What makes better career opportunities for young graduates? Examining acquired employability skills in higher education institutions

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model to examine key employability skills that match workplace requirements and foster employability.Design/methodology/approachThis research comprises a cross-sectional study from self-financing institutions in Hong Kong. The current study adopted structural equation modeling to examine key employability skills that match workplace requirements and foster employability.FindingsBased on the empirical findings, the acquired employability skills of young graduates are entrepreneurship, professional development, work with others, self-management, communication and problem solving. Moreover, higher education institutions should work closely with industry stakeholders to get employers engaged with the work-integrating learning (WIL) programs and subsequently equip young graduates for better employability opportunities. In connection with employer engagement, employability skills of communication, problem solving and self-management would be improved. Furthermore, entrepreneurship and problem-solving skills could further be developed for young graduating students working in SME organizations during WIL.Originality/valueAs a notable gap exists in the current literature to examine young graduates' key employability skills in the context and content of Hong Kong self-financing tertiary education, this research explores key employability skills of self-financed young graduates and the relative importance of employability skills across company size using a quantitative approach.

Enhancing perceived employability through work-integrated learning

“…Hence, employability emerges as one of the major roles in higher education. Embedded in higher educational settings, internship opportunities and work-integrated learning (WIL) enhance the employability of fresh graduates (Fejes, 2010; Mayombe, 2021), with the goal of aiding these graduates to have a holistic development in terms of hard and soft skills improvement, global vision, goal setting, and work value enhancement (Ng et al. , 2021).…”

Construction and validation of the employability questionnaire for accounting graduates

“…Considerable research evidence exists about the quality of accounting education, as employers are now concerned about the lack of employability skills for accounting graduates (Hare, 2011;Sinha et al, 2019;Tempone et al, 2012). Studies have repeatedly sounded the need and challenges for producing employable graduates (Atanasovski et al, 2018;Ng et al, 2021;Pauceanun et al, 2020;Rastogi et al, 2019;Webb and Chaffer, 2016). Awayiga et al (2010) opine that the present university education system has failed to inculcate the required skills to help accounting graduates pursue their professions.…”

“…Awayiga et al (2010) opine that the present university education system has failed to inculcate the required skills to help accounting graduates pursue their professions. Evidence exists to show that though many accounting graduates are academically proficient, they lack the generic skills required in their careers (Muda et al, 2009;Ng et al, 2021;Terblanche and De Clercq, 2021).…”

“…This has also put a renewed emphasis on educators to churn out graduates who satisfy employer requirements. Without exception, almost all stakeholders agree on the need for a drastic overhaul of the present accounting education system (Atanasovski et al, 2018;Graves, 2004;Ng et al, 2021;Webb and Chaffer, 2016). However, despite this agreement, there is a wide gap between various stakeholders' perspectives regarding the various skills and attributes (Dolce et al, 2019;Jackling and De Lange, 2009;Sulphey and Salim, 2021), particularly between university administrators and academics, accounting practitioners and employers.…”

“…This gap in perceptions puts students in a disadvantageous position as the skills developed during the university education are seldom required or are not transferred into the work settings (Jones, 2014). Despite this, all are in unison about the need for inculcating employability aspects in the accounting curriculum (Kolawole and Ogungbade, 2021;Ng et al, 2021).…”