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Graduate employability: a conceptual framework for understanding employers’ perceptions

Higher Education volume 65, pages 457–469 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

This study provides a conceptual framework for understanding what employers think about the value of graduates with similar educational credentials in the workplace (their employability), using insights from the new institutionalism. In this framework, the development of employers’ beliefs about graduates’ employability is broken into a number of factors and mechanisms, including exogenous factors, initial signalling effects and the processes of both private and public learning. With such conceptualisation, this article discusses the implications for international higher education providers on how to improve their graduates’ employment by influencing employers’ beliefs.

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  1. Higher Education Group, School of Management, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Yuzhuo Cai

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  1. Yuzhuo Cai
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Cai, Y. Graduate employability: a conceptual framework for understanding employers’ perceptions. High Educ 65, 457–469 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9556-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9556-x

Keywords

  • Higher education
  • International education
  • Employers’ beliefs
  • Employability
  • Institutional theory