A. Lo Presti*, V. Capone +, A. Aversano*, P. Spagnoli* * Università degli studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli +

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1 Do career competencies foster employability and subjective career success in recent graduates? The moderating role of the quality of university experience A. Lo Presti*, V. Capone +, A. Aversano*, P. Spagnoli* * Università degli studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli + Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II XV Congresso Nazionale AIP «Sezione Psicologia per le Organizzazioni» - Caserta

2 Do universities need to care about graduate employability? Graduate employability is defined as the ability to obtain and maintain work at a graduate level (Bridgstock, 2011) and, in recent years, has increasingly been considered as a performance indicator for universities, assessed few months after course completion; The chief mechanism by which universities have generally engaged with the graduate employability agenda is via the development of generic key skills (e.g., communication, problem solving) along with certain desirable personal qualities; However, several scholars suggest to assist students also in developing the propensity and abilities necessary to take personal responsibility for their own career development, consistently with career self-management (King, 2004) and the protean career idea (Hall, 1976). So, a research question is: what aspects of academic experience can foster graduate employability?

3 Choose a life. Choose a job. Choose a career. BE EMPLOYABLE? Contemporary Western labour markets see organizations as less responsible for their employees career development; in turn, workers are increasingly forced to personally take charge of it and develop their own attractiveness, namely employability (Van Dam, 2004), both for their current and prospective employer; Hall (1996:10) stated that workers need to have a contract with oneself, rather than with the organization ; Additionally, subjective career success has become particularly important because it is believed that in the pursuit of highly heterogeneous and unique career paths, only individuals themselves can meaningfully define and assess their own career success with reference to self-defined standards, values, aspirations, etc. (Colakoglu, 2011: 47); Van der Heijde and van der Heijden (2006) found that employability predicted relevant criteria of both subjective (i.e., job satisfaction, interpersonal, hierarchical, and financial career success, life satisfaction) and objective (i.e., number of promotions in the company and in the entire career, monthly gross income) career success. De Vos et al. (2011) found that employability had a significant positive association with career satisfaction. A second research question is: how graduates can increase their own employability and be satisfied about their own career?

4 Career competencies Chi siamo? Dove andiamo? Da dove veniamo? Career competencies have been conceptualized in several ways, even more than employability. DeFillippi & Arthur (1994) distinguished between knowing-how, knowing-why, and knowing-whom competencies. Kuijpers & Scheerens (2006) differentiated between career actualization, career reflection, motivation reflection, work exploration, career control, networking; Akkermans et al. (2013) identified other 6 factors, and so on. Apart from the different theorizations, career competencies have been found generally associated with favorable occupational outcomes (career autonomy; Colakoglu, 2011), but especially with career success (Kuijpers, Schyns & Scheerens, 2006; Abele & Spurk, 2009; De Vos, De Clippeleer & Dewilde, 2009); Additionally, few studies focused on graduates (Sturges, Simpson & Altman, 2003; De Vos et al., 2009; Bridgstock, 2011; Greer & Waight, 2017) highlighting the positive associations between career competencies and graduates career success; In the present study, we focused on three aspects that are closely related to the knowing-why competency (i.e., the extent of understanding one has with regard to own needs, abilities, interests, etc. related to work experiences): a) career insight; b) career planning; c) career self-efficacy; So, the final question is: can career competencies be helpful in fostering graduates employability and career success, taking into account the quality of academic experience?

5 Research model (T3 in progress) T1 T2 (six months later) Quality of university experience Employability activities Career competencies Subjective career success

6 Method Participants Graduation Six months later Twelve months later 146 men (31.5%) 318 women (68.5%) 55 men (35.3%) 101 women (64.7%) Mean age years (SD 3.37) Mean age years (SD 2.33) 227 (48.9%) had previous work experiences 71 (45.5%) had previous work experiences

7 Method Measures Variable No. of items Sample item α Career competencies Day & Allen, 2004 Gould, 1979 Kossek et al., 1998 Academic satisfaction (Magnano, Lodi & Boerchi, 2015) Employability activities (Van Dam, 2004) 24 Career insight: «I know my strengths (what I can do well)» Career planning: «I change my career objectives frequently» Career self-efficacy: «I rely on myself to accomplish my career goals» 3 Choice: «to have attended this degree course».86 3 Services: «Because my university was equipped with adequate equipment».90 3 Networking: «Because I had study mates with whom I enjoyed studying».91 3 Competencies: «Because I feel I have achieved the academic goals I set at the time of enrollment» 3 Employm. Prospects: «Because I feel that my degree will be helpful for my future career».91 6 «I do a lot to manage my career» Subjective career success (Rothwell & Arnold, 2007) 8 «I am satisfied with the progress I have made towards meeting my overall career goals.93

8 Results Descriptives and zero-order correlations 1) Sex a 2) Experience b -.24** 3) Career competencies (12.28) M (SD) ) Choice 9.93 (2.45) *** 5) Services 5.88 (3.39) ** 6) Networking 9.24 (2.78) *.21*.14 7) Competencies 9.63 (2.23) ***.54***.14.33*** 8) Employment prospects 8.83 (2.91) ***.75***.28***.21**.48*** 9) Employability activities (3.52) * *.09 10) Subjective career success (8.15) -.19*.08.30***.29***.08.18*.28***.27**.24** Note: a 1 = man, 2 = woman; b 0 = not, 1 = yes; *** p <.001, ** p <.01, * p <.05.

9 Results Bootstrapped regressions on employability activities (one model for each moderator) Employability activities (B) Choice Networking Employment prospects Services Competencies Sex a Experience b Career competencies.27**.20*.26**.19*.18 Facets of academic experience Career competencies * Facets of.14**.19*.14* academic experience R 2.09*.09*.08* Simple slope analysis (B [LLCI, ULCI]) - 1 SD.47 [-.16, 1.11].04 [-.69,.76].41 [-.25, 1.08] + 1 SD 1.38*** [.66, 2.11] 1.37*** [.59, 2.14] 1.44** [.59, 2.29] Note: a 1 = man, 2 = woman; b 0 = not, 1 = yes; *** p <.001, ** p <.01, * p <.05.

10 Results Employability activities as a function of career competencies and satisfaction about choice

11 Results Employability activities as a function of career competencies and satisfaction about networking

12 Results Employability act. as a function of career competencies and satisf. about employment prospects

13 Results Bootstrapped regressions on subjective career success (one model for each moderator) Subjetive career success (B) Choice Networking Employment prospects Services Competencies Sex a * -2.61* -2.89* -3.28* Experience b Career competencies 1.48* 1.76* 1.62* 2.09** 1.6* Facets of academic experience 2.08** * * Employability activities 1.49* 1.61* 1.39* 1.54* 1.25* Career competencies * Facets of academic experience R 2.20***.18***.18***.16***.19*** Conditional indirect effect (B [LLCI, ULCI]) - 1 SD.20 [-.06,.63].02 [-.40,.44].16 [-.10,.72].19 [-.16, 1].13 [-.10,.65] + 1 SD.59 [.13, 1.26].62 [.16, 1.57].57 [.09, 1.38].40 [.06, 1.1].32 [.01,.96] Index of moderated mediation.21 [.04,.53].30 [.04,.82].20 [.01,.61].10 [-.19,.52].09 [-.04,.38] Note: a 1 = man, 2 = woman; b 0 = not, 1 = yes; *** p <.001, ** p <.01, * p <.05.

14 Conclusions What do we know now? Consistently with, for instance, Van der Heijde and van der Heijden (2006) career competencies predicted employability activities at t2; Such positive association was stronger among those graduates who were more satisfied about their vocational choice, the social network they developed when at the university, and their employment prospects; Employability partially mediated the association between career competencies and subjective career success (De Vos et al., 2011); The direct effect from career competencies to subjective career success did not depend on levels of academic satisfaction s facets. It derives that these moderators have rather a role in promoting intermediate activies, such as employability activities, but on the direct effect between these two variables; A moderated mediation was found given that the indirect effect of career competencies, through employability activities, on subjective career success, was significant only among those graduates who, again, were more satisfied about their vocational choice, the social network they developed when at the university, and their employment prospects.

15 Implications What do universities need to do? Graduate employability (Bridgstock, 2011) needs to be targeted by universities through actions whose purposes are: - Fostering career competencies aimed at increasing graduates skills about planning their own career development, be aware of their own career strength and weaknesses, developing confidence about their control on their own career; - Teach those activities and strategies through which individuals can develop their own employability; - Develop a 360 degrees strategy aimed at increasing students and prospective graduates satisfaction about, first, their vocational choice, the social networks they (will) develop(ed), their future employment prospects and, second, the competencies and knowledge they (will) acquire(d), and the university services they (will) benefit(ed);

16 Implications How can universities do that? From a practical point of view, it means investing on: - Higher quality vocational services, aimed at increasing person-degree fit (is this degree what I really want and I am suited for?); - Higher quality career and placement services, with the purpose of developing graduates and nearly graduates career competencies, employability and job-search activities, as well as employment prospects (e.g., contacts with prospective employers and professional bodies); - Degree courses closer to labour market s needs and requirements, both on technical and nontechnical skills; - Offering an university experience facilitating networking between students, faculty, alumni, external stakeholders, as well as supporting students through their whole academic life.

17 THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION! Contacts AIP Research Group «Work in Progress»:

18 References 1/3 Abele, A. E., & Spurk, D. (2009). The longitudinal impact of self-efficacy and career goals on objective and subjective career success. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74, Akkermans, J., Schaufeli, W. B., Brenninkmeijer, V., & Blonk, R. W. B. (2013). The role of career competencies in the Job Demands Resources model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83(3), Bridgstock, R. (2011). Skills for creative industries graduate success. Education + Training, 53(1), 9-26 Colakoglu, S. N. (2011). The impact of career boundarylessness on subjective career success: the role of career competencies, career autonomy, and career insecurity. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79, Day, R., & Allen, T. D. (2004). The relationship between career motivation and self-efficacy with protégé career success. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64, DeFillippi, R. J., & Arthur, M. B. (1994). The boundaryless career: A competency based perspective. Journal of organizational behavior, 15(4), De Vos, A., De Clippeleer, I., & Dwwilde, T. (2009). Proactive career behaviours and career success during the early career. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 82, De Vos, A., De Hauw, S. and Van der Heijden, B.I. (2011). Competency development and career success: The mediating role of employability. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79(2), Gould, S. (1979). Characteristics of career planners in upwardly mobile occupations. Academy of Management Journal, 22(3),

19 References 2/3 Greer, T. W., & Waight, C. L. (2017). The value of an undergraduate HRD degree: an exploratory investigation of perceived employability and career success. Advances in Developing Human Resources. Advance online publication. Hall, D.T. (1976.) Careers in Organizations. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman. Hall, D.T. (1996). Protean careers of the 21st century. The Academy of Management Executive, 10(4), King, Z. (2004). Career self-management: Its nature, causes and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1), Kossek, E. E., Roberts, K., Fisher, S., & Demarr, B. (1998). Career self management: A quasi experimental assessment of the effects of a training intervention. Personnel Psychology, 51(4), Kuijpers, M. A. C. T., Scheerens, J. (2006). Career competencies for the modern career. Journal of Career Development, 32, Kuijpers, M. A. C. T., Schyns, B., & Scheerens, J. (2006). Career competencies for career success. Career Development Quarterly, 55, Magnano, P., Lodi, E., & Boerchi, D. (2015). Uno strumento per la valutazione della qualità della vita accademica: College Satisfaction Scales (CSS). In XI Congresso Nazionale SIPSA Psicologia della salute e salute della psicologia.

20 References 3/3 Rothwell, A., & Arnold, J. (2007). Self-perceived employability: development and validation of a scale. Personnel review, 36(1), Sturges, J., Simpson, R., & Altman, Y. (2003). Capitalising on learning: an exploration of the MBA as a vehicle for developing career competencies. International Journal of Training and Development, 7(1), Van Dam, K. (2004). Antecedents and consequences of employability orientation. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 13(1), Van der Heijde, C. M., & Van der Heijden, B. I. J. M. (2006). A competence-based and multidimensional operationalization and measurement of employability. Human Resource Management, 45(3),