Role of industry linkages in employability among Pakistani University students

Abstract

Universities today are expected to produce highly skilled graduates, who can be readily transferred into workforce and effectively demonstrate their employability skills. Hence, the performance of a university is measured against the employability of its graduates. In order to live up to these expectations, universities have taken different initiatives to enrich the employability of their graduates. Universityindustry linkages (UILs) is a prime example of such initiatives. Emulating the developed world, Pakistani universities have also started UILs’ initiatives. However, the prevailing high graduate unemployment rate of 30% in Pakistan calls into question the effectiveness of UILs’ initiatives. Using an integrated human resource development framework, the current study investigates the role of UILs in perceived graduate employability among universities students of Islamabad, Pakistan. This framework stems from human capital theory, where UILs influence the perceived graduate employability through occupational competence and disposition, and in presence of moderating effect of champions’ behavior. It bridges gaps existed in UILs and employability research. It maidenly studies perceived graduate employability as an outcome of UILs. It simultaneously uses both; competency and dispositional approaches to explore graduates’ subjective employability. Most of earlier studies on UILs are exploratory and descriptive in nature. Explanatory studies which measure the frequency, intensity, and efficiency of UILs are highly lookedfor. In this regard, there is no study which solely measures the efficiency of UILs in terms of perceived graduate employability. These UILs studies have predominately used Triple Helix, Mode 2 Production of Knowledge, and Systems of Innovation as grounding pads, which describe the phenomenon at the macro level. The moderating role of champions’ behaviour remained neglected despite the fact that organization with high advocacy of UILs are expected to have an advantage in nurturing employability. Using proportionate stratified random sampling strategy, the study uses quantitative research design to analyse the data of 360 final semester students of science and technology related programs at the public-sector universities of Islamabad. After initial data screening, 322 responses were used for final analysis using SmartPLS software for Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results indicated that UILs have direct influence on perceived graduate employability. Occupational competence and occupational disposition mediate the relationships of UILs and perceived graduate employability. Whereas, champions’ behaviour moderates the relationships of UILs with occupational competence and occupational disposition. The results imply that a graduates’ employability can be enriched through UILs initiatives and their advocacy in universities and industries.