Employability Capital: A Conceptual Framework Tested Through Expert Analysis

Abstract

Previous research attempted to identify personal resources that promote employability, that is, an individual's chance to find and maintain employment. This has resulted in a large number of different personal resources, which are not always clearly differentiated from one another and often seem toat least partially-overlap conceptually and/or empirically. In response, we aim at conceptual clarification and integration of what we coin "employability capital". Based on a literature review, we developed a conceptual framework that integrates the various facets. Two types of distinctions were found: (a) an employability distinction, which differentiates between job-related, career-related, and development-related employability capital, and (b) a capital distinction, which differentiates between human capital (more specifically knowledge, skills, and attitudes) and social capital. We performed a Qsorting study in which items of existing measurements were mapped onto the conceptual framework by subject matter experts. Overall, we found support for the conceptual framework.

Unraveling the concept of employability, bringing together research on employability in higher education and the workplace

“…Competence-based approaches to employability also emerged in literature focusing on employees' learning and development in the workplace (e.g. McQuaid and Lindsay 2005;Van der Heijde and Van der Heijden 2006;Clarke 2008;Forrier, Sels, and Stynen 2009;Forrier, Verbruggen, and De Cuyper 2015;Peeters et al 2019). Such competence-based approaches to employability focus on the identification and development of knowledge, skills and attitudes that contribute to effective performance in the labor market.…”

“…In our globally competitive knowledge economy, where change is an everyday reality, the importance of employability is generally agreed-upon by policy makers and scholars alike (Peeters et al 2019). Higher education institutions need to prepare students for jobs that do not exist yet, for using technologies that have yet to be invented, and for solving problems that nobody has yet thought of (Kumar 2007).…”

“…In face of the different approaches to studying employability, a widely shared criticism is that the concept is fuzzy, lacking clarity and specificity of meaning. Several authors from different disciplinary backgrounds have therefore stressed the need for creating more unified definitions and for integrating conceptual frameworks of employability (Knight and Yorke 2004;Helyer and Lee 2014;Forrier, Verbruggen, and De Cuyper 2015;Smith, Ferns, and Russell 2016;Small, Shacklock, and Marchant 2018;Peeters et al 2019).…”

Development and validation of the short-form employability five-factor instrument

“…In the 1980s, employability was approached at the meso- for more in-depth information on the historical outline).At the micro-level, a distinction can be made between a so-called input-based and output-based approach of employability (Vanhercke et al, 2014). When adopting an input-based approach, scholars focus on knowledge, skills and attitudes, or more general, competencies to assess employability (Fugate et al, 2004;Peeters, Nelissen, De Cuyper, Forrier, Verbruggen, & De Witte, 2017;Van der Heijde & Van der Heijden, 2006). When adopting an output-based approach, scholars focus on indicators of employability, such as individual employees' perceptions of their opportunities for obtaining or retaining a job and for achieving a new labor market position or making a transition across labor market positions (Vanhercke et al, 2014).…”

Soft competencies and employability of vocational school graduates – the perspective of employers from the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship

“…The concept of employability is gaining importance due to the growing uncertainty and flexibility of employment, the growing competency gap, dynamism and unpredictability of career paths and other changes taking place in the modern labour market (cf. [Pauli 2015;Wiśniewska 2015;Magnano et al 2019;Peeters et al 2019; van der Heijden, Spurk 2019]). The term 'employability' was used for the first time by W.H.…”