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This study aims to investigate the impacts of soft skills possessed by graduates from a public university on their employment opportunity. Previous studies revealed that soft skills are crucial for their employability. A total of 234 graduates were selected as the sample of this study. The data analysis by SPSS found that employability was positively associated with leadership skills, teamwork skills, and communication skills. Furthermore, leadership skills possessed by graduates have the strongest influence on employment opportunities among the three independent variables. The study adds more information to the current debate in this area and provides practical contributions to the management of the university, particularly in planning various students’ upskilling programmes to increase the rate of graduate employability. The findings suggest that the university should focus on leadership, teamwork, and communication skills in the teaching and learning process.
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Abstract This study aims to investigate the impacts of soft skills possessed by graduates
from a public university on their employment opportunity. Previous studies revealed that soft
skills are crucial for their employability. A total of 234 graduates were selected as the sample
of this study. The data analysis by SPSS found that employability was positively associated
with leadership skills, teamwork skills, and communication skills. Furthermore, leadership
skills possessed by graduates have the strongest influence on employment opportunities
among the three independent variables. The study adds more information to the current debate
in this area and provides practical contributions to the management of the university,
particularly in planning various students’ upskilling programmes to increase the rate of
graduate employability. The findings suggest that the university should focus on leadership,
teamwork, and communication skills in the teaching and learning process.
Keywords: Graduate Employability, Soft Skills, Business Students.
1. Introduction
Nowadays, there is an increasing emphasis being placed on soft skills in the workplace.
Employees can develop their soft skills by participating in various training programmes at
their workplace. Besides that, higher education institutions also play an important role in
developing soft skills (Kyllonen, 2013). According to Nusrat and Sultana (2019),
competitiveness in the current marketplace and soft skills are must-have skills. A
student’s soft skill can be defined as his or her abilities, skills, traits, attitudes, behaviour
personality, rather than technical knowledge. Soft skills have been considered as one of the
crucial qualities sought in the corporate world. John (2009) mentions that modern
corporations demand candidates who have the knowledge and soft skills that can be
beneficial to the organisation.
The Role of Soft Skills on
Business Graduates Employability
Journal of
Entrepreneurship and Business
E-ISSN: 2289-8298
Vol. 7, Issue 2, pp. 83 - 94. Dec. 2019
Faculty of Entrepreneurship and
Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan
Locked Bag 36, 16100 Pengkalan Chepa
Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia
http://fkp.umk.edu.my/journal/index.html
Date Received: 1st November 2019
Date Accepted:22th December 2019
DOI: 10.17687/JEB.0702.07
Ahmad Ridhuwan Abdullah (Corresponding Author)
Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan
City Campus, Pengkalan Chepa
16100 Kota Bharu, Kelantan
Email: ridhuwan.a@umk.edu.my
Mohd Zulkifli Muhammad
Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan
City Campus, Pengkalan Chepa
16100 Kota Bharu, Kelantan
Email: zulkifli.m@u mk.edu.my
Noorul Azwin Md Nasir
Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan
City Campus, Pengkalan Chepa
16100 Kota Bharu, Kelantan
Email: azwin@umk.edu.my
This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
License
Ahmad Ridhuwan, Mohd Zulkifli & Noorul Azwin
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The Department of Statistics, Malaysia revealed that the average unemployment rate was 5
(3.3%) in Malaysia from year 2015 until 2019. During this period, most of the graduates
did not get a job due to the lack of basic soft skills required by the employers. It is
important for university students to have extra skills rather than academic knowledge
(Credé & Kuncel, 2008). The employers perceive that students are not prepared to face the
workplace and they expect the universities to improve and produce more employable
graduates (Spowart, 2011). The skills can be achieved through various activities or
programmes related to the teaching and learning process.
The teaching and learning methods must be properly planned, organised, and executed at
the universities to enhance the academic competence of students in every aspect such as
leadership, teamwork, and communication. From the programme, students can improve
their soft skills before facing pursuing their careers. Unemployment among graduates can
be overcomed by gaining employability skills and technical skills. Many solutions can
improve the skills of graduates regarding their marketability. Hence, the government can
encourage Malaysian students to improve their soft skills that can improve the economic
level and motivate fresh graduates to become more successful with better soft skills. Most
graduates have to deal with obstacles in getting a job because they have to compete with
others who have excellent soft skills. Programmes on learning methods should be
organised in universities to improve the academic competence of the students in all
aspects. This approach can help students to develop and polish their skills for their career
as effective skills training can produce graduates who are educated and skilful. According
to Nusrat and Sultana (2019), soft skills are must-have” skills due to the competitive
nature in the current marketplace for job seekers.
This paper aims to explore the importance of soft skills by investigating their effects on
graduate employability before suggesting the best skills. This study focuses on three
elements, namely communication skills, teamwork skills, and leadership skills. Soft skills
have been appointed as a set of crucial skills required by future work in the corporate
world. As stated by John (2009), modern corporations often seek candidates who possess
this set of skills that are beneficial to the organisation. The purpose of this study is to
promote awareness among university students in equipping themselves with related soft
skills before pursuing their careers. The skills are beneficial in equipping graduates to
become more competitive and efficient at their workplace.
The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of soft skills on the employability
among Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) graduates. It is believed that this study will
help the students to become aware of the importance of the required soft skills. They
should know that graduates with better soft skills have a better chance of their career
compared to those who lack the skills. This study has four research objectives and four
research questions to achieve the aim:
2. Literature Review
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Soft skills are considered as people's skills or personality-specific skills. Soft skills are
non-technical and intangible which are also known as personality-specific skills that can
determine an individual's strength as a leader, listener, negotiator, and conflict mediator.
Soft skills are the traits and abilities of attitude and behaviour rather than knowledge or
technical aptitude (John, 2009). Soft skills are skills that add more value to the hard skills
equipped by an individual. The skills are not a substitute for hard or technical skills, but
they act as harmonising skills that unlock the prospective for highly effective performance
in people with good hard skills.
2.1 Leadership Skills
According to Crowne (2019), leadership is a process of influencing others and it is an
important resource for any group. Sheriff et al. (2017) define leadership as the art of
motivating a group of people to achieve a common goal. Gerhardt (2019) states that the
research serves as an intervention between students’ leadership and their confidence in
employment. The research was conducted in London and used the qualitative method
which has been used as a module across nine disciplines and numerous projects on
leadership. The sample used five group leaders among the students which were evaluated
using content analysis for planning phase, learning, and reflection. The project was
conducted in week 2 during the tutorial session which emphasize on leadership topic .This
phase takes approximately a week to complete the methodology. The reflection of the
group is on their experiences, work-based application, and knowledge. This study
hypothesised that leadership skills would positively affect employment among graduates.
Nolan-Arañez and Ludvik (2018) mention that a leader’s perspective on leadership
development activities can influence the employability rate among graduates. The research
was conducted in the United States of America (USA) and used the qualitative method.
The sample was ten students who were leaders during the Spring programme 2015 the
students were paired with a mentor to complete the leadership development programme
within two months. The programme has four sections which are leadership workshop, self-
assessment, community service painting murals, and reflection paper. The community
service required students to paint with disabled individuals. Next, Nga and Wai Mun
(2013) studied the effect of leadership towards the organizational changed amongb
business students and the result showed that there was a highly correlated between
leadership and organization change between them.
According to Kelly (2017), undergraduate students need to be well-equipped in facing their
profession in the future. This research was conducted in Australia and used the qualitative
approach. The sample for this research was 100 respondents from the university. The
section describes the leadership skills of graduates in Australia. The section is based on the
week that they want to conduct their research. The researcher took seven weeks to
complete the study and found that leadership skills are critical for the students. The
respondents provided their opinion on important leadership skills to pursue their careers.
Therefore, the study hypothesised the following:
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H1: Leadership skills will positively affect employment among graduates.
2.2 Teamwork Skills
Teamwork can affect the performance and effectiveness of an organisation when the team
members have abilities, knowledge, and skills by working in teams (Hanaysha, 2016).
Furthermore, Gerhardt (2019) studied on the the proficiency of soft skills towards
employability among students. This research was conducted in Tanzania using the
quantitative approach. The questionnaires were answered by 221 respondents in the
Institute of Social Work (ISW) who were in their final year for bachelor's degrees and
postgraduate degrees. The researcher used a two-sample test to examine the teamwork skill
of the individuals. The result revealed a significant positive correlation between teamwork
skills and employment among university students. Therefore, the study hypothesised that
teamwork skills would positively affect employment among graduates.
According to Majid, Liming, Tong, and Raihana (2012), there was a correlation between
students’ perception of the importance of soft skills towards employment. This research
was conducted in Singapore and used the quantitative method to collect data from four
universities in Singapore. The survey focused on teamwork skills among the four
universities on 188 students from several courses. The findings revealed a positive
correlation for the importance of soft skills in teamwork skills towards employability.
Therefore, the study hypothesised that teamwork skills would positively affect
employment among graduates. Riebe, Roepen, Santarelli, and Marchioro (2010) identified
the effectiveness of university programmes in teaching students about teamwork skills and
future employment. This research was conducted in Australia using quantitative
approaches which are questionnaires and two online surveys. The research revealed the
positive correlation for the effectiveness of university programmes towards employability.
Therefore, the study hypothesised that teamwork skills will positively affect the
employment among graduates.
Nusrat and Sultana (2019) identified the most desired soft skills sought by recruiters for
business graduates in employment and potential candidates. The study was done in
Bangladesh using a quantitative approach that focuses on university-level business
education institutes and recruiters of entry-level business graduates. The result showed a
positive correlation between all the soft skills to sustain employment among business
graduates. Therefore, the study hypothesises the following:
H2: Teamwork skills will positively affect employment among graduates.
2.3 Communication Skills
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Communication is defined as a process to understand the environment and themselves
from the characteristic that happens in levels non-conscious, semi-conscious and conscious
(Salleh, Sulaiman, Mohamad & Sern, 2017). Oussii and Klibi (2017) stated that there is a
correlation between communication skills and employment. This research was conducted
in Australia on 180 students. The students were divided into two groups. First, different
profiles of students were classified based on their average grade. Second, the classification
was made based on the different students’ socio-economic profiles. The study found that
there was a significant association between communication skills and employment
profession after graduating. Therefore, the study hypothesised that communication skills
would positively affect employment among graduates.
Salleh et al. (2017) mentioned that there is a correlation among the soft skills like
collaboration skills, communication skills, and entrepreneurship towards employment. This
study was conducted in Malaysia using the quantitative approach. The respondents were
selected based on the predetermined criteria, including the respondents should be students
or lecturers from the five different institutions. The questionnaires were distributed online
and obtained 534 responses. The study used a cross-sectional design to collect data from
the respondents. The findings reveal high mean score values in communication skills
which explains the importance of communication skills towards employment after
graduating. Therefore, the study hypothesised that communication skills would positively
affect employment among graduates.
Third, Hassall, Arquero, Joyce, and Gonzalez (2013) show further evidence of a positive
relationship between communication skills and employment among students. This result
was obtained from questionnaires answered by students in the United Kingdom (UK).
There had two questionnaires: 1) the first is about oral communication; and 2) the second
is the questionnaire used to measure written and oral communication. The findings
revealed that there is a strong relationship between communication skills and employment
among the students. The study hypothesised that communication skills would positively
affect employment among graduates. According to San-Valero et al. (2018), there is a
relationship between communication skills and employment in an engineering course.
They utilised a qualitative approach by selecting a sample from students who are pursuing
Master’s degree in engineering programme in the United States of America (USA). The
training focused on verbal, non-verbal, written, and graphical communication. The
students were asked randomly in an open session in which they have to make a short video
that supports the documentation. The lecturers also assisted the students for the responses.
Therefore, the study hypothesised the following:
H3: Communication skills will positively affect employment among graduates.
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2.4 Employability
Employability is a set of skills, knowledge, and personal attributes that contribute to the
individuals’ security and successfulness to be selected in their chosen career for the benefit
of themselves, the workforce, the community, and the economy (O’Leary, 2013).
According to O’Leary (2013), there is a positive soft skill collaboration on the opportunity
to get employed among the graduates. This research was conducted in London using both
qualitative and quantitative methods with primary research that added some material for
debate and secondary research that obtained previous works. The sample was 104
graduates from different universities. The findings revealed a positive correlation between
soft skill indication and employment needed by university students.
Stewart, Wall, and Marciniec (2016) stated that soft skills are considered the most valuable
for preparing graduates for employment. The research was conducted in the UK using the
qualitative approach. The sample was 214 college students from four universities in which
45.8% of the respondents were seniors, 52.8% of them were juniors, and the remaining
respondents were random students. The findings revealed a positive correlation for the soft
skills in preparing students for employment after graduating.
Camps and Rodríguez (2011) found a correlation between individuals’ performance and
their transformational leadership behaviour towards employment. The employability is
considered as an individual’s phenomenon that is mediated by organisational learning
capability. The sample was 795 students in Spain which were analysed using the
quantitative method. The findings revealed a positive correlation between worker-
perceived organisational, employability perceptions, leadership, perception, and
performance that have a significant influence on employment.
3. Methodology of the Study
The study utilised the quantitative research design to examine the causal effects on a set of
predictors towards the outcome variable. The target population of the study is graduates
from bachelor in the business programme, University Malaysia Kelantan (UMK). The
population has four cohorts of graduates from year 2015 until 2018 with a total of 590
students as follows: 81 students in 2015, 111 students in 2016, 218 students in 2017, and
180 students in 2018. The survey was distributed to them with 20% response rate or 140
responses.
4. Findings and Discussion
The findings are presented according to the research objectives to measure the influence of
communication skills, leadership skills, and team skills on job opportunities among
graduates. This study had 140 respondents and obtained the consistency reliability or the
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Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients of the three independent and dependent variables
as shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Reliability Test
Cronbach’s Alpha
N of Items
Leadership Skills
.752
9
Teamwork Skills
.806
12
Communication Skills
.873
9
The results reveal that the Cronbach’s alpha values for the following: 1) 0.752 for the
nine items of leadership skills; 2) 0.806 for the twelve items of teamwork skills; and 3)
0.873 for the nine items of communication skills. The internal consistency reliability of
the measure used in this study can be considered as good. The result means that the
questionnaire regarding leadership skills, teamwork skills, and communication skills is
acceptable.
Table 2: Descriptive Statistics
Variables
Employment
Teamwork
Skills
Communication
Skills
Mean
4.5929
4.4071
4.2714
Median
4.5000
4.5000
4.000
Std. Deviation
.39139
.46297
.54102
The mean values for employment among UMK graduates (DV) are 4.5929. The result
means that most of the respondents agreed with the employment among UMK graduates.
The standard deviation for the dependent variable (employment) is 0.39139 and the mean
value for leadership skills is 4.3000. The result reveals that the respondents agreed that
leadership skills influence employment among UMK graduates. The standard deviation
for leadership skills is 0.48280 and the mean value for the teamwork skills is 4.4071. The
respondents agreed that perceived usefulness has positively contributed to employment
among UMK graduates. The standard deviation for leadership skills is 0.46297 and the
mean value for communication skills is 4.2714. The result means that most of the
respondents agreed that communication skills influence employment among UMK
graduates with the standard deviation of 0.54102. The normality for this study is not
normal because the result is lower than 0.05. This issue might be due to the focus on
students from UMK only. This normality is referred from Shapiro-Wilk. The assumption
for normality data is violated due to the sufficiently large sample size that reduces the
effects of non-normality. According to Joseph F Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson, and
Tatham (1998), larger sample sizes reduce the detrimental effects of non-normality.
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Table 3: Coefficients
Variable
Coefficients
t-statistics
p-value
VIF
Constant
19.253
4.463
.000
Leadership skills
.509
4.690
.000
1.589
Teamwork skills
.219
2.400
.018
1.634
Communication
skills
.252
2.930
.004
1.608
a. Dependent Variable: Employability
Regression Model:
Employment = 19.253 + 0.509Leadership + 0.219Teamwork + 0.252Communication + ε
Research Model:
Note: * coefficients are significant at p < 0.05
** coefficients are significant at p < 0.01
The results from the multiple linear regression analysis show that there is a significant
linear positive relationship between leadership skills and employment; thus, supporting
H1. For every increase in the unit of leadership, the employment will increase by 0.509
(adjusted b=0.51, 95%, CI 0.29, 0.72, p˂0.001) and this result shows that teamwork
skills and communication skills are constant. Next, there is a significant linear positive
relationship between teamwork skills and employment; hence, supporting H2. For every
increase in the unit of teamwork, the employment will increase by 0.219 (adjusted
b=0.22, 95%, CI 0.04, 0.39, p˂0.001). This result shows that leadership skills and
communication skills are constant. There is a significant linear positive relationship
between communication skills and employment; thus, supporting H3. For every increase
Leadership skills
Teamwork skills
Communication skills
Employability
0.509**
0.219*
0.252**
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in the unit of communication, the employment will increase by 0.252 (adjusted b=0.25,
95%, CI 0.08, 0.42, p˂0.001). This result shows that leadership skills and teamwork
skills are constant. Furthermore, 45.5% of the variation in employment is explained by
leadership skills, communication skills, and teamwork skills according to the multiple
linear regression model (R²=0.455).
Lastly, the VIF value of leadership skills is 1.59, teamwork skills is 1.63, and
communication skills is 1.61. There are argument about the VIF that accepted <10, but
some papers mention that the limit of VIF is only 5. Joseph F. Hair (2018) stated that the
maximum level for VIF is 10, whereas Ecke, Bergman, and Lagerkvist (1998) agreed
that the maximum level for VIF is 5. This result is acceptable based on the argument by
Hair (2018) and Ecke et al. (1998). The VIF for all independent variables are less than 10
and less than 5. Hence, they are unbiased or free from any multicollinearity issue.
5. Conclusion and Implications
This study investigated the effects of possessing the three basic soft skills (i.e., leadership
skills, teamwork skills, and communication skills) among graduates on employability. The
findings suggested that all the independent variables are crucial factors to enhance the
employability of UMK students. The four objectives in Chapter 1 reveal that employability
has a relationship with all the independent variables on employment among graduates.
The first objective shows that the soft skills that have the most influence on graduates
employment are leadership skills. The second objective, which is leadership skills, can
affect employment among graduates. For the third and fourth objectives, which are
teamwork and communication skills, they have an impact on employment among
graduates. Good soft skills are very important for employment among graduates.
The outcome of the study revealed that all the independent variables affect employability
among graduates. Overall, the first objective identified leadership skills as the skills that
have the most effect on employability. The second, third, and fourth objectives revealed
that the relationship between leadership skills, teamwork skills, and communication skills
affect the employability among graduates. According to the previous research, it can be
concluded that soft skills are important in ensuring the employability and marketability of
the students. Therefore, they must focus on improving their soft skills, particularly
leadership skills, teamwork skills, and communication skills to enhance the employability
of graduates.
This research can be used for business schools such as universities and colleges to
improve their education module so that graduates can secure their jobs after completing
their studies. The acquired knowledge and the skills from the university will help them in
seeking jobs. Universities can ensure the development of roles and projects that allow
students to challenge themselves besides providing training programmes that offer on-
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the-job opportunities for growth. Engaging students at all levels with strategic direction
and decision-making will also encourage them to pursue the leadership roles. Graduates
have a strong desire for clarity in their career development. Furthermore, another task-
based method for improving student communication skills can be done through critical
thinking exercises. This method can be done verbally or written form so that the students
can answer the questions using their words and expressions. Lastly, all members need to
contribute to the project with their assigned task for teamwork.
Furthermore, this study can be used for study purposes. The findings will be valuable to
university or college students who want to research on the importance of soft skills towards
students. All the collected and analysed data are valid. The independent variable shows a
positive relationship with the dependent variables. It is believed that more factors need to
be included in the research model besides leadership skills, teamwork skills, and
communication skills in affecting employability among graduates. Lastly, future
researchers should explore other factors that may interact with soft skills.
6. Limitation and Suggestions for Future Research
The study is limited to the graduates in a business programme in Malaysia. Therefore,
future studies should consider expanding the study area and collecting information from
both business and non-business students. This strategy will provide comparative results
and produce interesting insights.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
No funding was involved in this research.
Acknowledgement
N/A
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... It will help the students in attaining their academic goals. These general skills range from communication, teamwork, and leadership (Abdullah et al., 2021) to the technical skills that are required across each discipline. Skills will help students excel in their academic life and gain employment. ...
Chapter
Full-text available
In this dynamic world, filled with opportunities and cut-throat competition, skill sets are necessary to find a job and kick-start the graduate's career. Students with different skill sets can solve problems by looking at them from different angles, which is a key factor in obtaining jobs. The researchers have identified the four disciplines—commerce and managemet, computer science, psychology and engineering—as the key domains in the 21st century for better employability. From the literature, researchers have identified the skills and their application in the proposed domain and the ways to upskill the identified skills. The study's implications are a ready reckoner for stakeholders—educators, hiring organizations, students, policymakers, researchers, government, and institutions—for better industry-academic collaboration and understanding of the skill set required for job orientation.
... Including team work in courses also has the potential to develop specific students' skills, such as the ability to work effectively with others, communicate, collaborate on decision-making, and manage conflicts (Abdullah et al., 2019;Chavan & Carter, 2018;Jackson et al., 2014;Figure 1.1 Potential team work learning outcomes at the individual level Lowden et al., 2011;Senior et al., 2010;Teo et al., 2012). Some educators have developed an approach that relies heavily on insights coming from industrial and organizational psychology to develop team work knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) or team work competencies (Bedwell et al., 2014;Brutus & Donia, 2010;Chen et al., 2004;Kemery & Stickney, 2014;Martín-Pérez et al., 2013;Stevens & Campion, 1994;Stout et al., 1997). ...
... Sitompul et al. (2017) studied the importance of soft skills for the graduates of a tourism academy and found that soft skills significantly affected the working quality of the graduates. In their study at a Malaysian university, Abdullah et al. (2019) looked at the effects of soft skills acquired by graduates on their career opportunities and discovered that employability was favourably connected with leadership abilities, teamwork skills, and communication skills, among other characteristics. Towards the end of the first quarter of the 21 st century, members of Generation Z have already started taking positions in the workforce of organisations. ...
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In the ever-changing employment world, HR departments in all sectors are highly meticulous while hiring persons for all sorts of positions for organizations. What they expect the applicants to possess is not only the technical skills they need to do their jobs but also the soft skills they will be using in the job environment such as critical decision making, team-leading, communication and more to be productive, efficient, and effective. Since engineering is a highly interdisciplinary field, graduates of it have the opportunity to work in many different professional contexts and they must acquire soft skills for all sorts of professional settings. This study explores soft skills for professional life and determines the content of the soft-skills course that should be included in the curriculum of engineering faculties at Turkish universities which are in the top 10 ranking of University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) and offers a course design for a soft-skills course originating from academic discussions and the needs of the job market.
... WIL has the potential to develop these pivotal soft skills, in addition to ensuring employability skills. Soft skills, non-technical and intangible, also known as personality-specific skills, can determine an individual's strength as a leader, listener, negotiator, and conflict mediator (Ridhuwan et al., 2019). ...
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Generation Y and Generation Z are the new emerging labour. Education, labour markets, work-integrated learning (WIL), and generational studies are all complex conceptualisations and present unique challenges. The chapter explores the nature of these synergies as they respond to these challenges. The chapter from a UK perspective addresses the labour challenges from a WIL, leadership, and CSR perspective. It incorporates the work and perceptions of GenY authors and applies a unique methodology to respond to the challenges with which it engages. Using auto/biographic bricolage, questionnaires, and interviews, insight gained is reflected upon in terms of addressing these challenges. The chapter concludes that Generation Z have had significantly different leadership style experiences and are not as ethically minded as scholarship depicts. The chapter then concludes reflecting upon the role of the supervisor and WIL facilitators on how they could better support students facing these challenges.
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In today's dynamically developing world, the role of “soft skills” in the professional sphere is of particular relevance. In this study, attention was focused on the analysis of the relationship between soft skills and students' confidence in their professional prospects. The purpose of the study is to identify the most popular soft skills in the labor market, as well as to assess their impact on the level of students' confidence in the possibility of finding a job in their specialty. To achieve this goal, a survey was conducted among 538 3rd and 4th-year students of the Kostanay Regional University named after Akhmet Baitursynuly, studying in various educational programs. Data analysis was carried out using statistical methods in the R-Studio program. The originality of the study lies in the integrated approach to studying the impact of soft skills on confidence in employment, taking into account the various areas of training of future specialists. The obtained results may have practical significance for improving educational programs, focusing on the development of the most in-demand “soft skills” in the labor market, which will improve the level of students' preparation for independent employment. This study will determine which soft skills are most in-demand in the labor market, the opinion of respondents and how their development affects students' confidence in successful employment, which will expand the understanding of the influence of soft skills on students' career prospects. The obtained results can be used to improve educational programs in order to increase the competitiveness of graduates in the labor market as well as helping students develop the skills necessary for a successful job search and career building.
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This study aims to examine the employers’ perceptions about the employability skills required from accounting graduates in Saudi Arabia. To achieve this goal, a sample of employers in Saudi Arabia was invited to participate in brief survey of 24 questions to determine their ranking of the most important technical skills (12) and generic skills (12) for accounting jobs. Eight of the twelve technical skills were ranked as most important: financial accounting and reporting, tax and zakat accounting, cost accounting, computer and information technology skills and business and company laws. On the other hand, employers stated that all of 12 generic skills were of high importance. The study has important implications for both educators and accounting students in Saudi Arabia. For educators, the findings of the study suggest that university policy-makers and educators need to adapt their curricula so that their graduates can acquire and develop competence in the generic skills needed by the modern workplace. For accounting students, the findings of the study indicate that memorization for earning high grades is necessary, but not sufficient for employment and success in today's work workplace.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of an action research intervention during a work-based learning (WBL) project among human resource management (HRM) students at a business college in London. The intervention was the researcher’s meeting with the nominated group leaders to facilitate reflection on their leadership and instil confidence. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on an action research leadership intervention on a broader undergraduate WBL module taught across nine disciplines and numerous projects. The action learning involved the phases of action, reflection, learning and planning. The sample was five group leaders on one of the projects for HRM students. A content analysis of their assessment submissions was included in the reflection, learning and planning phases. Findings Based on a content analysis, most of the group leaders acknowledged the leadership intervention in their submissions in varying degrees of quantity and quality. The findings reflect the impact of the intervention upon leadership confidence and the application of theory on practice. Specific leadership input would enhance the impact. The intervention did address confidence which impacted self-directed learning. Research limitations/implications The research is limited to a specific context and small sample. It is limited by the fact that reflective assessment work could not be used in comparison with the project assessment submissions. Practical implications The research demonstrates directly from the assessed submissions of students the benefit of WBL with a specific focus on confidence, leadership, reflection and self-directed learning. It demonstrates as an example the application of action research on a small WBL sample. Social implications The research is the evidence of the importance of leadership and confidence among mature adults in WBL contexts. Originality/value This paper demonstrates the impact of WBL on the learning of mature adults and, furthermore, the impact of a leadership intervention on the motivation of students for self-directed learning.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether soft skill requirements found in employer job postings (advertisements) within different roles of business are similar to the soft skills practically needed in the workplace and the perception of faculties at schools of business in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach A two-phased study was administered. Phase 1 involved reviewing the latest relevant literature and hundreds of job advertisements; and in phase 2, questionnaires were administered to elicit responses from executives and faculty members from different universities in Bangladesh. Judgment sampling and the snowball technique were used to develop the sample of 84 respondents with a response rate of 56 percent. In total, 15 soft skills were used to develop the instrument. Descriptive statistics and a Kruskal–Wallis test were performed to analyze the collected data, where factors that retained α at or below 0.05, a family-wise Bonferroni adjustment (Mann–Whitney U test) was applied. Findings All the mentioned soft skills are found to be desirable by the recruiters and faculties also agreed with them. However, there exist disparities on the perceived importance of four soft skills among faculties and recruiters, and a gap was found between the business curriculum and industry expectations from fresh-out business graduates. Originality/value This study could be a basis for future studies and would help business education institutions guide their students to master the skills, and to develop and prepare them for real life battle in the job market. Moreover, the study indicates the gap between executives’ expectations from the graduates and the institutional teaching provided by higher education institutions (for business majors), which would help practitioners reform their business curriculum to better ensure employability for their business graduates. Moreover, the study opens an avenue for further research in this field for implementing training programs for attaining the most desired soft skills among higher education institutions.
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Purpose Similar to religion, spirituality is considered a private affair along with issues of faith, hope, and love (Palmer, 1998). American public education has been reluctant to address such issues due to our cultural norm of “separation of church and state” (Love and Talbot, 2000, p. 1) yet the American Council for Education calls upon higher education to provide students ways to explore their personal values, world beliefs, and spirituality (Chickering et al., 2006; Dalton and Crosby, 2006). As such, the purpose of this paper is to explore student leaders’ perspectives on how leadership development activities influenced their sense of spirituality. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study design was used to explore responses from ten student leaders who completed a leadership development program in the Spring 2015 at a public four-year institution. As part of the leadership development program, students were paired a peer mentor while they completed leadership workshops, a reflection paper, self-assessment, and an ongoing community service project painting murals with individuals who have intellectual disabilities. Participants were from various majors and religious backgrounds and had completed the leadership development program two months prior to their participation in this study. Findings Findings revealed that leadership workshops, self-assessment, reflections, peer-to-peer mentorship, and an ongoing shared community service project, influenced students’ perspectives of spirituality and their leadership identity. Student leaders both did and did not differentiate the developmental process of leadership from the spiritual development process, defining both as cognitive and emotional development deeply grounded in self-awareness. Study participants shared that through self-reflection, developing their inter and intra personal skills through conducting service, shaped their understanding of their spiritual identity and developed their sense of self. Research limitations/implications Study results are not generalizable but provide insight into the experiences and perceptions of student leaders on two hard-to-define topics: spirituality and leadership. The order of the interview questions may have influenced the thought process leading up to student’s responses connecting spirituality and leadership concepts. Another limitation is that the leadership activities were designed and coordinated by the lead investigator. Hence, there may be findings that were influenced by the investigators’ personal beliefs about leadership. Study participants may have also felt more comfortable discussing their beliefs about spirituality because of their familiarity with the lead investigator. Practical implications Results support the notion that non-faith based public institutions may intentionally support the spiritual development of students through the context of leadership development program activities. Approaching spiritual and leadership development through Baxter Magolda’s (2009) theory of self-authorship allows students to experience new activities coupled with personal self-reflection, to deepen their self-understanding, compassion for others, and self-awareness. This learning is an ongoing process that expands as students engage in contemplative practices such as mindfulness training provided through leadership workshops, self-reflection, and peer-to-peer interactions and self-assessment. Social implications This case study illustrates that intentionally designed and implemented leadership development programs may cultivate both the spiritual and leadership identities and behaviors of students. Also, this study reveals that spirituality and leadership are not mutually exclusive processes because both are deeply rooted in connecting to our community, connecting to our greater purpose and our higher consciousness about who we are and how we treat others. Hence, this work may support educators develop more compassionate and empathetic students who are agents of positive social change. Originality/value This qualitative case study suggests a new framework for public institutions to support students’ leadership and spiritual development through the theoretical framework of self-authorship. As such, educators can stop being fearful about discussing religion, spirituality, and matters of the heart if they use this framework to design leadership developmental activities.
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The workforce is a social environment where particular skills are essential in order for workers to perform well, have a competitive edge and succeed in their careers. A soft skill is one of the skills needed in every type of workplace setting. Soft skills include communication skills, collaboration skills, entrepreneurship, and others. Workplace need workers who are competent not only with technical skills but who also have soft skills. There is lack of literature discussion on the perceptions of needed soft skills in the workplace. Therefore, this study aimed to close the gap in the literature concerning the perceptions of instructors and students in the area of soft skills especially in communication skills, collaboration skills, and entrepreneurship at the workplace. This study aims to decrease the divide in soft skills differences among instructors and students in higher learning institutions so that students have the opportunity to excel in their learning process. This study employs quantitative method specifically using survey as an instrument. The findings shows soft skills including communication, collaboration, and entrepreneurship skills are one of the aspects stressed by the students and instructors at higher learning institutions to ensure that graduates will be employable and competent in order to contribute to the nation development.
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Many employers consider job candidates' soft skills as critical for professional success as traditional hard skills, especially in today's global marketplace. College graduates are increasingly confident of their soft skills, believing these interpersonal, non-technical competencies enhance their value as prospective employees. Recent studies, however, show a widening gap between employer expectations and college graduate abilities. This paper reviews desired soft skills, along with college students' self-ratings of these same competencies; explores how employers and job candidates 'signal' the need for and/or presence of these skills; and proposes further research to discern the true cause of this seeming "soft skill gap.".
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Purpose This study investigates the relationships among cultural intelligence (CQ), personality and transformational leadership in a student population. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of CQ on transformational leadership to see if a relationship exists beyond personality. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses are presented and tested on a sample of 465 undergraduate and graduate students who attended a large northeastern US university. Hierarchical regression was used to conduct the analysis, and multiple models were generated to test the relationships posited. Findings The data showed that CQ affected transformational leadership; however, when examining the subcomponents of CQ, only behavioral CQ had an impact on transformational leadership beyond personality. Research limitations/implications The surveys were self-reported and cross-sectional, so causality could not be determined. Furthermore, the sample, while diverse, was composed of students. However, scholars will find value in this research because it expands the understanding of CQ. Practical implications The findings of this research indicate that behavioral CQ impacts transformational-leadership skills. Thus, business educators should consider how to build skills associated with behavioral CQ in students because of the importance of global transformational-leadership skills in the workplace. Originality/value This research will impact the literature streams of CQ and transformational leadership because it is the first to examine the relationship between the two while controlling for personality.
Article
This paper shows the application of an innovate pedagogical approach based on the project-based learning technique, focused on the training of communication skills in the framework of a workshop of innovation in chemical engineering. Written, graphical verbal, and non-verbal communication were tackled. For that purpose, a project of technological innovation was developed by the students in teams within the specific area of chemical engineering. A professional-like environment was simulated by a final workshop where the students defenced and supported their project by using oral presentation and production of a poster and a video. Several surveys were performed before and after the project application. The final survey revealed that both students and lecturers perceived an improvement on the communication skills of the students. Moreover, both lecturers and students declared satisfaction with the methodology, recommending its application in other disciplines.
Article
Purpose Effective clinical leadership is crucial to avoid failings in the delivery of safe health care, particularly during a period of increasing scrutiny and cost-constraints for the National Health Service (NHS). However, there is a paucity of leadership training for health-care students, the future leaders of the NHS, which is due in part to overfilled curricula. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of student-led leadership training for the benefit of fellow students. Design/methodology/approach To address this training gap, a group of multiprofessional students organised a series of large-group seminars and small-group workshops given by notable health-care leaders at a London university over the course of two consecutive years. Findings The majority of students had not previously received any formal exposure to leadership training. Feedback post-events were almost universally positive, though students expressed a preference for experiential teaching of leadership. Working with university faculty, an inaugural essay prize was founded and student members were given the opportunity to complete internships in real-life quality improvement projects. Originality/value Student-led teaching interventions in leadership can help to fill an unmet teaching need and help to better equip the next generation of health-care workers for future roles as leaders within the NHS.
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This chapter examines the integration of leadership topics into an accounting ethics course. Literature review, course review, student feedback. Both practitioners and educators have called for broader education of accounting students in general, and student learning of leadership and interpersonal skills in particular, to prepare students who are entering the profession. I have used the leadership topics and activities discussed in this chapter in a stand-alone ethics course in a graduate business program, but they could also be integrated into an undergraduate course. I provide details regarding course content and delivery, including a weekly schedule of accounting ethics and leadership readings, short cases, and leadership/ethics case research topics. Many of the leadership and ethics subjects in the course are expected to be addressed in the accounting workplace - exploring these topics helps better prepare students to confront future challenges. Although both practitioners and educators have called for broader education of accounting students in general, and student learning of leadership and interpersonal skills in particular, little progress has been made in this area. This chapter contributes to this area by highlighting the value of integrating leadership topics into an accounting ethics course.
Article
Purpose This paper aims to examine the business communication skills that accounting students see as having the highest importance for career success. It also explores the current levels of development of these skills and analyzes them through a comparative study between three Tunisian business schools. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a questionnaire sent to180 students from three business schools to provide insights into the development of communication skills perceived important for a successful accounting career. Findings The results indicate that all students are conscious of the importance held by communication skills for career success in the accounting profession. However, they feel that their aptitudes are sometimes poorly developed, especially when it comes to proficiency in French (as a language of business in Tunisia) and written skills. Practical implications The paper’s findings offer important guidance concerning the communication skills that accounting students consider most needed by the Tunisian labor market. The findings of this study may be useful for curriculum development in local and international contexts. Originality/value This study is conducted in a developing country where the graduate unemployment rate is about 30%. This high unemployment often affects service professions like accounting. Moreover, in Tunisia, accounting education focuses particularly on technical aspects. So far, no studies have been conducted to show whether students nowadays are aware of the increasing importance of generic skills in accounting practice. As a result, the conclusions of this study could provide Tunisian stakeholders with insights into ways of potentially improving accounting graduates’ employability.