The mediating effect of psychological strengths and resilience on enhancing youth employability through social entrepreneurship education and training

Abstract

Accounting for 37.6 % of the total unemployed population, youth unemployment is critical in Hong Kong. With the agenda set by the government, entrepreneurship is suggested as an effective means to enhance their employability. Under this context, this study examines the impact of social entrepreneurship training on youth’s employability and their psychological growth. The subjects were underprivileged youth referred through social workers from Band 3 secondary schools who participated in the three-stage training program including baseline assessment (T0) and post-training questionnaires (T1). Among the 100 participants, 77 pairs of responses from T0 and T1 were matched and included in the data analysis. The results show that this program is effective and can enhance underprivileged youth’s psychological growth in terms of their self-esteem, career-linked self-efficacy, flourishing, sense of self-worth and resilience, entrepreneurship skills and intention, and overall self-perceived employability. Young participants’ entrepreneurship skills and intention positively predict their self-perceived employability. This relationship is mediated by their psychological strengths and resilience. Therefore, early introduction of curriculum-based youth entrepreneurship training is recommended in secondary schools to enhance their psychological growth and increase their competitiveness at the workplace in future.