Exploring Perceived Employability of University Students and Graduates

Employability represents a critical resource for new entrants in the labour market to deal with fragile employment prospects and have a psychologically sustainable transition to work. Although research has devoted remarkable attention to Employability in Higher Education, more empirical research is needed to investigate it. This dissertation aimed to deepen the understanding of Employability among Italian university students and graduates, focusing on Perceived Employability, considered a personal resource within the Conservation of Resources Theory. Three studies conducted with students and graduates who completed an online questionnaire investigated some underexplored aspects of Perceveid Employability. Study 1—a two-wave time-lagged study with 223 students—tested whether Support from Teaching staff and Career Engagement influence Perceived Employability. Study 2—a three-wave time-lagged study with 158 students and graduates— tests whether Job Interview Self-efficacy predicts Perceived Employability and whether Career Identity predicts this relationship. Studies 1 and 2 investigate Perceived Employability psychological outcomes, namely Confidence in Career future and Psychological Well-being. In both studies, a mediating role of Perceived Employability connecting its antecedents and consequences is posited. Study 3—a three-wave longitudinal study with 376 students and graduates—tested the reciprocal relationships between Perceived Employability and Psychological well-being. The data confirmed the expected relationships, providing a noteworthy theoretical contribution. Studies 1 and 2 expand the knowledge of Perceived Employability antecedents, stressing contextual and career self-management factors. Moreover, Perceived Employability also appears to have a positive psychological impact, confirming its benefits for new entrants. Study 3 shows that Perceived Employability and Psychological well-being influence each other over time, providing novel insights into Perceived Employability. At a practical level, the results inform actions to foster Perceived Employability in Higher Education, to help new entrants manage the transition to work and experience benefits at a psychological level, in coherence with the need for a psychologically sustainable transition

Support from Teaching Staff and Self-efficacy as Determinants of Students' Perceived Employability: a Longitudinal study

[EN] Perceived employability acquires, for university students, growing importanceto deal with occupational uncertainty. This study examines how teaching inuniversity influences perceived employability in a sample of Italian final-yearuniversity students. We draw on Conservation on Resources Theory andCareer self-management model to hypothesise a positive impact of supportfrom teaching staff on students' perceived employability. We also contend thatstudents' self-efficacy mediates the relationship between support from teachingstaff and perceived employability. One hundred fifty-one university studentscompleted a survey three times over 10 months. The results confirm thatsupport from teaching staff enhances students' perceived employabilitydirectly and indirectly by shaping students' self-efficacy. Our findings confirmthe role of university teachers and their didactical practice to equip theirstudents with career resources.Petruzziello, G.; Mariani, MG.; Guglielmi, D.; Chiesa, R. (2021). Support from Teaching Staff and Self-efficacy as Determinants of Students' Perceived Employability: a Longitudinal study. En 7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'21). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1079-1086. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd21.2021.12957OCS1079108

Invest in Your Mental Health, Support Your Career. Exploring the Impact of Mental Health Activities on Movement Capital and the Mediating Role of Flourishing and Career Engagement during the Transition to Work

The current theorising of career self-management advocates that personal resources that support an adaptive transition to work are bound to individual agency. Yet, research still needs to enrich the empirical exploration of how behaviours in personal life affect careers. For this reason, we explored the impact of mental-health activities—a group of self-help activities that people can perform to increase their mental health—on movement capital among Italian new entrants in the labour market. We also explored a mechanism underlying this relationship by testing the mediating role of flourishing and career engagement. We collected data from 229 Italian university students and recent graduates through an online questionnaire. Contrary to our expectations, we found no significant direct relationship between mental-health activities and movement capital, yet the results supported an indirect relationship. The findings contribute to existing evidence about how personal life behaviours affect career self-management and advance the understanding of the role of mental health activities. This work suggests ways to encourage engagement in self-help behaviours and implement public and higher education interventions to foster these behaviours’ benefits for an adaptive transition to work

It takes more than agency: Linking support from teaching staff, career engagement, and movement capital among university students

Introduction: Career self-management behaviours are key to overcoming the challenges of entry into the labour market. Combining the Conservation of Resources and Career Self-management theories, this study delves into the concept of Career Engagement among Italian University students by examining its relationship with Support from teaching Staff and Movement Capital. We hypothesised a mediation model in which Support from Teaching Staff predicts Career Engagement which, in turn, fosters Movement Capital. As the pandemic led to the adoption of online learning solutions, we also explored whether and how the interaction between teachers and students during online classes moderates the said mediation relationship. Methods and results: We collected data from 276 Italian University students through an online questionnaire. Results supported the mediation hypothesis, corroborating the mediating role of Career Engagement. We also observed that this relationship is stronger at medium and higher levels of online interaction between teachers and students. Discussion: Findings contribute to existing evidence about the role of Career Engagement in facilitating career resources’ acquisition and extend the understanding of its contextual antecedents in Higher Education contexts. Results also align with the importance attributed to interaction in online learning environments. This work suggests ways to encourage career behaviours in Higher Education and equip prospective labour market entrants with career resources

The Hardier You Are, the Healthier You Become. May Hardiness and Engagement Explain the Relationship Between Leadership and Employees’ Health?

The main goal of this study was to delve deeper into the relationship between transformational leadership and better general health status among employees. Based on the Job Demands-Resources model of occupational well-being, the current research investigated the role of transformational leadership, as a job resource, in fostering individual hardiness, as a personal resource, which may in turn result in higher levels of work engagement and, consequently, better general health status among employees. Data were collected from 358 white-collar employees in an Italian company. Most of them were women (52.9%) with a mean age of 44.42 years (SD = 9.22). To evaluate the hypothesis of a mediating role of employees’ hardiness and work engagement within the relationship between transformational leadership and workers’ general health, a bootstrapping approach was tested using a serial mediation model. In the current sample, enhanced levels of hardiness and work engagement among employees mediated the association between perceived levels of transformational leadership and individual general health conditions. These findings corroborated the role of transformational leadership as a strategic job resource in enhancing employees’ hardiness and engagement with their work, which may in turn protect their general health status. Organizations willing to rely on a healthy workforce should implement human resource management strategies focused on leadership training capable of boosting employees’ hardiness

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) genotypes distribution among hepatocellular carcinoma patients in Southern Italy: a three year retrospective study

Abstract Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the major cause for cancer in the world. Aim of this case-control study was to investigate the distribution pattern of HCV genotypes among HCC patients and suggest whether infection with specific subtypes may be associated with an increased risk of progression to cancer. Methods 152 HCC anti-HCV positive patients, fulfilling the criteria from the Barcelona 2000 EASL conference, and 568 patients HCV chronically infected but without HCC as control group were included in the study. Serum of each patient was evaluated for viral load estimation and genotyping. Results Males with HCC significantly showed to have quite 2 times higher risk of exposure to HCV infection (OR = 1.72; 95% CI = 1.15–2.58). Moreover, HCC was significantly associated with older age. In fact, > 50 years older patients showed to have a higher risk of developing HCC (OR = 17.4; 95% CI = 4.24 to 71.36) compared to younger patients. HCV RNA rate was significantly higher (83.7%) among HCC patients than in the control group (61.4%, p < 0.001) and the most prevalent genotype was 1b (68.0% in HCC vs 54.4% in the control group, p < 0.005). HCC patients significantly have a risk of exposure to HCV 1b infection almost 2 times greater than the control group (OR = 1.8; 95% CI = 1.11–2.82). The multivariate-adjusted OR (95% CI) of developing HCC for HCV 1b comparing to non-1b was 1.65 (1.16–2.33). Conclusions Our study detected a significantly higher rate of HCV RNA positivity and a higher rate of HCV 1b infection in HCC patients, suggesting the strict association between subtype 1b infection and HCC. A prospective study with larger number of samples would be needed to confirm our results

Development and Initial Validation of the Safety Training Engagement Scale (STE-S)

Safety training promotes safety at work, in particular through the use of engaging methods. This study introduces a newly developed measure of individual engagement in safety training, and aims to analyze the psychometric proprieties of the scale. The safety training engagement scale (STE) consists of five items pertaining to the trainee's dedication and absorption in a safety training session. Two studies are carried out to analyze the validity of the scale. The first study focuses on the construct (internal) validity, to examine the scale's internal consistency and dimensional structure. The second study seeks to provide further evidence for construct validity by testing the external validity of the scale. The sample consists of 913 (study 1) and 133 (study 2) participants in safety training programs in the field of the chemical industry who were invited to fill the STE scale after attending a safety training course. The results provide support to affirm the validity and reliability of the scale. The discussion describes the implication and the limitations of using the STE scale in practical safety training programs, and outlines recommendations for research to improve the scale's robustness

Sono presente qui e ora, e sto bene! - Il ruolo della mindfulness nel Job Demands - Resources Model

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of mindfulness -«an awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgementally to the experience that unfolds moment by moment (Kabat-Zinn, 2003)» - on workers' wellbeing, seeing it as personal resource in the Job Demands-Resources model. It was hypothesized that mindfulness may buffer the impact of surface acting, seen as job demand, on emotional exhaustion. It was also hypothesized that mindfulness may act a negative and indirect effect on emotional exhaustion through the mediation of reduced surface acting and a positive and indirect effect on work engagement as well, enhancing the perception of support from colleagues and supervisors. The results of the study, carried out on a sample of 316 employees of an Italian supermarket chain, confirmed the hypotheses. Implications for future research are discussed. The results suggest the importance of developing mindfulness in organizations in order to promote workers' well-being, because it enables them to cope with, or reduce, job demands and to increase job resources, which in turn enhance motivation at work

The Storm Doesn&rsquo;t Touch me!&mdash;The Role of Perceived Employability of Students and Graduates in the Pandemic Era

Perceived Employability acquires growing relevance as a psychological protective resource now that new entrants in the labour market from higher education are experiencing a deterioration of their occupational prospects due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which brings worries and jeopardises psychological well-being. This study aims to extend research on perceived employability among Italian University students and graduates. Perceived employability is posited to predict flourishing directly and indirectly by reducing material, social, and health worries related to COVID-19. Moreover, this study contends that perceived employability buffers the positive impact of perceived adverse conditions of the labour market on worries, changing the effect on flourishing. In total, 471 university students and graduates completed an online survey. The analyses reveal that perceived employability positively influences flourishing directly and indirectly by reducing COVID-19-related worries. Nevertheless, the results do not support the moderating action of perceived employability. Despite some limitations (e.g., a cross-sectional design), this study significantly advances the exploration of perceived employability as a critical personal resource to deal with the transition to work under pandemic-related crises. This study draws on its results to advise higher education to increase perceived employability, such as through career guidance activities and work-based learning experiences

Psychometric examination of the Psychological Capital (PsyCap) and the Career Decision-Making Process (CDMP) scales

Questo studio contribuisce alla validazione di due scale, potenzialmente utilizzabili in modo congiunto, incentrate sulle quattro componenti del Capitale Psicologico (speranza, resilienza, autoefficacia e ottimismo) e quattro dimensioni del Career Decision-Making Process (ansia verso la scelta, percezione di importanza della scuola, autoefficacia nel processo decisionale, pianificazione del futuro). Basandosi su due campioni di studenti della scuola secondaria di primo grado, l\u2019analisi fattoriale esplorativa e confermativa hanno fornito supporto alla ipotesi che le scale denominate PsyCap e CDMP rappresentino misure di auto-valutazione valide nella rilevazione delle risorse in grado di facilitare il processo decisionale della carriera.The current study was aimed to validate two scales, potentially jointly used, focused on the four dimensions of Psychological Capital (i.e., hope, resilience, self-efficacy and optimism) and the four facets of Career Decision-Making Process (i.e., career choice anxiety, perceived instrumentality of education, career decision-making self-efficacy and career planning attitude) among middle school students. In Study 1 the PsyCap and CDMP scales were developed and evaluated through a principal component analysis (N = 602). In Study 2 a confirmatory factor analysis (N = 989) was performed in order to validate the four-dimensional structure of the scales. The obtained results provided evidence for two theoretically grounded 16-item scales composed of four factors each: the PsyCap and the CDMP scales. The PsyCap and the CDMP scales are valid self-report measures assessing the key dimensions of psychological capital and the resources able to ease the career decision-making process