Are Business Graduates’ Employability Skills and Learning/Teaching Techniques Universal? Exploring the Role of Culture: A Comparative Study among Australia, China, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia

Muhammad Awais Bhatti, Suzanie Adina Mat Saat, Megbel M. Aleidan, Ghadah Hassan Mohammed Al Murshidi, Mansour Alyahya and Ariff Syah Juhari
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Muhammad Awais Bhatti: Department of Management, College of Business, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Suzanie Adina Mat Saat: Didasko Group, La Trobe University, Melbourne 3004, Australia
Megbel M. Aleidan: Department of Management, College of Business, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Ghadah Hassan Mohammed Al Murshidi: Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain 15551, United Arab Emirates
Mansour Alyahya: Department of Management, College of Business, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Ariff Syah Juhari: College of Business Administration, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh 66833, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the employability skills required in different countries/cultures and to further explore how cultural differences influence teaching/learning techniques required to equip students with required employability skills. Data were collected from 158 human resource managers working in different organizations and 169 faculty members who were engaged in teaching business graduates in four culturally different countries: Australia, China, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. SPSS version 20 was used to calculate the average and compute the values. Results of this study indicated that employability skills for business graduates vary among different counties/cultures but the five employability skills are common regardless of cultural differences: entry-level digital skills, problem-solving skills, organizational skills, decision making, and goal-oriented skills. In addition, the findings of this study also indicated that teaching/learning techniques such as case studies, conventional lectures, and simulations, etc., are not completely culture-sensitive and could be used in almost every country/culture. The findings of this study will be helpful for higher educational institutions, vocational training centers, and other stakeholders to use in determining the most effective teaching/learning techniques to equip the students with the employability skills required in their country/culture including common employability skills and make their graduates more employable.

Keywords: business graduates; country/culture differences; cultural sensitive skills; higher education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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