Employer-Informed Employability Competencies: Development and Initial Validation of the Student Employability Competency Scale for Pakistani Business Students
This study develops and initially validates the Student Employability Competency Scale (SECS) for Pakistani business students through a mixed-methods approach, identifying a four-factor model grounded in employer perspectives that universities can utilize to assess competency gaps and guide curriculum improvements.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
Every year, universities graduate thousands of business students, each equipped with a degree and a promise of future success. Yet, a persistent gap often exists between what these institutions teach and what employers actually need. A degree proves a student has mastered a subject, but it does not guarantee they can navigate the messy, human reality of a modern workplace. In countries like Pakistan, where the economy is shifting rapidly toward services and technology, this disconnect is particularly sharp. Employers are looking for more than just technical knowledge; they need graduates who can communicate clearly, solve problems under pressure, work well in groups, and adapt when plans change. The challenge for educators has been how to measure these intangible skills. Without a clear way to see what students believe they can do, it is difficult to know where to focus teaching efforts or how to prepare young people for the specific demands of their local job market.
To address this, a team of researchers set out to build a new tool designed specifically for Pakistani business students. Their goal was not to predict who would get a job, but to understand what skills students think they possess, based on what employers say is important. They began by listening directly to the people who hire graduates. The researchers interviewed thirty human-resource practitioners and employer representatives from various service-sector organizations across Pakistan. They asked these professionals to describe the behaviors that made a new graduate successful and to point out the common weaknesses they saw in recent hires. Through these conversations, a clear picture emerged of five key areas that employers valued: the ability to communicate effectively, the capacity to adapt to change, the skill to lead without necessarily having a title, the ability to work in a team, and the habit of thinking critically about evidence and decisions.
With these insights in hand, the researchers turned the employers' descriptions into a list of specific questions. They asked students to rate themselves on how well they could perform these behaviors. To ensure the tool was accurate, they tested it on a large group of over five hundred business students from multiple universities. The researchers split this group in half to test the results twice, first to see what patterns appeared naturally and then to confirm those patterns held true. The results showed that the students' self-perceptions clustered into four distinct groups rather than five. While communication, leadership, teamwork, and critical thinking formed clear and reliable categories, the concept of adaptability did not stand alone as a separate group in the data. Instead, the questions about adapting to change seemed to blend into the other skills, suggesting that for these students, flexibility might be expressed through how they work with others or how they solve problems, rather than as a standalone trait.
The final tool, now refined to sixteen questions, offers a reliable way for universities to diagnose where students feel confident and where they feel uncertain. The four areas that emerged—communication, leadership, teamwork, and critical thinking—were shown to be distinct from one another, meaning a student could be strong in one area while needing more practice in another. For instance, a student might feel very capable of leading a group project but struggle with the critical thinking required to analyze data for that same project. The researchers found that students' answers were consistent over time, indicating that the scale measures a stable view of their own abilities rather than a fleeting mood. However, the study is careful to note that this tool measures what students believe they can do, not what they have actually demonstrated in a real job interview or workplace setting. It is a map of their self-perception, drawn from the landmarks that employers have identified as important.
This work provides a practical path forward for business schools in Pakistan. By using this scale, educators can move beyond guessing what skills their graduates lack and instead identify specific gaps in confidence that need attention. They can adjust their curriculum to include more opportunities for students to practice writing professional documents, leading peer groups, or debating evidence-based solutions. The study also highlights the importance of grounding educational tools in local reality; what works in one country may not fit the specific language and priorities of another. While the researchers acknowledge that the tool needs further testing with different groups and against actual job performance, it offers a solid starting point. It bridges the gap between the classroom and the boardroom by giving both students and teachers a shared language to discuss the skills that truly matter for entering the workforce.
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