Perceived Employability in Difficult Economic Times

Berglund, Tomas; Wallinder, Ylva

doi:10.1080/14616696.2015.1120879

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, the burden of unemployment is concentrated amongst the youths between 15 and 34 years as they make up about 63.4 percent of the total number of unemployed persons in the country. Taking the aforementioned background into consideration, many graduates in South Africa perceive that their future employment is at risk, and thus feel the need to become unique in terms of employability (Brown and Hesketh, 2004;Berglund and Wallinder, 2015). In such an uncertain job market environment, perceived employability is particularly important for understanding how graduates view the value of their academic credentials and degree programs (Greer and Waight, 2017).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, Paadi (2014) asserts that although higher education institutions produce many qualified graduates from across different field of studies on a yearly basis, almost half of these graduates become frustrated as they are unable to secure jobs in the labor market, as the current labor market is characterized by uncertainty and job insecurity. Many graduates in South Africa perceive that their future employment is at risk, and thus feel the need to become unique in terms of employability (Brown and Hesketh, 2004;Berglund and Wallinder, 2015). In such a situation, how graduates perceive their employability (in other words, the graduates' assessment of their possibilities of finding jobs in the labor market) is vital.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

An empirical study of personality traits, job market appraisal and self-perceived employability in an uncertain environment

Neneh

2019

HESWBL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether personality traits play a significant role in understanding students’ self-perceived employability and test if the associations are influenced by the student’s job market appraisal. This is important as perceptions about one’s employability hold invaluable importance for students in uncertain job environments as they might need to form strategies to cope with unemployment until they find a job. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 296 using a questionnaire survey approach and analyzed using hierarchical regression to test the hypothesized associations. Findings The findings showed that agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience are positive and significantly associated with self-perceived employability. Also, job market appraisal played a momentous role in predicting self-perceived employability both directly and via interaction with conscientiousness and openness to experience. Practical implications The present study is valuable to different stakeholders such as educators, employers and students as it identifies the personality dispositions that should be encouraged among students while also indicating the need for fostering student’s reappraisal of uncertain job markets. Originality/value This study presents new evidence on the application of the appraisal theory by indicating the interaction between personality traits and cognitive appraisal. This advances the current theoretical understanding of the mechanism through which personality traits can best explain individual differences in self-perceived employability.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An empirical study of personality traits, job market appraisal and self-perceived employability in an uncertain environment

Neneh

2019

HESWBL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Stretching the agentic idea one step further implies that lack of employability is an individual shortcoming (Crisp & Powell, 2017;Kovalenko & Mortelmans, 2016). This has been criticised by opponents as supply side orthodoxy (Berglund & Wallinder, 2015;Tomlinson, 2012). The risk is a potential Matthew effect and increased polarisation of the labour market: The highly employable are likely to become more employable, and the low employable to become even less employable.…”

Section: Blind Spot 3: Employability Is Polarisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall: Provoking the agency perspective in employability research

Forrier

Cuyper

Akkermans

2018

Human Res Mgmt Journal

133

153

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper, we provoke the strong focus on personal agency in employability research. We counter three dominant assumptions in the literature, namely, (a) that employability is an individual asset, (b) that employability is owned by the individual, and (c) that employability leads to positive outcomes. A key observation is that the three dominant theories that are being used in employability studies, namely, human capital theory, conservation of resources theory, and social exchange theory, also question these core agency assumptions that form the basis of those studies. Based on these theories, we identify three blind spots in employability research: Employability is (a) contextual, (b) relational, and (3) polarising. Taken together, we make the case that the agency perspective overlooks a potential dark side of employability: The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall. We outline a future research agenda on this potential dark side of employability.

show abstract

“…Women, especially mothers of small children, tend to experience greater difficulty in finding suitable employment than men. In addition, men are on average more optimistic and tend to perceive better opportunities than women (Berglund and Wallinder, 2015). Concerning age, both young adults at the beginning of their careers and older individuals at the end of their working life are more at risk of experiencing difficulties in finding (new) employment.…”

Section: Individual-level Determinants Of Perceived Employabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In regard to perceived employability, in a study on hospitality and tourism workers from Greater London, Croucher et al (2018) find support for a positive effect of education. In addition, using data from the fifth wave of the European Social Survey on employed individuals who were asked to evaluate how difficult or easy it would be for them to get a similar or better job if they had to leave their current job, Berglund and Wallinder (2015) also show that education positively affects perceived employability.…”

Section: Individual-level Determinants Of Perceived Employabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning to keep the faith? Further education and perceived employability among young unemployed

Mühlböck

Steiber

Kittel

2020

Economic and Industrial Democracy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To keep up job search motivation and maintain re-employment chances, it is important that unemployed individuals do not stop believing in their ability to (re)gain satisfying employment. This article examines whether further education during unemployment has a positive effect on perceived employability (i.e. the subjective assessment of one’s chances to obtain the desired job), based on a panel survey of unemployed young adults in Austria. The article finds that educational activities – either on own initiative or as part of an active labor market program – indeed help to sustain or even increase perceived employability. However, only for long-term programs do the effects persist beyond the duration of the activity. This study thus identifies substantial psychological side effects of active labor market policies involving further education, which could be used to increase actual employability.

show abstract

Perceived Employability in Difficult Economic Times

Cited by 15 publications

References 32 publications

An empirical study of personality traits, job market appraisal and self-perceived employability in an uncertain environment

An empirical study of personality traits, job market appraisal and self-perceived employability in an uncertain environment

The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall: Provoking the agency perspective in employability research

Learning to keep the faith? Further education and perceived employability among young unemployed

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About