Do career competencies foster employability and

subjective career success in recent graduates?

The moderating role of the quality of university experience

A. Lo Presti*, V. Capone+, A. Aversano*, P. Spagnoli** Università degli studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”+ Università degli studi di Napoli “Federico II”

15.09.2017

XV Congresso Nazionale AIP «Sezione Psicologia per le Organizzazioni» - Caserta

Do universities need to care about graduate employability?

Graduate employability is defined as the ability to obtain and maintain work at a graduate level (Bridgstock, 2011)

and, in recent years, has increasingly been considered as a performance indicator for universities, assessed few

months after course completion;

The chief mechanism by which universities have generally engaged with the graduate employability agenda is via

the development of generic “key skills” (e.g., communication, problem solving) along with certain desirable

personal qualities;

However, several scholars suggest to assist students also in developing the propensity and abilities necessary to

take personal responsibility for their own career development, consistently with career self-management (King,

2004) and the protean career idea (Hall, 1976).

So, a research question is: what aspects of academic experience can foster graduate employability?

Choose a life. Choose a job. Choose a career. BE EMPLOYABLE?

Contemporary Western labour markets see organizations as less responsible for their employees’ career

development; in turn, workers are increasingly forced to personally take charge of it and develop their own

attractiveness, namely employability (Van Dam, 2004), both for their current and prospective employer;

Hall (1996:10) stated that workers need to have “a contract with oneself, rather than with the organization”;

Additionally, “subjective career success has become particularly important because it is believed that in the pursuit

of highly heterogeneous and unique career paths, only individuals themselves can meaningfully define and assess

their own career success with reference to self-defined standards, values, aspirations, etc.” (Colakoglu, 2011: 47);

Van der Heijde and van der Heijden (2006) found that employability predicted relevant criteria of both subjective

(i.e., job satisfaction, interpersonal, hierarchical, and financial career success, life satisfaction) and objective (i.e.,

number of promotions in the company and in the entire career, monthly gross income) career success. De Vos et

al. (2011) found that employability had a significant positive association with career satisfaction.

A second research question is: how graduates can increase their own employability and be satisfied about their

own career?

Career competenciesChi siamo? Dove andiamo? Da dove veniamo?

Career competencies have been conceptualized in several ways, even more than employability. DeFillippi & Arthur

(1994) distinguished between knowing-how, knowing-why, and knowing-whom competencies. Kuijpers &

Scheerens (2006) differentiated between career actualization, career reflection, motivation reflection, work

exploration, career control, networking; Akkermans et al. (2013) identified other 6 factors, and so on….

Apart from the different theorizations, career competencies have been found generally associated with favorable

occupational outcomes (career autonomy; Colakoglu, 2011), but especially with career success (Kuijpers, Schyns

& Scheerens, 2006; Abele & Spurk, 2009; De Vos, De Clippeleer & Dewilde, 2009); Additionally, few studies

focused on graduates (Sturges, Simpson & Altman, 2003; De Vos et al., 2009; Bridgstock, 2011; Greer & Waight,

2017) highlighting the positive associations between career competencies and graduates’ career success;

In the present study, we focused on three aspects that are closely related to the knowing-why competency (i.e., the

extent of understanding one has with regard to own needs, abilities, interests, etc. related to work experiences):

a) career insight; b) career planning; c) career self-efficacy;

So, the final question is: can career competencies be helpful in fostering graduates’ employability and career

success, taking into account the quality of academic experience?

Research model(T3 in progress)

Career competencies

Employability activities

Subjective career success

Quality of

university

experience

T1 T2 (six months later)

MethodParticipants

Graduation Six months later Twelve months later

55 men (35.3%)

101 women (64.7%)

71 (45.5%) had

previous work

experiences

Mean age 26.34

years (SD 2.33)

146 men (31.5%)

318 women (68.5%)

227 (48.9%) had

previous work

experiences

Mean age 25.69

years (SD 3.37)

MethodMeasures

VariableNo. of items

Sample item α

Career competencies

Day & Allen, 2004

24

Career insight: «I know my strengths (what I can do well) »

.88Gould, 1979 Career planning: «I change my career objectives frequently»

Kossek et al., 1998

Career self-efficacy: «I rely on myself to accomplish my career goals»

Academic satisfaction (Magnano, Lodi & Boerchi, 2015)

3 Choice: «to have attended this degree course» .86

3 Services: «Because my university was equipped with adequate equipment» .90

3 Networking: «Because I had study mates with whom I enjoyed studying» .91

3Competencies: «Because I feel I have achieved the academic goals I set at the time of enrollment»

.69

3 Employm. Prospects: «Because I feel that my degree will be helpful for my future career» .91

Employability activities (Van Dam, 2004)

6 «I do a lot to manage my career» .74

Subjective career success (Rothwell & Arnold, 2007)

8 «I am satisfied with the progress I have made towards meeting my overall career goals” .93

ResultsDescriptives and zero-order correlations

Note: a 1 = man, 2 = woman; b 0 = not, 1 = yes; *** p < .001, ** p < .01, * p < .05.

M (SD) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1) Sex a

2) Experience b -.24**

3) Career competencies 69.61 (12.28) -.03 .07

4) Choice 9.93 (2.45) -.02 -.13 .37***

5) Services 5.88 (3.39) -.11 -.01 .13 .23**

6) Networking 9.24 (2.78) .13 .07 .20* .21* .14

7) Competencies 9.63 (2.23) .12 .03 .47*** .54*** .14 .33***

8) Employment prospects 8.83 (2.91) -.01 -.10 .45*** .75*** .28*** .21** .48***

9) Employability activities 17.97 (3.52) -.01 -.01 .20* .02 .05 .12 .18* .09

10) Subjective career

success20.74 (8.15) -.19* .08 .30*** .29*** .08 .18* .28*** .27** .24**

ResultsBootstrapped regressions on employability activities (one model for each moderator)

Employability activities (B)

Choice Networking Employment prospects Services Competencies

Sex a .04 -.09 .06 .02 -.02

Experience b -.01 -.01 -.05 -.02 -.04

Career

competencies.27** .20* .26** .19* .18

Facets of

academic

experience

.01 .12 .01 .03 .13

Career

competencies *

Facets of

academic

experience

.14** .19* .14* .07 .07

R2 .09* .09* .08* .05 .06

Simple slope analysis (B [LLCI, ULCI])

- 1 SD .47 [-.16, 1.11] .04 [-.69, .76] .41 [-.25, 1.08]

+ 1 SD 1.38*** [.66, 2.11] 1.37*** [.59, 2.14] 1.44** [.59, 2.29]

Note: a 1 = man, 2 = woman; b 0 = not, 1 = yes; *** p < .001, ** p < .01, * p < .05.

ResultsEmployability activities as a function of career competencies and satisfaction about choice

ResultsEmployability activities as a function of career competencies and satisfaction about networking

ResultsEmployability act. as a function of career competencies and satisf. about employment prospects

ResultsBootstrapped regressions on subjective career success (one model for each moderator)

Subjetive career success (B)

Choice Networking Employment prospects Services Competencies

Sex a -2.54 -2.92* -2.61* -2.89* -3.28*

Experience b 1.09 -.01 .71 .35 .25

Career competencies 1.48* 1.76* 1.62* 2.09** 1.6*

Facets of academic experience 2.08** .98 1.49* .14 1.81*

Employability activities 1.49* 1.61* 1.39* 1.54* 1.25*

Career competencies * Facets of

academic experience.35 -.90 .45 -.61 .55

R2 .20*** .18*** .18*** .16*** .19***

Conditional indirect effect (B [LLCI, ULCI])

- 1 SD .20 [-.06, .63] .02 [-.40, .44] .16 [-.10, .72] .19 [-.16, 1] .13 [-.10, .65]

+ 1 SD .59 [.13, 1.26] .62 [.16, 1.57] .57 [.09, 1.38] .40 [.06, 1.1] .32 [.01, .96]

Index of moderated mediation .21 [.04, .53] .30 [.04, .82] .20 [.01, .61] .10 [-.19, .52] .09 [-.04, .38]

Note: a 1 = man, 2 = woman; b 0 = not, 1 = yes; *** p < .001, ** p < .01, * p < .05.

ConclusionsWhat do we know now?

Consistently with, for instance, Van der Heijde and van der Heijden (2006) career competencies predicted

employability activities at t2;

Such positive association was stronger among those graduates who were more satisfied about their vocational

choice, the social network they developed when at the university, and their employment prospects;

Employability partially mediated the association between career competencies and subjective career success (De

Vos et al., 2011);

The direct effect from career competencies to subjective career success did not depend on levels of academic

satisfaction’s facets. It derives that these moderators have rather a role in promoting intermediate activies, such as

employability activities, but on the direct effect between these two variables;

A moderated mediation was found given that the indirect effect of career competencies, through employability

activities, on subjective career success, was significant only among those graduates who, again, were more

satisfied about their vocational choice, the social network they developed when at the university, and their

employment prospects.

Implications

What do universities need to do?

Graduate employability (Bridgstock, 2011) needs to be targeted by universities through actions whose

purposes are:

- Fostering career competencies aimed at increasing graduates skills about planning their own

career development, be aware of their own career strength and weaknesses, developing

confidence about their control on their own career;

- Teach those activities and strategies through which individuals can develop their own

employability;

- Develop a 360 degrees strategy aimed at increasing students’ and prospective graduates’

satisfaction about, first, their vocational choice, the social networks they (will) develop(ed), their

future employment prospects and, second, the competencies and knowledge they (will)

acquire(d), and the university services they (will) benefit(ed);

Implications

How can universities do that?

From a practical point of view, it means investing on:

- Higher quality vocational services, aimed at increasing person-degree fit (is this degree what I

really want and I am suited for?);

- Higher quality career and placement services, with the purpose of developing graduates and

nearly graduates career competencies, employability and job-search activities, as well as

employment prospects (e.g., contacts with prospective employers and professional bodies);

- Degree courses closer to labour market’s needs and requirements, both on technical and non-

technical skills;

- Offering an university experience facilitating networking between students, faculty, alumni,

external stakeholders, as well as supporting students through their whole academic life.

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

Contacts

E-mail: alessandro.lopresti@unicampania.it

AIP Research Group «Work in Progress»: http://www.aipass.org/node/6938

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