Gaps between competence and importance of employability skills: evidence from Malaysia

Kenayathulla, Husaina Banu; Ahmad, Nor Aziah; Idris, Abdul Rahman

doi:10.1108/heed-08-2019-0039

Cited by 71 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(33 reference statements)

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“…The lack of communication skills was reported to be one of the main reasons of high rates of unemployment of graduates in Malaysia (Nesaratnam et al, 2020). Teamwork and Learnability are required in the industrial workforce of Malaysia, however, there was a significant difference between the expected level of skills availability among graduates and the actual competency level (Kenayathulla et al, 2019). Motivation was a point of concern from Malaysian industry perspective.…”

Section: Smartpls Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Soft Skills on Employability: A Case Study on Technology Industry Sector in Malaysia

Fadhil¹,

Ismail²

2021

IJIKM

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Aim/Purpose: This research investigates the influence of soft skills on graduates’ employability in the technology industry, using the technology industry sector in Malaysia as a case. Background: Organizations are looking for appropriate mechanisms to hire qualified employees with strong soft skills and hard skills. This requires that job candidates possess a set of qualifications and skills which impact their employability. Methodology: Fuzzy Delphi analysis was conducted as preliminary study to identify the critical soft skills required by technology industry sector. The preliminary study produced ten critical soft skills to form a conceptual model of their influence on employability. Then, an online questionnaire survey was distributed in two industry companies in Malaysia to collect research data, and regression analysis was conducted to validate the conceptual model. Contribution: This research focuses on the influence of soft skills on graduate employability in the technology industry sector, since the selection of the best candidate in the industry will improve employee performance and lead to business success. Findings: The results of regression analysis confirmed that Communication skills, Attitude, Integrity, Learnability, Motivation, and Teamwork are significantly correlated with employability, which means that these soft skills are the critical factors for employability in Malaysian technology companies. Recommendations for Practitioners: The model proposed in this article can be used by employers to give better assessment of candidates’ compatibility with the jobs available. Impact on Society: This research highlights the critical soft skills required by technology industry sector, which will reduce the unemployment percentages among graduates. Future Research: More studies are required to examine the soft skills found in the literature and to define the most important skills from a general perspective of the industry. Future research should assess the moderating role of other variables, such as skills gap, employee performance, and employee knowledge. Furthermore, it is recommended to conduct similar studies of soft skills for employability in other countries.

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Section: Smartpls Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Soft Skills on Employability: A Case Study on Technology Industry Sector in Malaysia

Fadhil¹,

Ismail²

2021

IJIKM

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“…However, studies on intention to transfer training conducts by clerical employees in Malaysia are scarce. Despite many studies have been conducted on the transfer of training in a Malaysian working environment (Ab Rahman et al, 2019;Abdullah et al, 2019;Kenayathulla et al, 2019), a specific study on intention to transfer training conducts amongst clerical employees in a Malaysian GLC has yet to be performed. This presents a research gap that the study is attempting to undertake.…”

Section: The Rationale Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Construct Validity and Reliability of Intention to Transfer Training Conduct Instrument Using Rasch Model Analysis

Shafie¹,

Majid²,

Hoon³

et al. 2021

JSSH

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The impact of the Industry Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) in the workplace requires organisations to ensure clerical employees can effectively transfer their newly acquired knowledge and skills learned in training back into the workplace. Hence, an instrument is required to identify factors influencing the intention to transfer training conduct amongst clerical employees. Thus, this paper presents the evaluation of construct validity and reliability of the new instrument to confirm its objectivity and clarity in measuring the constructs under study as intended. This four-point Likert-type scale instrument consists of 72 self-assessment items that represent 12 constructs. The Rasch Model was then employed to analyse the construct validity and reliability by evaluating the suitability of items in the respective constructs on the instrument. The item and person reliability and strata indices, point-measure correlation, and outfit mean square values were examined. The analysis found that three constructs in the item and person reliability index and eight constructs in the item and person reliability strata index were low but adequate and met the Rasch Model measurement acceptable level. Meanwhile, point-measure correlation values for all constructs fulfilled the criteria. Finally, the outfit mean square values established that 65 items in the constructs were found to be fit, whereas seven items were misfits which require improvement. Subsequently, the seven misfit items were improved as the item and person reliability values could be increased, thus the items were retained. Thereafter, the instrument was ready to be used for data collection in the actual study.

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“…According to (Hassan, 2012), student quality include acquiring the expertise needed in their jobs, possess cognitive coupled with functional work skills, have personal entrepreneurial skills, and professional ethics. Discussions on student quality and competencies also include students' ability and willingness to learn, teamwork and cooperation, hardworking and willingness to take on extra work, self-control, and analytical thinking (Pang et al, 2019;Kenayathulla, Ahmad, and Idris, 2019), ability to cooperate effectively and lifelong learning (Dušek, 2019). Besides the student competencies, instructor traits and characteristics are also important.…”

Section: Background Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

TVET Graduate Employability: Mismatching Traits Between Supply and Demand

Ismail¹,

Chik²,

Hemdi³

2021

IJARBSS

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Polytechnic programmes in Malaysia were established to produce quality graduates at the semi-professional level in engineering, trade, hospitality, ICT and services, as well as, to provide alternative pathways for TVET students in the higher education. According to the Ministry of Education, even though Polytechnic graduate employability is at 96.7%, the tourism management programmes in Polytechnics have an average of 51% employability upon graduation, and these deficiencies need to be identified and studied seriously. Research has shown that graduates' employability depended on student and instructor characteristics. However, the main idea of this study is to determine whether the characteristics of an instructor in the industries could act as a mediating factor to contribute to the competency of the TVET students in the tourism management programmes at Polytechnics in Malaysia. According to the social learning theory, human behaviour is learned by observing other people as role models and it could change a person to be better. In the industrial training or workbased learning programmes, instructors' characteristic is seen as a role model to be followed by students to shape their attitudes towards a better job performance and organization achievement. Thus, this paper attempts to discuss student and instructor characteristics and how both traits play a role in graduate employability.

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Gaps between competence and importance of employability skills: evidence from Malaysia

Cited by 71 publications

References 25 publications

The Influence of Soft Skills on Employability: A Case Study on Technology Industry Sector in Malaysia

The Influence of Soft Skills on Employability: A Case Study on Technology Industry Sector in Malaysia

Evaluating Construct Validity and Reliability of Intention to Transfer Training Conduct Instrument Using Rasch Model Analysis

TVET Graduate Employability: Mismatching Traits Between Supply and Demand

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