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Unravelling the interplay between competencies, career preparedness, and perceived employability among postgraduate students: a structural model analysis

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Abstract

There is an ever-increasing demand for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to engage with the challenges of the changing labour market contexts and trends, such as the Fifth Industrial Revolution and the new normal. However, a major criticism is that higher education institutions do not often prepare graduates for real-life contexts. For that reason, it is not surprising that graduate employability and the competencies required have become the primary concerns of HEIs. Often, we see the phrases "competency" and "employability" presented in the literature as essential requirements for graduates to attain gainful employment streams. Some studies also present them as interrelated concepts. However, we seldom find studies that unravel their intertwined relationships. This article tries to bridge this gap by looking into the role of HEIs in promoting the development of competencies for employability. We used a structured questionnaire to collect the quantitative data from 389 postgraduate students enrolled in a generic stream from an Indian State, Kerala. This paper proposes and tests a structural model of relationships between the perceived competencies of the postgraduates and their perceived career preparedness and, subsequently, perceived employability. This paper also highlights the need to reimagine tertiary education to suit the demands of changing times.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Notes

  1. The wage gap in schooling has been one of the motivations for the demand to enter HEIs.

  2. Graduates also tend to earn more. Hence, more percentage of the population that attained higher education reduces the salary gap in society.

  3. GER is the total enrolment in a specific level of education, regardless of age, and a high GER generally indicates a high degree of participation.

  4. Behavioral samples demonstrated an improvement of 60%–70% one to two years after entry into the full-time MBA program, and 55%–65% and approximately 50% three to five years and five to seven years, respectively, after entry into the part-time MBA program.

  5. With 54,112 institutions and 38.5 million students in 2019–2020, India has one of the world’s most robust higher education systems (MHRD, 2019). With 38.5 million students enrolled, India is second only to China’s 41.8 million.

  6. Colleges with the highest NAAC (above A + grade in three consecutive accreditation cycles)/NIRF gradings (100 or below from the state)/the most prestigious government colleges under each university based on the year of establishment/public opinion were listed. In the initial stage, we identified and shortlisted different strata of colleges, such as government, government-aided, autonomous, women’s-only colleges under the four universities, in such a manner that all the abovementioned strata got represented in the sample. All departments in these colleges were listed. The selected colleges were those that attained a relatively high ranking score in the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) assessment or in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). The University Grant Commission reviews the standards of teaching and research in the higher education system in India (Gandhi, 2013; Gupta et al., 2010) and accredits Indian universities (Gupta and Gupta 2012). Its approach is similar to other quality assurance agencies worldwide (Shukla & Trivedi 2008). The National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) is the first-ever effort by the government to rank HEIs in the country. To rank an institution, it uses five parameters, namely, teaching, learning resources, research and professional practices, graduation outcomes, outreach and inclusivity, and perception. Moreover, we have included four of the oldest and most prestigious government colleges to ensure the representation of government colleges in the study.

  7. Methods based on self-reported competencies rely on the self-perceptions and assessments of students of their competencies. Self-reporting competencies is widely used in course-content evaluation and in several national and international surveys to assess higher education competencies. Studies have also demonstrated meaningful correlations between self-reported and observed behaviors (Baird et al. 2006; Braun et al., 2012).

  8. Twenty six filled-in questionnaires were not considered for the final analysis as they had missing data. In India, a traditional postgraduate program lasts for two years, and the final processed questionnaires reached nearly an equal number of first and second-year postgraduate respondents. The general assumption is that students possess different degrees of competencies at various stages of their postgraduate journey—before, during, and toward the end of their studies. As Jepsen and Neumann (2010) state, the difference in year of study denotes importance in the decision of a student in university term: before, during, or toward the end of the degree.

  9. Kim (2013) affirms that for sample sizes greater than 300, an absolute skewness value larger than 2 or an absolute kurtosis (proper) value larger than 7 may be used as reference values for determining substantial nonnormality.

  10. Kaiser (1974) presents the levels of factorial simplicity as follows: 90 s: marvelous, .80 s: meritorious, 70 s: middling, 60 s: mediocre, .50 s: miserable, and below .50: unacceptable.

  11. The Satorra–Bentler scaled chi-square test is robust to nonnormality. It also makes many other things robust to nonnormality, such as standard errors, p-values, and confidence intervals reported using SEM and those using the majority of post hoc comparisons and tests (Stata Corp, 2018).

  12. The optimal fitting value of the χ2 test for SEM would be p > 0.05 (Bentler and Bonett, 1980; Hu & Bentler, 1999; Mulaik et al., 1989). However, the χ2 test value is susceptible to sample size and not comparable among different SEMs; hence, extreme concern is not required (Hu & Bentler, 1999). The critical values of model fitting are as follows: χ2/df < 5 is acceptable; in practice, the CFI should be close to 0.95 or higher. TLI > 0.90 is acceptable; SRMR < 0.08, and RMSEA ≤ .06 could be considered acceptable (Hu & Bentler, 1999).

  13. Correlated measurement errors are frequently used post hoc to obtain an acceptable model fit to the data (Bagozzi, 1983; Fornell, 1983). We could resort to it “provided that it does not significantly alter the structural parameter estimates” (Fornell, 1983) or “unless it does not also significantly alter the measurement parameter estimates, and the results may be meaningful, subject to the caveat that the origins of the covariation are speculative” (Bagozzi, 1983). The author further reminds to keep the number of correlated measurement residuals small.

  14. In the case of the modified model presented, the correlated measurement errors significantly alter neither the structural parameter estimates nor the measurement parameter estimates (see Appendix 1 for the initial model without modification), and their number is kept to a minimum. Moreover, the error correlations between the indicators of speaking and presentation skills, speaking and writing skills, writing and presentation skills, listening and writing skills, and formulating new ideas and clearly expressing ideas in the SEM model reflect the interrelated nature of communication competence. These correlations indicate that common underlying factors influence multiple indicators, which suggests a shared construct of communication competence encompassing various aspects of effective communication. Regarding analytical and problem-solving competencies, we find the error correlations between the indicators using numeric ideas and techniques, forecasting and budgeting, and problem-solving. They arise due to the overlapping cognitive processes, skills, and knowledge required for these tasks. Individuals with robust abilities in one area are likely to demonstrate proficiency in related areas, which leads to error correlations between the indicators in the SEM model. A Similar underlying structural interconnectedness explains the error correlation of managerial competence and global competence indicators.

  15. A report by McKinsey Global Institute (2018).

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the reviewers' contributions, which helped us in finetuning the manuscript. We value and appreciate their time and contributions. The authors thank the reviewers for making such constructive and diligent observations which significantly contributed to the manuscript's improvement. The support received from the editor is also immense, and the authors take this opportunity to thank the editor in this regard.

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  1. Department of Personnel Management, Loyola College of Social Sciences, Trivandrum, 695017, India

    Ranjit I George

  2. School of Management And Labour Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, 400088, India

    Bino Paul

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Both authors contributed to the study's conception and design. RG performed material preparation, and data collection. BP provided the overall framework of this paper and played a significant role in conducting the appropriate statistical analysis, such as SEM and modifying the manuscript with periodic additions. RG wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and both authors commented on previous versions. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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We hereby assure you that the manuscript, Unravelling the Interplay between Competencies, Career Preparedness, and Perceived Employability among Postgraduate Students: A Structural Model Analysis, fulfils the following ethical requirements: (1) This manuscript is an original work that has neither been published nor is being considered for publication elsewhere. (2) The study details have been discussed with all the participants, and they have filled out an informed consent form before the data collection. The privacy and confidentiality of the data are upheld. (3) The paper properly credits the meaningful contributions of those involved in the study. (4) The results are appropriately placed in a prior and existing research context. (5) All sources used are correctly disclosed. (6) The authors have been actively involved in substantial work leading to the paper and will take public responsibility for its content. We agree with the above statements and declare that this submission follows the Guide for Authors outlined in the Ethics and Disclosure policies of the APER journal.

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I George, R., Paul, B. Unravelling the interplay between competencies, career preparedness, and perceived employability among postgraduate students: a structural model analysis. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 25, 439–457 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-023-09896-4

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