How employable do students perceive themselves to be in the future? Evidence from the Middle East

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the determinants of perceived future employability among students. A total of 396 university students from a leading university in Lebanon answered a questionnaire about perceived future employability, career ambition, career distress, university commitment, satisfaction with life and self-esteem. In line with the study hypotheses, the authors first establish the psychometric properties of the perceived future employability scale (PFES) in Lebanon and demonstrate the importance of satisfaction with life amid career ambition, career distress, university commitment and self-esteem. The results indicate a good fit to the data for the newly validated future perceived employability scale; moreover, a full mediation effect for satisfaction with life is confirmed. In addition, career ambition, university commitment, satisfaction with life and self-esteem predicted students’ PFES. The paper offers insights for students and university counselors on how to better foster perceived employability, and thus the capacity to adequately envision one’s career.