A Pathway to Identify Employability Skills of Business Graduates Based on Subject Specialization

Abstract

In recent times, it has become imperative for universities to develop and offer curricula that contain a larger proportion of applied focus; hence business schools tend to be at the forefront of such deliberation. Today, many higher educational institutions, researchers, accreditation bodies as well as professional organizations have raised their concern regarding the requirement to produce exceptionally skilled graduates capable of handling more challenging issues in a complex and dynamic modern world. High demand has been made for higher education institutions to become more market responsive, with functional and vocational training being highlighted. This study focuses to identify differences in employability based on the specialization area of the business students. The total population of the study was 600 MBA regular students acknowledged from the top fifteen business universities of Pakistan. The sample of the study consisted of 235 MBA regular students who were purposively selected to represent the sample, the sample size was computed through the RAOSOFT sample size calculator. The tool used in this study is known as Student Outcome Employability Measurement (SOEM) tool and it is administered on a sample of 235 respondents. The tool comprises four scales that assess different employability skills like communication skills, leadership, teamwork, and critical thinking. The difference in employability based on the specialization area of business students was tested through ANOVA. The results show a significant difference between the business area of specialization affects communication skills (F (3, 232) = 4.358, p=.000); and Critical thinking (F (3, 232) = 3.390, p=.000). There was no significant difference between business area of specialization and Leadership (F (3, 232) = 1.499, p=.000); Team Work (F (3, 232) = 1.946, p=.000).