Career Adaptability, Perceptions of Professional Development and Employability: A Mediation Analysis

Abstract

The objective of this study was to test the mediating role that Perception of Professional Development has in the relationship between Career Adaptability and Perception of/Expectation of Employability among undergraduate students. A total of 1.105 students (57% of women) participated in the investigation, all from different undergraduate courses and institutions. The instruments used had evidence of validity, and data were analyzed through structural equation modeling. The results supported the research hypothesis and corroborate previous empirical studies. The model showed good fit for the data as to the hypothesized model (X2/df=0.65; CFI=0.94; TLI=0.94; RMSEA=0.05; indirect effect=0.31). The confirmation of the mediating relationship contributes to the understanding of the processes related to Perception of/Expectation of Employability among undergraduate students. Impacts on the career planning of undergraduate students and subsidies for Higher Education management are some of the practical implications of this study.

Professional development short scale: Measurement invariance, stability, and validity in Brazil and Angola

“…According to Cohen (1992), there is a medium size effect in these Pearson coefficients; however, to better assess this effect size, it is necessary to compare these results with other studies (Funder and Ozer, 2019). Research carried out by Carvalho and Mourão (2021), for example, found a smaller effect between professional development and career adaptability (r = 0.32, p < 0.01) and a larger effect between professional development and the perception of employability (r = 0.66, p < 0.01). In this sense, in a comparative way, the effect sizes obtained in the present study can be classified as "medium. "…”