An exploratory study of factors affecting undergraduate employability

2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 681-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Finch ◽  
Leah K. Hamilton ◽  
Riley Baldwin ◽  
Mark Zehner
Keyword(s):  
Soft Skills ◽  
The Body ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
New Graduates ◽  
Graduate Employability ◽  
New Graduate

PurposeThe current study was conducted to increase our understanding of factors that influence the employability of university graduates. Through the use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the paper explores the relative importance of 17 factors that influence new graduate employability.Design/methodology/approachAn extensive review of the existing literature was used to identify 17 factors that affect new graduate employability. A two‐phase, mixed‐methods study was conducted to examine: Phase One, whether these 17 factors could be combined into five categories; and Phase Two, the relative importance that employers place on these factors. Phase One involved interviewing 30 employers, and Phase Two consisted of an empirical examination with an additional 115 employers.FindingsResults from both the qualitative and quantitative phases of the current study demonstrated that 17 employability factors can be clustered into five higher‐order composite categories. In addition, findings illustrate that, when hiring new graduates, employers place the highest importance on soft‐skills and the lowest importance on academic reputation.Research limitations/implicationsThe sectors in which employers operated were not completely representative of their geographical region.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that, in order to increase new graduates’ employability, university programmes and courses should focus on learning outcomes linked to the development of soft‐skills. In addition, when applying for jobs, university graduates should highlight their soft‐skills and problem‐solving skills.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the body of knowledge on the employability of university graduates by empirically examining the relative importance of five categories of employability factors that recruiters evaluate when selecting new graduates.

Mixed qualitative–quantitative approach for bidding decisions in construction

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emad Mohamed ◽  
Parinaz Jafari ◽  
Ahmed Hammad
Keyword(s):  
Expert System ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
The Body ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Quantitative Approach ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Mixed Approach

PurposeThe bid/no-bid decision is critical to the success of construction contractors. The factors affecting the bid/no-bid decision are either qualitative or quantitative. Previous studies on modeling the bidding decision have not extensively focused on distinguishing qualitative and quantitative factors. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to improve the bidding decision in construction projects by developing tools that consider both qualitative and quantitative factors affecting the bidding decision.Design/methodology/approachThis study proposes a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach to deal with both qualitative and quantitative factors. The mixed qualitative-quantitative approach is developed by combining a rule-based expert system and fuzzy-based expert system. The rule-based expert system is used to evaluate the project based on qualitative factors and the fuzzy expert system is used to evaluate the project based on the quantitative factors in order to reach the comprehensive bid/no-bid decision.FindingsThree real bidding projects are used to investigate the applicability and functionality of the proposed mixed approach and are tested with experts of a construction company in Alberta, Canada. The results demonstrate that the mixed approach provides a more reliable, accurate and practical tool that can assist decision-makers involved in the bid/no-bid decision.Originality/valueThis study contributes theoretically to the body of knowledge by (1) proposing a novel approach capable of modeling all types of factors (either qualitative or quantitative) affecting the bidding decision, and (2) providing means to acquire, store and reuse expert knowledge. Practical contribution of this paper is to provide decision-makers with a comprehensive model that mimics the decision-making process and stores experts' knowledge in the form of rules. Therefore, the model reduces the administrative burden on the decision-makers, saves time and effort and reduces bias and human errors during the bidding process.

The generative role of curiosity in soft skills development for contemporary VUCA environments

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 737-751
Author(s):  
Alison Horstmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
The Body ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Content Type ◽  
A Value ◽  
Skill Gaps ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThis paper examines the role of curiosity in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) work contexts.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual article relied upon an examination of literature about curiosity, VUCA and soft skills.FindingsCuriosity, when encouraged and supported within the workforce, may aid organizations in closing soft skill gaps and better navigating ambiguity, perpetually changing business landscapes, and rapidly advancing technology.Research limitations/implicationsEmpirical research is needed to validate, confirm and further explicate the specific mechanisms and value of curiosity within VUCA environments.Practical implicationsOrganizations need to move beyond espousing a value of curiosity to deliberately and effectively cultivating and supporting it within their employees.Originality/valueAlthough ample research and literature has examined curiosity, soft skills and VUCA environments independently, the body of literature on the specific role of curiosity in such environments is limited.

Competencies urban planning students need to succeed in professional practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-287
Author(s):  
Gehad Megahed ◽  
Abeer Elshater ◽  
Samy M.Z. Afifi
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Professional Practices ◽  
Demand And Supply ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
New Graduates ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Information Finding

Purpose This paper focuses on the competencies and skills needed in preparing graduates of urban planning schools to meet the real-world challenges of professional practices. The present work explores the gap between skills and knowledge required to excel in the urban planning discipline and professional practices. Design/methodology/approach This research utilises a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. This study depends on collecting data from descriptive and statistical analysis based on two streams. The first comes from a survey launched among students of urban planning. The second is interviews scheduled with academics that are also practitioners. Findings The results outline the missing correlation between what Egyptian students learn in schools of urban planning and professional practices. The findings show that academics, students, and graduates share the same experiences about the education system. Academics agreed that graduates need to be more skilful rather than knowledgeable. The discussion shows that the undefined role of the planner in Egypt influenced the mismatching between the current demand and supply of competencies and skills offered by planning schools. The concluded remarks mentioned that communication skills and negotiation skills are the most crucial skills for graduates, in addition to information finding and data-processing skills. Originality/value This research has particular advantages in presenting a model of competencies as results of scanning the expectations of Egyptian students and new graduates vs professional practices. The contribution is in answering the question of what skills students of the urban planning programs should learn in order to meet the continued changes in professional practices.

Modeling the performance of healthcare construction projects

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 2023-2039
Author(s):  
Karim A. Iskandar ◽  
Awad S. Hanna ◽  
Wafik Lotfallah
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Project Performance ◽  
The Body ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Performance Metric

Purpose Healthcare-sector projects are some of the most complex in modern practice due to their reliance on high-tech components and the level of precision they must maintain. Existing literature in healthcare performance specifically is scarce, but there is a recent increasing trend in both healthcare construction and a corresponding trend in related literature. No previously existing study has derived weights (relative importance) of performance metric in an objective, data-based manner. The purpose of this paper is to present a newly developed mathematical model that derives these weights, free of subjectivity that is common in other literature. Design/methodology/approach This paper’s model considers 17 exceptional projects and 19 average projects, and reveals the weights (or relative importance) of ten performance metrics by comparing how projects relate to one another in terms of each metric individually. It solves an eigenvalue problem that maximizes the difference between average and exceptional project performances. Findings The most significant weight, i.e. the performance metric which has the greatest impact on healthcare project performance, was request for information per million dollars with a weight of 16.07 percent. Other highly weighted metrics included construction speed and schedule growth at 13.08 and 12.23 percent, respectively. Rework was the least significant metric at 3.61 percent, but not all metrics of quality had low ratings. Deficiency issues per million dollars was weighted at 11.61 percent, for example. All weights derived by the model in this paper were validated statistically to ensure their applicability as comparison and assessment tools. Originality/value There is no widely accepted measure of project performance specific to healthcare construction. This study’s contribution to the body of knowledge is its mathematical model which is a landmark effort to develop a single, objective, unified project performance index for healthcare construction. Furthermore, this unified score presents a user-friendly avenue for contractors to standardize their productivity tracking – a missing piece in the practices of many contractors.

Bridging the Gap Between Marketing Education and the Marketing Profession

2019 ◽  
pp. 18-33
Author(s):  
David J. Finch ◽  
Sharon McIntyre
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Dynamic Capabilities ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Resource Based View ◽  
Marketing Education ◽  
Graduate Employability ◽  
New Graduate ◽  
Complex Integration ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Marketing Profession

Professionals and scholars have discussed the unprecedented pace of change currently experienced by businesses. The dynamics facing business today offer rich insight into the challenges facing university graduates. In this chapter, the authors apply a dynamic capabilities (DCs) view of new graduate employability. Dynamic capabilities theory is rooted in the resource-based view that posits organizations create a competitive advantage by acquiring or developing resources that are rare, valuable, and hard to imitate and replace. They argue that employability can be viewed as the complex integration and application of four specific DCs: (1) intelligence resources, (2) personality resources, (3) meta-skill resources, and (4) job-specific resources. The authors view new graduate competitive advantage as dependent on the ability of university graduates to mobilize and exploit the linkages of these resources throughout their university study years. In adopting these resource categories, they build on previous work and propose a conceptual model to evaluate a new graduate's competitive position in an employment marketplace. In this chapter, the authors provide a prescription for how educators and students can apply an integrated dynamic capability view of new graduate employability to support the professional development of marketing students through the development of a comprehensive personal product roadmap.

Evaluating the knowledge, attitudes and practices of adults on food safety: a cross-sectional sample from Turkey

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pınar Göbel ◽  
Nevin Şanlier ◽  
Sine Yilmaz ◽  
Onur Toka ◽  
Büşra Açikalin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
The Body ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Attitudes And Practices ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Knowledge Attitudes And Practices

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the levels of food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of consumer. Design/methodology/approach In total, 1,161 volunteers were included in this study, which has been developed to measure the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of adults on food safety. Study data were collected through an online survey technique. Findings A statistically significant difference was determined between male and female participants and also at the education level considering total food safety attitude and practice scores (p < 0,001). It was determined that university graduates had higher scores at all scales than the median scores. When an assessment was made on the body mass index of the participants, it was seen that the implementation and attitude scales were statistically different from each other, and in paired comparisons on these scales, the average scores of normal-weight individuals were observed higher in the sub-dimensions than slightly obese individuals (p < 0.007; p < 0.001). Research limitations/implications Even though the population of the study was adults living in different cities, the results should not be generalized to all adults and the whole country. Also, the fact that the answers to the questions were not face-to-face, could create a bias. Although the reliability coefficient was found to be high, the data reported by the individuals participating in the study about their behavior formed the study results. Originality/value This study makes an important contribution to the literature. Determining the knowledge, attitude and behavior of consumers about food safety is important in ensuring food safety.

Enhancing hospitality and tourism graduate employability through the 2u2i program

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-144
Author(s):  
Mohd Fadil Mohd Yusof ◽  
Anthony Wong ◽  
Ghazali Ahmad ◽  
Roslizawati Che Aziz ◽  
Kashif Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Tourism Industry ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
University Administrators ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Graduate Employability ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Hospitality And Tourism ◽  
Hospitality And Tourism Industry ◽  
The University

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the concept of 2u2i – two years attachment with university and two years attachment with industry – a new learning mode introduced by the Ministry of Education as a strategy to enhance the employability of university undergraduate degree students in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach The new mode of undergraduate degree program requires the university and industry to collaborate on the design of the curriculum and development of student training programs. Based on a series of qualitative discussions, the paper draws on the perspectives of university administrators and selected practitioners from the hospitality and tourism industry who are interested in developing 2u2i curriculum and working together to enhance the overall employability of university graduates. The paper explains the issues and challenges in implementing the 2u2i program at a local public university as a case study in Malaysia. Findings The 2u2i program provides a significant opportunity for industry to collaborate with the university in enhancing competencies and relevant skills among degree graduates so that they are able to excel in the workplace. Some of the issues and challenges involve bureaucratic procedures, time constraints in developing the program with industry, delay in approval procedures of the program and extra costs highlighted in managing the program with industry. Despite several challenges relating to the implementation of the program, it is important for industry to collaborate with universities in designing relevant curriculum to augment the employability skills of university graduates in Malaysia. Originality/value This paper explores different strategies for engaging with industry practitioners so that they are able to work closely with the university in crafting academic curricula in the hospitality and tourism field. This is important because it enhances university graduate employability via a relevant curriculum based on input from the industry.

A dynamic capabilities view of employability

2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J Finch ◽  
Melanie Peacock ◽  
Nadege Levallet ◽  
William Foster
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Dynamic Capabilities ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
New Graduates

Purpose – The increasing demand for post-secondary education, and the ongoing difficulty students’ face in securing appropriate work upon program completion, highlight the importance of an enhanced understanding of employability resources for university graduates. Just as organizations achieve a strategic advantage from resources and dynamic capabilities (DCs), university graduates can similarly apply these principles and tactics to be competitive in the job market. The purpose of this paper is to ask the question: how can new graduates enhance their competitive advantage when entering the employment market? To address this question the authors propose to adopt the DCs framework to analyze the competitive advantage of a graduate and argue that university graduates can take specific steps to enhance their own competitive advantage in the labor market. Design/methodology/approach – An extensive review of the existing human resource and strategic management literature was used to develop a conceptual DCs model of employability. The core dimensions of the conceptual model were refined using 26 one-on-one interviews with employers of new university graduates. This study concludes by recommending specific empirical and experimental research to further test the model. Findings – The results from the qualitative study identified the importance of four specific resources that university graduates should possess: intellectual, personality, meta-skill and job-specific. In addition, the authors suggest that integrated DCs are crucial for enhancing the value of these individual resources. Both pre-graduate application and the construction of personal narratives are essential signals that university graduates can mobilize individual resources in a complementary and strategic manner, in real-world settings, to maximize value. Research limitations/implications – This is an exploratory study and is designed as a foundation for future empirical and experiential research. Practical implications – The findings suggest that, in order to increase employability, university students need to assume a DCs view of competitive advantage. As a result, students need to reflect on both their intrinsic and learned resources to create a systematic competitive advantage that is valued, rare and difficult to replicate or substitute. Social implications – This paper challenges students to assume a holistic view of education by recognizing education extends far beyond a classroom. Therefore, differentiation and value creation is reflected in the synthesis and application of both intrinsic and learned resources. Originality/value – The integration of strategic management and human resource literature is a unique theoretical approach to explore the drivers of graduate employability.

Bridging the Gap Between Marketing Education and the Marketing Profession

2021 ◽  
pp. 806-818
Author(s):  
David J. Finch ◽  
Sharon McIntyre
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Dynamic Capabilities ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Resource Based View ◽  
Marketing Education ◽  
Graduate Employability ◽  
New Graduate ◽  
Complex Integration ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Marketing Profession

Professionals and scholars have discussed the unprecedented pace of change currently experienced by businesses. The dynamics facing business today offer rich insight into the challenges facing university graduates. In this chapter, the authors apply a dynamic capabilities (DCs) view of new graduate employability. Dynamic capabilities theory is rooted in the resource-based view that posits organizations create a competitive advantage by acquiring or developing resources that are rare, valuable, and hard to imitate and replace. They argue that employability can be viewed as the complex integration and application of four specific DCs: (1) intelligence resources, (2) personality resources, (3) meta-skill resources, and (4) job-specific resources. The authors view new graduate competitive advantage as dependent on the ability of university graduates to mobilize and exploit the linkages of these resources throughout their university study years. In adopting these resource categories, they build on previous work and propose a conceptual model to evaluate a new graduate's competitive position in an employment marketplace. In this chapter, the authors provide a prescription for how educators and students can apply an integrated dynamic capability view of new graduate employability to support the professional development of marketing students through the development of a comprehensive personal product roadmap.

Business students’ perspectives on employability skills post internship experience

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mamie Griffin ◽  
Pedro Coelhoso
Keyword(s):  
Workforce Development ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Business Students ◽  
The Body ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Western World ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Gulf Region ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Internship Experience

PurposeEmployability skills of university graduates remain an ongoing topic for discussion and debate. Numerous studies highlight the expressed concerns of governments and industries about higher education’s ability to develop workforce ready graduates. An often cited solution is the use of internships to equip students with necessary employability skills. The purpose of this paper is to assess the status of employability skills from the perspective of students within a United Arab Emirates (UAE) institution based on their completion of a half-semester-long work placement experience.Design/methodology/approachUsing a largely qualitative instrument, students reflected on their internship experience to report the essential skills needed in the workplace, classroom activities that most prepared them to use such skills in the workplace and the various challenges they encountered as interns.FindingsOverall, students attributed a degree of importance to all skills addressed in the study with the greatest importance being attached to communication, teamwork and time management. Students indicated that most skills were addressed in the classroom; however, there appears to be a lack of awareness in the areas of critical thinking, self-management, intercultural skills and taking initiative.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study only addressed the perceptions of business students at one all-female UAE-based institution of higher learning. Therefore, the data collected may not be representative of students enrolled in other degree programs or institutions. However, the understanding of these participants’ experiences adds to the body of literature featuring business undergraduate work experiences – particularly for the UAE and Gulf region.Practical implicationsImplications for academic and professional practitioners are discussed. Findings and recommendations are informative for curriculum development as well as economic and workforce development agencies.Originality/valueThe literature is well documented with studies from the perspectives of multiple entities including employers and university faculty, mostly in the western world. Fewer studies examine the perception of students, and even fewer studies are based on students in the UAE and other Gulf countries.

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