A Preliminary Analysis of the Perception Gap between Employers and Vocational Students for Career Sustainability

Ali Rizwan, Suhail H. Serbaya, Muhammad Saleem, Hemaid Alsulami, Dimitrios A. Karras and Zobia Alamgir
Additional contact information
Ali Rizwan: Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Suhail H. Serbaya: Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Muhammad Saleem: Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering-Rabigh, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Hemaid Alsulami: Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Dimitrios A. Karras: School of Science, National and Kapodistrian, University of Athens (NKUA), 34400 Athens, Greece
Zobia Alamgir: Department of Research and Analysis, Knowledge Kottage, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-21

Abstract: (1) Background: Nowadays, technological advancement plays a key role in the economic uplift of developing countries, and it is paramount that the youth of these countries are well-equipped with both vocational and technical skills to bring about sustainability in their careers. (2) Methods: The present study aims to investigate the perception gap between vocational students and industrial employers with regard to employability skills. In this regard, data were collected from 683 vocational students from urban/rural areas studying in the public/private vocational institutions of a developing country. Similarly, 82 vocational employers were contacted about their perception of employability skills. A questionnaire comprising 20 questions was administered online to both students and employers for registering their responses. Data were analyzed with the help of descriptive statistics, interval plots, and an Ishikawa diagram. (3) Results: The findings reveal that vocational employers give maximum importance to interpersonal, technical, and entrepreneurial skills, while students perceive that their technical and computing skills are vital for sustainable careers. Similarly, the rural/public students showed minimum levels of competency in these skills as compared with their counterparts living in rural areas and studying in the private institutions. Furthermore, structured interviews were conducted with the concerned stakeholders to develop a remedial framework for the sustainable careers of these vocational students. (4) Conclusions: The results of the study not only bring sustainability to the vocational sector of developing countries, but to all those countries enjoying similar socioeconomic backgrounds.

Keywords: vocational education; sustainable future; career development; technical skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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