Predictors of Graduate Employability: Mediating Roles of Leadership, Ethics, and Religiosity

This study investigated predictors of employability among graduates of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM). Eight graduates? competencies and values that were hypothesised as predictors of employment are Religiosity, Teamwork, Leadership, ICT, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Ethics. Among the eight variables, Leadership, Ethics, and Religiosity were hypothesised as the mediators for this research. A structured Malay version self-administered questionnaire was distributed to all USIM alumni graduated between year 2003 until 2013 by using an Alumni Portal. The total number of population for this study is 9,840 graduates. 1146 responds were received by the researchers in the first half year of data collection. Results of the hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the eight predictors of employability explained 37 percent variance of employment status. Specifically, the analysis demonstrated Leadership, Ethics, and Religiosity completely mediated the influence of ICT, Communication, Thinking Ability, and Teamwork competencies toward graduates? employment status. In sum, this research found that value-related graduates? competencies are important for employability. This could support the focus of USIM to integrate Islamic values in the development of their curriculum and education design. Future research should focus on to increase the research participation. Furthermore, an in depth qualitative study on USIM graduates should also be conducted to further understand the issue.