THE EFFECTS OF SELF-EFFICACY AND OPTIMISM ON PERCEIVED EMPLOYABILITY

Abstract

Purpose- According to the January 2023 report of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), while the unemployment rate in Turkey is 10.2% as of November 2022, this rate is 17.8% for the young population in the 15-24 age group. It is seen that youth unemployment is one of the important problems in Turkey and the possibility of not being able to find a job for young people creates a worrying situation. Employability is an individual's perception of their chances of finding a job. It is thought that one of the features that can be beneficial for individuals to cope with the process of finding a job is psychological capital. This research aims to test the effect of the concept of psychological capital, which consists of hope, optimism, self-efficacy and resilience dimensions, on perceived employability on a student sample. Methodology- In this study, data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of psychological capital scale, perceived employability scale and demographic information section. 219 students studying in the department of business administration of a state university participated in the study. Participants are between the ages of 17-27. The data were obtained between September 2022 and January 2023 with convenience sampling method and online survey application. Findings- In the study, first of all, the factor structures of the variables were determined by confirmatory factor analysis. Then, the relations between the variables were examined by correlation analysis and it was seen that each sub-dimension of psychological capital had an effect on perceived employability. As a result of the regression analysis performed to test the hypotheses, it was seen that only the dimensions of self-efficacy and optimism had the effect of explaining the perceived employability. Conclusion- In this study, it was seen that students' beliefs that they will be successful and their thoughts about getting positive results increase their perceptions about finding a job. Although this result is consistent with the findings in the literature, it differs from previous studies in that resilience and hope do not have a positive effect. Research shows that optimism and self-efficacy can be increased by education and various learning methods. In this context, it is thought that the trainings to be provided by universities and non-governmental organizations will enable students to better cope with the labor market. Future studies may offer a broader perspective by examining the role of mediators and moderators in the relationship between self-efficacy and optimism and perceived employability. Keywords: Psychological capital, perceived employability, self-efficacy, optimism, positive psychology JEL Codes: M00, M12, M19