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Construction and operationalisation of an Employability Capital Growth Model (ECGM) via a systematic literature review (2016–2022)

Construction and operationalisation of an Employability Capital Growth Model (ECGM) via a systematic literature review (2016–2022)
Construction and operationalisation of an Employability Capital Growth Model (ECGM) via a systematic literature review (2016–2022)
This paper aims to conceptualise and operationalise an Employability Capital Growth Model (ECGM) via a systematic literature review of 42,558 manuscripts from Web of Science and Scopus databases published between 2016 and 2022 from the fields of graduate employability and career development incorporating applied psychology, business, education, and management. Two research questions are addressed. (1) How can literature addressing various forms of capital in the context of preparing university graduates for the labour market be integrated to offer a new ECGM? (2) How can various actors, i.e. (a) students and graduates, (b) educators, (c) careers and employability professionals, and (d) graduate employers, operationalise the ECGM? The systematic literature review resulted in a final corpus of 94 manuscripts for qualitative content analysis. Findings led to the construction of a new ECGM comprising nine forms of employability capital (social capital, cultural capital, psychological capital, personal identity capital, health capital, scholastic capital, market-value capital, career identity capital, and economic capital), external factors, and personal outcomes. Twenty-three opportunities for the operationalisation of the ECGM were also identified. The theoretical and conceptual contribution comes from constructing a new ECGM to bridge the fields of graduate employability and career development in the context of preparing individuals for the transition from university into the labour market. The practical contribution comes from operationalising the ECGM at the education-employment nexus. Consequently, developing various forms of capital and an awareness of external factors and personal outcomes can improve students’ and graduates’ employability, benefitting all actors operating in a career ecosystem.
Employability capital, employers, graduate employability, higher education, literature review, university career services
0307-5079
1-15
Donald, William
0b3cb4ca-8ed9-4a5f-9c10-359923469eec
Baruch, Yehuda
25b89777-def4-4958-afdc-0ceab43efe8a
Ashleigh, Melanie
f2a64ca7-435b-4ad7-8db5-33b735766e46
Donald, William
0b3cb4ca-8ed9-4a5f-9c10-359923469eec
Baruch, Yehuda
25b89777-def4-4958-afdc-0ceab43efe8a
Ashleigh, Melanie
f2a64ca7-435b-4ad7-8db5-33b735766e46

Donald, William, Baruch, Yehuda and Ashleigh, Melanie (2023) Construction and operationalisation of an Employability Capital Growth Model (ECGM) via a systematic literature review (2016–2022). Studies in Higher Education, 49 (1), 1-15. (doi:10.1080/03075079.2023.2219270).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper aims to conceptualise and operationalise an Employability Capital Growth Model (ECGM) via a systematic literature review of 42,558 manuscripts from Web of Science and Scopus databases published between 2016 and 2022 from the fields of graduate employability and career development incorporating applied psychology, business, education, and management. Two research questions are addressed. (1) How can literature addressing various forms of capital in the context of preparing university graduates for the labour market be integrated to offer a new ECGM? (2) How can various actors, i.e. (a) students and graduates, (b) educators, (c) careers and employability professionals, and (d) graduate employers, operationalise the ECGM? The systematic literature review resulted in a final corpus of 94 manuscripts for qualitative content analysis. Findings led to the construction of a new ECGM comprising nine forms of employability capital (social capital, cultural capital, psychological capital, personal identity capital, health capital, scholastic capital, market-value capital, career identity capital, and economic capital), external factors, and personal outcomes. Twenty-three opportunities for the operationalisation of the ECGM were also identified. The theoretical and conceptual contribution comes from constructing a new ECGM to bridge the fields of graduate employability and career development in the context of preparing individuals for the transition from university into the labour market. The practical contribution comes from operationalising the ECGM at the education-employment nexus. Consequently, developing various forms of capital and an awareness of external factors and personal outcomes can improve students’ and graduates’ employability, benefitting all actors operating in a career ecosystem.

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Accepted/In Press date: 23 May 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 June 2023
Published date: 1 June 2023
Additional Information: Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Dr Johanna Annala (Associate Editor at Studies in Higher Education) and the anonymous peer reviewers for their valuable advice and guidance. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords: Employability capital, employers, graduate employability, higher education, literature review, university career services

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 477306
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/477306
ISSN: 0307-5079
PURE UUID: e32aba86-65c2-4be3-88a2-3c15446b8f13
ORCID for William Donald: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3670-5374
ORCID for Yehuda Baruch: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0678-6273
ORCID for Melanie Ashleigh: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0583-0922

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Date deposited: 02 Jun 2023 16:44
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:23

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Contributors

Author: William Donald ORCID iD
Author: Yehuda Baruch ORCID iD

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