Investigating the intrinsic factors that explain variance in perceived employability amongst industrial psychology students at a selected university

Abstract

The economic future of South Africa is highly dependent on the prospective employability status of the current generation of students progressing through their studies and those entering the working world. However, the unemployment of tertiary graduate students is becoming an ever-rising problem in South Africa today. Students often embark on their tertiary studies with little forethought of the difficulties that they may later face with regards to securing a job until only after the completion of their studies. In addition, it has long been established that possessing a good academic record alone is not synonymous to being employable and therefore it is important to understand the unique individual intrinsic factors that contribute to this phenomenon. The aim of this research study was to answer the question, "what are the intrinsic factors that explain variance in self-perceived employability amongst industrial psychology students at a selected university in the Western Cape?" In order to answer this research initiating question, a theoretical structural model of the nomological network of variables explaining variance in employability was developed and tested.