Taking the temperature of employability research: a systematic review of interrelationships across and within conceptual strands

Abstract

Employability concerns an individual's potential in the labour market. This potential has been interpreted along three strands: (I) in terms of personal strengths that increase employment potential; (II) in terms of self-perceived employment opportunities; and (III) in terms of job transitions as a realization of employment potential. The risk of using different approaches is fragmentation of the research field. In response, we aim to study the extent to which fragmentation is an issue and the potential for integration both across and within strands. We achieve this aim through a systematic review of 71 empirical studies on employees' employability that reports on the interrelationships across and within strands and instruments used within strands. Our review shows that the different strands are connected, yet evidence mostly comes from cross-sectional studies. In addition, relationships within strands are typically stronger than across strands. However, there are many different instruments used, and this is a key barrier for integration.

Significant Life Events and Career Sustainability: A Three-Wave Study

“…According to De Vos and colleagues [9], performance in one's current job, as well as employability and career prospects, which are essential for long-term performance, could be considered as indicators of one's level of productivity. Perceived employability is defined as individuals' perceptions of their opportunities in the labor market [57]. Only little research has been done to investigate the effect of major life events on productivity through their effect on perceived employability.…”

Graduate Employability of Business Students

“…Views have shifted from obtaining satisfying work to the adaptive capacity an individual need for obtaining and retaining work during an environment of fast-moving changes (De Vos et al 2021;Presti et al 2019). The later conceptualisation includes the need to strengthen self-awareness, self-efficacy, proactivity, career building skills, self-directedness, resilience, adaptability, agility, reflectivity, persistence/grit, social and cultural awareness, emotional intelligence, lifelong learning, growth mindset, and understanding of the labour market, as some of the bedrocks for a sustainable career in precarious, continuously evolving, and turbulent labour markets of the 21st century (Rowe 2019;Van Harten et al 2022;Masole and van Dyk 2016;Lock and Kelly 2020). What is clear is that employability skills are highly sort after by most employers when recruiting entry-level graduates (Robinson and Garton 2008;Lim et al 2016;Succi and Canovi 2020).…”

“…Perceived employability has been defined differently by different authors. Most common definitions express it as a psychological concept that capture individuals' subjective self-assessment and perception of their employment prospects in competitive labour markets, i.e., a belief in the ability to find the right job, retain a job, or obtain a new one if necessary (Van Harten et al 2022;Vanhercke et al 2014;Vargas et al 2018;Calvo and Garcia 2021). Perception is important, as it influences actual behaviour, including self-efficacy, self-esteem, motivation, self-direct job search, perseverance, ambition, locus of control, etc.…”

“…Consequently, employability has increasingly been adopted by some universities as a credible fourth mission, in addition to teaching, research, and community service (M. Campbell et al 2019;Pereira et al 2020;Bennett 2018). Graduate employability broadly comprises of knowledge, skills, behaviours, and attributes that enables a graduate to get a job, stay on a job, do well on a job, find another job if necessary, and progress in their chosen career (Mainga et al 2022;Wickramasinghe and Perera 2010;Finch et al 2013;Behle 2020;Romgens et al 2020;Van Harten et al 2022). In this study, terms such as generic skills, soft skills, 21st century skills, and employability skills are used interchangeably.…”

Mapping managerial expectations of graduate employability attributes: A scoping review

“…At its root, employability entails an individual's potential in the labour market (Van Harten, De Cuyper, Knies & Forrier, 2021). Over time, the issue of employability morphed from the macro-level, post-war focus, on employability of the disabled segment of the labour force, to concentrating on intra-organisational flexibility on meso-level during the 1980s.…”