remains underdeveloped in regard to what it actually means to individuals and their experiences, aspirations, and their perceptions of their ability to
compete in the labor market (Berntson etal., 2008; Rothwell etal., 2009). Limited empirical
research has been done particularly in relation to the self-perceived employability of graduates, and
as a result, there is a scarcity of data regarding its nature, predictors, and outcomes (Pool and
Qualter, 2013). Berntson etal. (2006) suggest that future studies should focus on testing the possible multidimensionality of perceived employability by including a multitude of potential contextual and individual factors.
The goal of this study is to examine students self-awareness through a measure of their expectations of gaining employment. It contributes to the literature by providing evidence of the impact of
factors identified as boosters to self-perceived employability. The self-perceived employability as
set out within this study has determinants that include both individual and external factors. This is
based on Berntson etal. (2006) and Rothwell and Rothwell (2008), but included are additional
variables as outlined in the above literature. This allows us to explore questions such as the following. How important are self-responsibility factors like self-managing behavior and internship experience in boosting self-perceived employability? What role do personality traits play in the relation
of self-awareness and future employability? Does gender impact self-confidence in the labor market, perhaps? Is the reputation of the university attended perceived as important by graduates entering the labor market?

Methodology
Data
Data were collected via a questionnaire in the spring and fall terms of 2011. The survey collected
information from students from the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences
(CAFES) and the College of Engineering (CE), the two largest undergraduate colleges at California
Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA. Each college is simply a distinctly managed disciplinary segment of the overall university. Questionnaires were completed in class in various courses and online. All participants were given the same information explaining the research
and were assured of data confidentiality. After deleting incomplete questionnaires, a total of 978
usable responses remained.
The survey asked questions about demographics, human capital variables, satisfaction with college preparation on various job attributes, personality questions, and perceptions on the state of
economy today relative to the time when recession started. Students were also asked to report how
confident they were about their own employability. A copy of the complete survey is available
from the authors upon request. Summary of the data and variables used are reported in Table 1.
Out of the respondents, 59% were engineering majors and 41% were agricultural majors. There
were more male respondents (66%) than female (34%). Academic standing varied, with more than
60% of the sample being seniors (fourth-year students) or super-seniors (fifth-year students).
Theoretically, students are expected to complete their degrees in 4 years although due to class
constraints and other factors, many students take longer. Almost half of respondents (49%) had
gained work experience via an internship. Students were asked about self-managing behavior,

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Table 1. Sample data and variable description.

Dependent variable
Self-perception of employability (n=978) How confident are you that you will be employed right after
graduation?
Self-perceived
employability

1=not confidentLow Self-Perceived Employability

2=somewhat confidentMedium Self-Perceived Employability
3=very confidentHigh Self-Perceived Employability

11%
31%
58%

Variable

Description

Obs

Mean

SD

400 (41%)
578 (59%)
650 (66%)
328 (34%)
0%
14.83%
25.05%
36.61%
23.52%
978

1.59

0.49

1.34

0.47

3.69

0.99

2.85

0.46

537 (55%)
441 (45%)

0.45

0.50

Demographic and human capital variables

Major
Gender
Academic
standing

GPA
Internship

1=CAFES
2=CE
1=male
2=female
1=freshman
2=sophomore
3=juniors
4=seniors
5=super-senior
0=up to 3.00
1=above 3.00
0=no internship
1=yes internship

Academic experience and career integrationself-managing behavior variable (How extensively

have you sought information on career opportunities in your major, such as choosing specific courses,
consulting faculty, attending career fairs, and so on to help you achieve your career goals?)
Academic
experience
and career
integration
Critical thinking
Teamwork
Oral
communication
Written
communication
Field-specific
skills

0=little or to some
extent
1=to a good extent

501 (51%)

0.48

472 (49%)

2=well prepared
1=not to somewhat prepared
2=well prepared
1=not to somewhat prepared
2=well prepared
1=not to somewhat prepared
2=well prepared
1=not to somewhat prepared
2=well prepared
1=not to somewhat prepared

Mean=1.75
SD=0.43
Mean=1.66
SD=0.47
Mean=1.59
SD=0.49
Mean=1.38
SD=0.49
Mean=1.62
SD=0.47

Personality traits variables (n=978) (To what extent the following statements are true about you?)
More curious
than cautious
More organized
than easy-going

0=no
1=yes
0=no
1=yes

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Qenani et al.
Table 1. (Continued)
More outgoing
than reserved
More trusting
than suspicious
More sensitive
than secure

0=no
1=yes
0=no
1=yes
0=no
1=yes

State of economy (n=978) (Do you feel the state of the economy today is: (a) worse or (b) better)
State of
economy today
compared to
2008

0=worse or the same as in 2008

1=better than 2008

68%
32%

GPA: grade point average; SD: standard deviation.

namely, if they had been proactive in aligning their academic experience with career goals during
their college years (by choosing particular courses, consulting with faculty, attending career fairs
and presentations, etc.). About half of the responses (49%) indicated self-managing behavior, that
is, students indicated that they had put extensive efforts to align their future careers with their academic experience. Data show that there exist gender differences in stated self-confidence about
finding a job right after graduation. A two-sample t-test with equal variances reveals statistically
significant differences between the mean confidence levels for male and female students
(t-stat=4.0839, p value=0.0000). Male students expressed on average higher confidence levels
of finding a full-time job right after graduation (mean confidencemale=2.53) compared to female
students (mean confidencefemale=2.34).

Model
Self-perceived employability is a construct affected by individual factors grouped under the personal capital variables, and external factors measured through individual self-perceptions of universitys reputational capital, and the state of external labor market. The dependent variable,
self-perceived employability, is the response to the following survey question How confident are
you that you will be employed right after graduation? Responses were measured on a Likert-type
scale from 1 to 5, where 5 means I am extremely confident of my skills to be employed right after
graduation and 1 means I am not at all confident in my skills to be employed right after graduation. To avoid cells with low frequency, Categories 1 and 2 were combined into one Category (1)
Low Self-Perceived Employability, Categories 4 and 5 were combined into the Category (3) High
Perceived Self-Employability, while Category (2) Medium Self-Perceived Employability remained
unchanged. Self-perceived employability, as defined in this study, is the result of an internal evaluation process of the individual that assesses his personal capital (knowledge, abilities, skills, and
traits), as well as external conditions (reputational capital of the credential institution and state of
the labor market). Personal capital variables in the model include (a) traditional academic factors
such as the field of study, academic standing, grade point average (GPA); (b) self-responsibility
factors such as work experience gained via internships and self-managed career behavior; and (c)
personal factors such as personality traits and gender. The GPA can be roughly equated to the UK
degree classification system where a GPA of 3.344.00 (on a scale of 04) is roughly equivalent to
a first-class degree result in the United Kingdom.

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Students from the engineering college and the agricultural college were selected to participate
in this study as they represent the two largest colleges with historically very strong records of job
placement for their graduates. Gender is included to capture gender-based behavioral differences
among students regarding entrance in the labor market.
A separate variable was included to measure students self-managed career behavior. To create
this variable, students were asked the following question: How extensively have you sought information on career opportunities in your major, such as choosing specific courses or course combinations, consulting faculty, attending career fairs and networking, etc. to help you achieve your
career goals? Students were also asked to self-evaluate and report their personality in terms of the
five main personality traits. Personality measures (a proxy for emotional intelligence) have gained
importance in studies of organizational research and the most frequently used are the so-called big
five personality constructs: curious, organized, outgoing, trusting, and sensitive. The impact of the
reputation of the university attended on student self-perceived employability is measured via
responses to: How well do you believe college prepared you in the areas of critical thinking, communication, teamwork and field-specific skills? Highly rated universities with high reputational
capital typically produce students that are more employable and preferred by employers. So, if
students perceive that their university is highly rated, they will be more confident in their own
knowledge, attributes, skills and abilities, and preparedness for the labor market. The prevailing
state of the economy and external labor market strongly impacts individuals likelihood of finding
employment and will influence self-perceived employability. If there are few jobs available,
employment will be low, even if applicants are highly educated and have acquired the necessary
skills. To capture the impact of the state of labor market, students were asked, Do you feel the state
of the economy today is: (a) worse or (b) better than in 2008?
Since there is an ordering to the categories associated with the dependent variable, a logit model
is used to take into consideration the ordinal nature of the variable. Assume that there is a latent,
underlying index Z for each individual, which measures the self-perceived employability of each
student. The observed dependent variable is measured as Yi = 3 if High Self-Perceived Employability,
2 if Medium Self-Perceived Employability, and 1 if Low Self-Perceived Employability. The ordered
logit model assumes that there are certain cut-off points Z* and Z** which define the relationship
between the observed and unobserved dependent variables.
Specifically

Z i = + X i + i (1)

where follows a logistic distribution and

1 if Z i Z *

Yi = 2 if Z * < Z i < Z ** (2)

**
3 if Z i Z

The model parameters as well as the cut-off points are estimated using maximum likelihood.

Results
Many factors identified as boosters of students self-perceived employability turn out to be statistically significant and have the expected signs. This is to say that a number of characteristics or
behaviors including work experience, self-management, and perceived college reputation resulted
in an increase in a students confidence with respect to their employability. Results of the
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Table 2. Ordered logit model estimates of self-perceived employability among college students.
Variables

Coefficients

Standard
error

Odds
ratio

Standard
error

z value

p>|z|

Gender
0.69
0.152
0.50
0.076
4.55*
0.000
Female
Standing
Junior
0.04
0.227
1.041
0.236
0.18

Senior
0.45
0.223
0.636
0.142
2.03*
0.043
Super-senior
0.35
0.241
0.7011
0.169
1.48
0.140
Major
Engineering
0.11
0.156
1.121
0.175
0.74
0.462

GPA
3.00 and above
0.49
0.153
1.636
0.250
3.22*
0.001
Internship
Completed
0.91
0.150
2.482
0.368
6.13*
0.000
Self-managed career behavior/personal development planning (aligned academic experience with career
planning)
To get a good degree
0.61
0.095
1.832
0.175
6.34*
0.00
Perception of economy today relative to 2008
Better
0.14
0.168
1.150
0.194
0.83
0.406
Worse
0.26
0.165
0.771
0.127
1.58
0.115
College preparation skills
Critical thinking
0.30
0.164
1.34
0.221
1.79**
0.073
Written communication
0.14
0.159
1.152
0.182
0.90
0.370
Oral communication
0.33
0.115
1.384
0.215
2.10*
0.036
Teamwork
0.11
0.160
0.90
0.144
0.67
0.502
Field specific
0.35
0.144
1.42
0.21
2.42*
0.016
Personality
Curious
0.08
0.071
1.08
0.77
1.08
0.279
Outgoing
0.13
0.065
1.14
0.07
2.05*
0.040
Trusting
0.13
0.07
1.14
0.07
1.92**
0.055
Sensitive
0.21
0.07
0.81
0.05
3.16*
0.002
Organized
0.03
0.06
1.029
0.0625
0.48
0.630
/Cut 1
3.22
0.745
/Cut 2
5.33
0.759
219.42
No. of observations
978
LR 2(20)
0.0000
Log likelihood
791.98857
Prob>2
2
0.1217
Pseudo R
LR: likelihood ratio; GPA: grade point average.
*Statistically significant at alpha 5%; **statistically significant at alpha 10%.

estimation are presented below and the estimated coefficients of the ordered logit model along with
the odds ratio, z scores, p values, and goodness of fit statistics are reported in Table 2.

Self-responsibility factors
Of the factors addressed in the model, the two most influentialthe internship experience and
the self-managed career behaviorwere those factors more connected to self-responsibility on
the part of the student. The two factors have more to do with ongoing student choices and
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relatively less to do with traditional classroom choices when compared to some of the other
factors.
The most influential factor was the existence of an internship experience. According to the
results, students who report work experience gained through an internship during their academic
studies had an odds ratio of 2.482 meaning that as a result of an internship they were almost 2.5
times more likely to feel highly confident of their employability, controlling for other factors. The
second-most heavily weighted significant factor was the self-managed career behavior with an
odds ratio of 1.832. This result indicates that when students align their career planning in some way
with their academic planning, they are going to be 1.8 times more likely to be confident about their
employability.

Traditional academic factors

Moving toward more traditional academic descriptors such as the GPA, class standing, and major,
none of the significant results are as influential as the self-responsibility factors. First, the GPA
predicts a significantly higher level of confidence in employability. In particular, a student with a
self-reported GPA of 3.00 and above (more or less equal to what would be an upper second-class
honors in the UK degree system) will result in a student being 1.64 times more likely to feel highly
confident of their employability. Of note is that with regard to the academic standing of a student
(length of time in university), there is a negative relationship between higher standing and selfperceived employability. The odds of high perceived employability decrease by 36% for senior
students (fourth-year students) compared to sophomores (second-year students). The factors for
non-seniors (juniors and super-seniors) were not significant. Of note is that choice of major was not
significant in the students perception of employability.

Personal factors
If we look at the influence of gender on employability, female students are 50% less likely to consider themselves as highly employable compared to male students. With respect to self-identified
personality traits, different traits have different impacts on self-perceived employability. Students
who consider themselves as outgoing or as trusting are 1.14 times more likely to perceive themselves as highly employable. However, students self-identifying as sensitive nature find themselves
as less employable. Other personality characteristics (curious and organized) were not significant.

University reputation
The role that college reputation plays (as measured by specific skills that students see that college
provides) is demonstrated by the results. Field-specific technical skills increase employability by
1.42 times, whereas generic skills such as oral communication and critical thinking increase perceived employability by 1.38 and 1.34 times, respectively. Of note is that the results did not provide any support for field of study or major to significantly increase a students self-perceived
employability.

Economic factors
The perception of the current state of economy as compared to year 2008 on students selfperceived employability is not a statistically significant factor. This would indicate that students
did not feel that the current state of the economy had an impact on how employable they were.

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Discussion and conclusion

Even though graduates are entering the labor market during a historic economic downturn characterized by record unemployment and many of them are also facing unprecedented student loan
debt, the results indicate that these external factors are not critical in terms of self-perceived
employability. It would appear that the most important influences on employability remain rooted
in how students operate within the university.

Self-responsibility factors
Self-responsibility, the idea that students have a key role in determining their own success during
and after university, is highlighted. The two most influential factors in self-perceived employability, internship experience and self-managed career behavior, require students to look at options and
make positive decisions about what they will do next. Self-managing individual behavior results in
increased perceptions of self-employability and, as a result, in increased likelihood of success and
the expansion of employment opportunities (De Vos etal., 2011; Lees, 2002). Our results indicate
that self-managing career behavior plays a very important role and increases students selfconfidence greatly, by 83%, according to the views of the respondents in this study.
The positive, significant relationship between employment prospects and self-managing behavior related to their self-esteem is of particular importance. Better planning can cause an increase in
knowledge, experience, and a rise in the individuals self-confidence. While high self-esteem may
be misplaced in an individual case, the lack of high self-esteem can also hinder the development of
future beneficial behaviors and prospects. If students become more responsible to themselvesas
manifested in their self-managing behaviorthen there is likely to be greater engagement and
attention to what they are doing and what decisions are being made. Since the university is playing
a large role in providing a set of optionscurricular and co-curricularto the student, then an
improvement in the options is likely to further increase engagement.
While the quality of internship experience or of self-managed career behavior was not addressed
in this study, working with industry to provide opportunities, such as internships or counseling to
help students figure out what are the appropriate internship opportunities, can improve the likelihood of increased perceived employability if better matches between students and experiences are
occurring.
This finding highlights the very important role that the university has to steer students towards
developing self-managing behavior starting early on in their academic studies. It is critical that
they become aware at an early stage of their studies of what they need in order to be employable or
to do whatever else they choose to do after graduation, and thus, the university should provide the
opportunities so students develop these necessary skills. Furthermore, students should be able to
reflect on their experiences and be able to adequately articulate their skills and learned abilities. In
this way, they will be prepared to effectively manage the academic choices that will lead them into
being more successful at whatever they choose to do after graduation, whether into employment or
anything else.
Work-related learning can play an important role in boosting a graduates chances of either
being employed at all after graduation or securing a job. But how much of an impact does work
experience have on self-perceived employability? Results from this study support a very significant and positive relationship between work experience gained during academic studies and
employability perceptions. Estimates show that by gaining work experience via an internship, selfperceived employability of the student increases by 250%. This finding suggests that work-related
learning should become a necessary and possibly mandatory part of the academic experience if, as

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some or perhaps many might agree, the role of a university is to prepare graduates for the
workplace.
A creative strategy in setting up partnerships between the university and businesses can be particularly effective in expanding experiential learning, helping students gain practical, workrelevant experience, increasing self-confidence, and greatly enhancing their employability. Though
the vast majority of universities do engage in some form of partnership with the industry, if employability is considered to be as important as some claim it to be, more efforts should be put into
expanding these possibilities for all graduates to participate (CBI, 2009). A wide variety of partnerships and programs are used successfully by universities, including 1year sandwich work placements as part of a degree program, summer work placements, or even a shorter experience
placements of a few weeks long (QAA, 2009).

University reputation and traditional academic factors

Employment can be influenced by perceptions of the quality of graduates from certain universities.
This perpetuates the idea that graduates from reputable universities possess broader forms of social
and cultural capital than graduates from less reputable universities. Findings from this study show
that college reputation (as measured by students beliefs in their college preparation, in problemsolving, critical thinking skills, technical and communication skills) is important to students and
significantly enhances how employable they view themselves to be. However, degree subject studied is not an important factor in influencing how employable they view themselves to be. It appears
that the labor market values a complete set of graduate skills, attributes, experiences, and dispositions more than just the field of study. Alternatively, it could be that students see themselves competing for jobs with students with similar subject backgrounds or for jobs for which the field of
study is a requirement for the job. Hence, degree subject studied plays less of a factor in perceived
employability.
Students with a higher GPA have greater confidence in their employability. If GPA is perceived
as a measure of students efforts, knowledge, skills, attributes learned, and experiences gained during college and their ability to learn, then a higher GPA could mean that higher achievement in
these measures makes them more competitive for jobs they desire and, thus, more employable. A
student with a lower GPA may feel that because they have achieved less, they would be less competitive for the jobs they desire and, hence, relatively less employable.
Finally, results show that academic standing negatively impacts how employable they view
themselves to be. It appears that as students near graduation, that is, as they move from the first
year of university to the second and ultimately to the fourth and last year (the senior year), they are
increasingly less confident in their employability. This might be due to the fact that prospect of
looking for a job becomes more immediate and the uncertainty of finding one more apparent as
they get closer to entering the labor market after university.

Personal factors
Gender has a direct impact on issues of self-confidence and self-esteem that are crucial when dealing with graduate employability. Results show that male students feel 50% more confident in their
employability skillset compared to female students. Men have better options in the labor market
and are therefore viewed as more employable (McQuaid and Lindsay, 2005) so this may perhaps
account for their greater confidence. The issue of gender highlights a plethora of potential causes
that this study does not address. One strong possibility is that the nature of investigating selfperceived employability is, by its nature, more focused on the view that males are more likely to

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set themselves apart than females. Males with high self-esteem are often considered more likely to
see themselves as being better than average, for example, more employable, because their selfimage is more dependent on being better than others. Females, on the other hand, are seen as more
communal in nature and value the collective and identify more with the group and, as a result, are
less likely to set themselves apart, for example, see themselves as more employable (Joseph etal.,
1992). This particular result could very well reflect the more communal nature (versus the individual nature) of female self-perception in that women are more likely to view themselves as being
connected with and similar to those around them compared to males who tend to value a separation
from the group (Joseph etal., 1992). The big question, then, is whether the idea of individual selfperceived employability will appropriately capture the needs and feelings of females. Alternatively,
if the idea of measuring self-perceived employability of females is appropriate, then the results
indicate that the university needs to do more to enhance self-confidence among female students so
they feel secure of their identity, knowledge, and skills when entering the labor market.
There are, however, limitations to this study, as with all others. The data used in this analysis
came from only two colleges (agriculture and engineering). Future studies should expand the focus
by including observations from other disciplines. Data used are self-reported and reliant on participant self-perceptions. The sample is country-specific. However, given the role that economic and
socio-cultural factors play on individual perceptions, beliefs about what influences individual
employability might vary by country. Furthermore, literature suggests that external or environmental factors are important in understanding employability, so a more refined construct for capturing
the effect of external factors such as the state of the labor market is needed to better understand its
role on employability.
It appears that enhancing students employability should be a common goal for individuals and
the university alike. If students are responsible for their own employability, then the responsibility
of the university is to ensure conditions that promote, guide, and facilitate development of their
employability. By establishing adequate conditions that support and develop a reflective learner,
implementing coordinated strategies through curriculum design, and supporting effective learning
and assessment, career education, and personal development planning (CBI, 2009), the university
becomes an effective partner for both student growth and development as well as of the employability of its graduates.
In helping students manage how employable they view themselves to be, the university is fundamentally managing the active learning of its students at a broad level. The results indicate that
how highly employable they view themselves to be can result from a high level of engagement as
manifested through self-management, work/internships, and the perception that students have
been well-prepared by the university. Students should be given the opportunity to develop selfmanagement behavior and make use of experiential learning while within higher education. Not
only does the university have to provide such opportunities but it must also ensure that students are
aware of what they are choosing and why. The nature of active learning incorporates this awareness
and engagement.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit
sectors.

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Author biographies
Eivis Qenani is an associate professor in the Agribusiness Department at Cal Poly State University, San Luis
Obispo, CA, USA. Her research interests include employability, organizational behavior, and consumer
demand. Address: Department of Agribusiness, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo,
CA, USA. [email: eqenanip@calpoly.edu]
Neal MacDougall is an associate professor in the Agribusiness Department at Cal Poly State University, San
Luis Obispo, CA, USA. His research interests include learning and assessment and sustainability issues.
Address: Department of Agribusiness, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA.
[email: nmacdoug@calpoly.edu]
Carol Sexton is a lecturer in the Agribusiness Department at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, CA,
USA. Her research interests include labor management and organizational behavior. Address: Department of
Agribusiness, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA. [email: csexton@calpoly.
edu]

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