DEFINING AND MEASURING EMPLOYABILITY: SELF-PERCEIVED-EMPLOYABILITY (SPE) APPROACH

Gishan THARANGA¹ , Mohd Shukri Ab YAJID² , Ali KHATIBI³

Despite the attention given to graduate employability, it remains to be poorly defined and operationalized. Each new study appears to complicate things further with new employability definitions. The concept appears to be theoretical in nature with limited research support. The increasing politicization of the concept, where different stakeholders attempt to define employability according to their own perspectives is a main reason for this situation. Employability literature reveals the differences of perceptions among the employees, employers, and university faculty. The perception that employees have towards their own employability appears to influence the ultimate work, and self-perceived-employability (SPE) has evolved as an alternative approach to conceptualize and operationalize employability. SPE has strong theoretical support and is ready for operationalization with clearly defined underlying factors which has been proven and tested through multiple studies. Current paper critically evaluates the concept of SPE and makes recommendations for future researchers based on review of existing literature.

Keywords
Employability,, Self-Perceived-Employability, Employability Skills, Employers, Employees,