Article 2023

How employable do students perceive themselves to be in the future? Evidence from the Middle East

Industry and Higher Education
Journal · Vol. 37 · Issue 2 · pp. 222-236
Abstract

This paper aims to identify the determinants of perceived future employability among students. A total of 396 university students from a leading university in Lebanon answered a questionnaire about perceived future employability, career ambition, career distress, university commitment, satisfaction with life and self-esteem. In line with the study hypotheses, the authors first establish the psychometric properties of the perceived future employability scale (PFES) in Lebanon and demonstrate the importance of satisfaction with life amid career ambition, career distress, university commitment and self-esteem. The results indicate a good fit to the data for the newly validated future perceived employability scale; moreover, a full mediation effect for satisfaction with life is confirmed. In addition, career ambition, university commitment, satisfaction with life and self-esteem predicted students’ PFES. The paper offers insights for students and university counselors on how to better foster perceived employability, and thus the capacity to adequately envision one’s career. © The Author(s) 2022.

Keywords

Author Keywords

University commitment career ambition career distress Perceived future employability satisfaction with life

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
Lebanese American University, Beirut, Beirut Governorate, Lebanon
ESSCA School of Management, Angers, Pays-de-la-Loire, France
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
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