An exploratory study of factors affecting undergraduate employability

TLDR: In this article, the relative importance of 17 factors that influence new graduate employability was explored through the use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches, and a two-phase, mixed-methods study was conducted to examine: Phase One, whether these 17 factors could be combined into five categories; and Phase Two, the importance that employers placed on these factors.

Abstract: Purpose – The current study was conducted to increase our understanding of factors that influence the employability of university graduates. Through the use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the paper explores the relative importance of 17 factors that influence new graduate employability.Design/methodology/approach – An extensive review of the existing literature was used to identify 17 factors that affect new graduate employability. A two‐phase, mixed‐methods study was conducted to examine: Phase One, whether these 17 factors could be combined into five categories; and Phase Two, the relative importance that employers place on these factors. Phase One involved interviewing 30 employers, and Phase Two consisted of an empirical examination with an additional 115 employers.Findings – Results from both the qualitative and quantitative phases of the current study demonstrated that 17 employability factors can be clustered into five higher‐order composite categories. In addition, findings illus...