Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This study explores how two typical pedagogical modes, namely, problem-based and employment-based pedagogical mode, contribute to the employability of university and college students. Based on analysis of a total sample of 428 undergraduates from Chinese universities and colleges using structural equation modelling, the results show that students’ absorptive capacity was positively related to their employability. The employment-based pedagogical mode, considering the absorptive capacity as a partial mediator, was positively related to students’ employability. The problem-based pedagogical mode, considering the absorptive capacity as a complete mediator, was positively related to students’ employability. Absorptive capacity act as an important mediator variable when the employment-based and problem-based pedagogical mode influence students’ employability. Based on the findings, specific suggestions and managerial implications for higher education policy, manpower training, and future research are provided.

Keywords

employability problem-based pedagogical modes employment-based pedagogical modes absorptive capacity intermediary variable

Introduction

With increasing globalization, low employment has emerged and is continuously growing, which is leading to the rise of youth unemployment rate and the decline in employment quality. Meanwhile, the structural adjustment necessitated by the economic development mode in China and many other factors have further added to the complexity and severity of the employment situation in China (Jing, 2016). According to the official statistics, the number of university and college graduates in China surged during the COVID-19 epidemic, reaching 10.76 million in 2022. The dual effect of the sluggish economy and the COVID-19 epidemic has brought about that the talent market is facing a highly severe situation (J. L. Feng et al., 2022). While some college students failed to find an ideal job, many employers were not able to find the right talent (Zhu, 2009), which indicates that the mismatch between the training goals of higher education actually achieved by students and the current industrial development, and the practical application of college students’ professional knowledge and skills is still limited.

Recent research on higher education have shown that students’ learning performance can be significantly improved by ameliorating teaching quality, introducing innovative curriculum design and optimizing teaching resources and equipment, along with other measures (Maringe & Sing, 2014; Pike et al., 2011). Few of them, however, have explored the relation between students’ learning performance and their employability. Even though students show a high level of learning performance with many skills and abilities developed in schools, they are definitely confronted with a cruel and strict test when they finally enter the job market. Stronger employability allows a fulfilment of the students’ potential in the workplace, while the lack of employability leads to the loss of opportunities and less competitiveness.

Social needs have a profound influence and traction on the goal orientation of talent training in colleges and universities (H. Feng, 2009). Colleges and universities must be guided by the development of employability in the setting and construction of majors. Embedding employability in the curriculum is an effective way to improve the employability of college students (Cheng, 2017). In terms of teaching objectives, a shift from imparting knowledge to developing ability and comprehensive quality is needed (Liu, 2014). Higher education in China has currently paid much attention to teaching reform. Many problem-based and employment-based pedagogical modes in undergraduate education have come up as a result. Additionally, many higher vocational colleges also propose some teaching reforms, such as project teaching method, combination of work and learning teaching method and contextual teaching. However, relevant empirical research on whether such teaching practices can improve college students’ employability is still scarce. Cheng (2016) conducted empirical research to verify relevant hypotheses, for example, the employment-based students evaluation mechanism in colleges has a significant improvement on students’ employability, career planning and employment guidance provided in colleges exerts a significant improvement on students’ employability (Cheng & Zhi, 2016). The teaching ability of college teachers plays an important role in improving students’ employability and the practical teaching based on the cooperation between colleges and enterprises can significantly ameliorate students’ employability (Cheng, 2017). Nevertheless, existing research has rarely been conducted from the perspective of teaching to examine the improvement of pedagogical modes on college students’ employability.

De Vos et al. (2011) outline that employability involves knowledge, acquisition of skills, and other characteristics required to satisfy the needs of employers and achieve professional potential. Humans are organisms that generate psychological elements such as feelings, moods, emotions, or attitudes in response to a stimulus (Khan et al., 2017; Kim & Park, 2019; Zhai et al., 2020). External stimulation and guidance are needed to increase employees’ knowledge reserves and experience skills through their internal psychological development and improvement of knowledge absorption ability so that employees can further expand and better apply the knowledge and skills to similar work tasks, thus effectively improving their performance of follow-up work tasks. Therefore, individual knowledge absorption ability is a key factor for employees’ innovative performance (Zhang et al., 2018).

This study first highlights the problem-based and employment-based pedagogical modes from the teaching level, meanwhile considers the absorptive capacity of students’ preparatory ability, explores how these variables play roles in the formation of employability, and further discusses how to enhance and improve students’ employability. We also pay close attention to the change of students’ intrinsic absorptive capacity considering the influence of the pedagogical modes and probe into the effect of the teachers’ extrinsic teaching stimulation on students’ intrinsic absorptive capacity and even their employability. This article is structured as follows. The section “Literature Review and Hypotheses Development” delineates the hypothesized relationships between problem-based pedagogical modes, employment-based pedagogical modes, absorptive capacity, and employability; the section “Approach and Methodology” describes the data collection procedure, participant characteristics and sampling technique, measures used to assess the study variables, and analytic procedure; the section “Analysis and Results” presents the results of the analyses conducted to examine the relationship between problem-based pedagogical modes, employment-based pedagogical modes, absorptive capacity, and employability; and finally, the sections “Discussion” and “Conclusion” are presented.

Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

Students’ Employability

The issue of students’ employability has raised considerable concerns of scholars focusing on higher education and human resource areas over the past few years. A great many conceptual and empirical studies have demonstrated the significance of students’ employability training. De Vos et al. (2011) stated that employability signifies individuals’ ability to meet the needs of employers and exert their professional potential through knowledge, skills and other characteristics. According Blázquez et al. (2018), employability refers to the best use of individual capabilities, subsequent learning and creation of basic technical proficiencies for overall task achievement and adaptation to internal and external vicissitudes in the employment market (Cuyper et al., 2008; Malik et al., 2019; Vermeulen et al., 2018). Employability can thus produce a variety of results and performances, depending on different research contexts and designs. In short, these discussions follow two principal threads: one is to examine the effect of various organizational and individual factors on employability from the perspective of employees; the second is to explore the effect of schools or students’ personal factors on the development of employability from the perspective of students. The former highlights the human capital theory and explains the direct impact on the general economic performance of knowledge stock and learning ability in educational training. Such employability analyses are mainly focused on the labor market and how employees can quickly adapt to variational working conditions, demands and new technologies (Cuyper et al., 2008). The latter approach emphasizes students’ devotion to learning and their school performance and attempts to determine whether graduates can give full play to their strengths in the workplace and are enough capable to solve problems related to work (Bridgstock, 2009).

Employment-Based Pedagogical Modes

The employment-base pedagogical mode needs to be realized by using certain educational methods and means such as on-site teaching, case teaching, discussion teaching along with increasing the training intensity and creating conditions to guide students to learn independently, and finally, reforming the examination method (Lei, 2006). Yorke and Knight (2004) concentrated on embedding teaching activities and employability in the design of curriculum, helping teachers acquire the ability to adjust to the curriculum structure and enhance it to offer better and more effective practices in pedagogy for employability (Baek & Cho, 2018). Nevertheless, fewer studies have focused on an explicit measurement method for employment-based pedagogical mode. Crossman and Clarke (2010) stated that the efforts and achievements of higher education in developing students’ employability affects employers’ and graduates’ satisfaction with college education. However, the factors or operation modes in schools can adopt to improve students’ employability are yet to be clarified. Several studies noted that the knowledge acquisition, skills training and capacity building of college students during school are mostly connected with teachers (Franz, 2008; Goteng et al., 2022; Hennemann & Liefner, 2010). This indicates that teachers need to provide relevant courses that narrow the gap between students’ learning and employment to cater to the career trend, career exploration and planning, ethical values and work attitudes of students, and even the training of their employability. Teachers are capable of improving students’ employability and affecting their learning motivation, devotion and performance through positive inspiration and guidance (Robinson et al., 2008). Employment-based pedagogical mode consequently plays a key role in training students’ employability.

Problem-Based Pedagogical Modes

Problem-based pedagogical mode requires students to actively pursue the related knowledge both independently and collaboratively in group to solve the given problem. Faculties and universities should encourage students to use the problem-based learning approach (Almulla, 2019). This method is ideal for students, as it not only helps them acquire knowledge but focus on the psychomotor and affective aspects (Wiek et al., 2014) Previous studies have shown that problem-based pedagogical mode could enhance students’ deep learning (Dolmans et al., 2016), critical thinking ability (Masek & Yamin, 2011), and self-directed and regulated learning (Loyens et al., 2008) that help students acquire skills required for their future. These positive traits of problem-based pedagogical mode come from the need of students to integrate relevant knowledge, develop communication skills, work in team, receive feedback and validation, as well as enhance perseverance in problem-solving (Seibert, 2021).

Problem-based learning can help students devote themselves to learning situations and acquire relevant resources and ability to search for information in the process of problem-solving, so as to develop solving strategies by virtue of new knowledge and improve their learning performance (Chang et al., 2012). This in turn helps lay a foundation for the development of students’ employability in the future.

The problem-based pedagogical mode advocates a student-based teaching and guidance and divides the learning process into five phases: from raising questions, to buildings hypotheses, to collecting data, to proving hypotheses, and making conclusions. Students can thus learn in a complex but meaningful problem situation, acquiring knowledge hidden behind the problems by virtue of solving them collectively as a team and thereby becoming capable to solve problems and learn independently (McGrath et al., 2006). Problem-based pedagogical mode enables students to have the required learning attitudes, high-level thinking skills, and other advantages, such as critical analysis, problem solving, and reflection, in face of practical problems (Martin et al., 2008; Spronken-Smith, 2005). All of these link it to employability training. Duncan and Al-Nakeeb (2006) demonstrated that students who take the problem-based courses change their learning motivation, attitudes and behavior. Their critical thinking, learning autonomy and relevant employability improve as a consequence.

Absorptive Capacity

Ability is a necessary condition to enable individuals to grasp the interaction with the environment and effectively use potential external stimuli, and it is also related to the knowledge absorption ability of individuals in different roles and positions (Sacchetti & Tortia, 2013). Zahra and George (2002) observed that absorptive capacity can be represented as a collection of abilities comprising knowledge acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation. The knowledge acquisition ability of a student is centered on the identification and acquisition of extrinsic knowledge, which cannot yet be effectively exploited. Knowledge assimilation refers to the ability to analyze, explain and understand extrinsic knowledge acquired during daily work and processes. Knowledge transformation refers to the ability to integrate assimilated knowledge with new knowledge by enriching and deleting knowledge acquired or reinterpreting it from a new perspective. Such transformation is derived from the identification between two types of knowledge incompatible with each other, further integrating them and presenting them in a new form. Knowledge exploitation ability is the systematic integration of transformed knowledge into organizational operation or innovation, so as to revise, extend and expand existing competitiveness.

In the context of higher education, students can lack sufficient knowledge and ability to absorb (Blázquez et al., 2018). Nor et al. (2012) found that it is beneficial for students to communicate in learning because it equips them with prerequisite knowledge and academic achievement. Thus, knowledge transfer and application can be conducted effectively, and their learning outcomes and employability development can be improved.

Existing Literature Review

The existing research on employability focuses excessively on teaching, that is, the extrinsic stimulation of the pedagogical mode. In fact, most motivational theorists believed that the students’ intrinsic learning motivation and preparatory characteristics can exert a stronger influence than extrinsic motivation. In the literatures related to self-regulated learning, Zimmerman (2010) noted that the interpretation of individual differences among learners in contemporary learning theories has shifted, moving from highlighting the difference in learners’ preparatory ability to a dynamic understanding of the learning process. There is an increasing emphasis on establishing the learners’ self-regulated learning ability. The learners’ intrinsic motivation plays a key role in how they utilize their psychological resources and interpret contextual information to drive subsequent learning intentions. Knowledge processing refers to how students internalize the acquired knowledge and information into the required ability when entering the workplace in the future, in the process of training their employability to adapt to environmental changes and employers’ demands. The students’ absorption, assimilation and knowledge transformation were rarely discussed in the past, especially their absorptive capacity. This study considers the absorptive capacity as an important intermediary variable of external motivation and internal assimilation behavior, and explores its important intermediary role in the employment-based pedagogical mode and problem-based pedagogical mode in improving the employability process.

Hypotheses

The study is primarily concerned with three aspects: one is to explore and test the relation between an employment-based pedagogical mode, the students’ absorptive capacity and their employability; the second is to explore and test the problem-based pedagogical mode in relation to absorptive capacity and their employability; the third is to investigate and test the connection between students’ absorptive capacity and their employability.

Relation Between Employment-Based Pedagogical Mode and Students’ Absorptive Capacity and Their Employability

Student employability involves both social soft power and hard power. It also involves psychological cognition and attitude in job hunting. Teachers need to train the students’ employability through both intrinsic and extrinsic incentives (Bogler et al., 2013). General and professional ability are demonstrations of the students’ external learning output and performance. Students consequently need to have a higher learning satisfaction to meet such requirements. That is to say, when students are highly satisfied with their learning, their academic achievement is also high (Bogler et al., 2013), thus laying a foundation for employability training. Some research in the subject found that when students are learning in an educational context, teachers can design a feasible curriculum and make implementation plans by virtue of teaching material and teaching methods and by developing their attitude and interacting with students (Corbett, 2005; Hmelo-Silver et al., 2007).

To improve students’ satisfaction with learning and to realize learning goals, students’ devotion to learning must be increased. If teachers transform the passive teacher-led teaching into an active teaching design centered on learners and make a commitment to lead students to have a further understanding of learning, students will be inspired to be devoted to learning. Thus, students become capable of applying the real examples learned in different situations (Tagg, 2003). Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:

Hypothesis 1: The Employment-based pedagogical mode was positively related to students’ absorptive capacity.

Hypothesis 2: The Employment-based pedagogical mode was positively related to students’ employability.

Relation Between Problem-Based Pedagogical Mode and Students’ Absorptive Capacity and Their Employability

All learning opportunities have been shown to have a positive effect on individuals, leading and driving them to develop abilities and achieve high performance and further improve self-efficiency (Zhao et al., 2005). Additionally, when students perceive that the learning is challenging and has a high requirement of knowledge and ability, they increase learning resources and devotion so as to obtain appropriate learning experience and show their self-efficiency. Beyond the intrinsic stimulation, all learning designs were therefore used to encourage students to understand the connotation of learning in the process of knowledge inquiry, so as to achieve the long-term learning target (Fave & Massimini, 2005) and predict their career orientation (Bassi et al., 2007). Students are aware that their self-efficiency can affect their interest in courses, learning motivation, emotion management, cognitive ability and learning achievements in the context of learning (Bandura, 1997). Dunlap (2005) found that problem-based pedagogical mode leads students to acquire professional knowledge and skills required in the workplace. Although these knowledge and skills can help to improve learning performance, they cannot be completely exploited without self-efficiency as the premise. Problem-based pedagogical mode therefore requires the students to set both short-term and long-term goals and provide feedback to their learning performance. This helps students enhance their self-efficiency. Based on this, Hypothesis 3 is proposed:

Hypothesis 3: The problem-based pedagogical mode was positively related to students’ absorptive capacity.

Problem-based pedagogical mode enables students to have the required learning attitude, high-level thinking skills, and other advantages, such as critical analysis, problem-solving, and reflection, in the face of practical problems (Martin et al., 2008). In this way, problem-based pedagogical mode helps students to complete employability training. Duncan and Al-Nakeeb (2006) demonstrated that students who take problem-based courses change their learning motivation, attitudes and behavior, thus improving their critical thinking, learning autonomy and relevant employability. Thus, the fourth hypothesis is proposed:

Hypothesis 4: The problem-based pedagogical mode was positively related to students’ employability.

Relation Between Students’ Absorptive Capacity and Employability

Employability comprises a variety of abilities, including knowledge and skills. If students are reluctant or unable to absorb knowledge in the context of higher education, they may not effectively make the use of this knowledge no matter how much information has been provided by teachers. Students are enough capable to absorb knowledge exchange and share this knowledge openly through common interest and language, and thereby acquire further valuable knowledge (Cadiz et al., 2009), thus producing a positive impact on their employability training. Nor et al. (2012) also found that students with excellent absorptive capacity exhibited relatively superior preparatory knowledge and academic performance. Additionally, they are capable of effectively transforming and applying knowledge, which improves their academic performance and further enhances their employability training. Thus, the fifth hypothesis proposed is as follows:

Hypothesis 5: Students’ absorptive capacity was positively related to their employability.

Overall Research Model

Based on the above research motivation and the research significance, as outlined in the plan, the study aimed to verify the following research framework, shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Research framework.

Approach and Methodology

Research Design

A quantitative survey technique was adopted for data collection as to explore and clarify the relationship among the variables. The survey was composed of questions designed to capture and reflect the subjective perceptions and behaviors of the respondents. To select and organize the questionnaire, eight teachers or education experts with more than 20 years’ experience were interviewed. We asked them to confirm the key items related to employment-based pedagogical mode, problem-based pedagogical mode, absorptive capacity and employability of college or university students, to confirm those survey items prepared through a literature review were consistent. All participants provided written informed consent. In order to ensure that the contents of the questionnaire were accurate and uniform, a bilingual back translation was carried out in both Chinese and English.

Sample and Questionnaire

This study used questionnaire survey to collect samples from 8 provinces in China, including Beijing, Guangdong, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Hebei, Fujian, and Hunan; thus selecting the schools cover different sizes, including “985 Project” and “211 Project” key universities, general undergraduate universities, junior colleges, and higher vocational technical colleges. The questionnaire was distributed to junior students in colleges and social personnel who had graduated from universities or colleges no more than 2 years. Therefore, the data derived from this project may better reflect the effect of the pedagogical mode on students’ absorptive capacity and employability. A total of 428 WJX online-questionnaires were distributed form June 2020 to July 2021. There is no invalid questionnaire and a total of 428 effective recoveries, in which undergraduate universities and junior college account for 46.23% and 53.77%. students at school and graduates in work account for 17.3% and 82.7%. Male and female students account for 65.7% and 34.3%, respectively. The results of nonresponse bias test showed that there was no significant difference in the main constructs and the basic sample data and no serious response bias in the data.

Variable Measure

Structural equation modelling was used to test the study hypotheses as this study uses a second-order model. For these four variables, that is, employment-based pedagogical mode, problem-based pedagogical mode, absorptive capacity and employability, the relevant variables tested in the literature of other scholars were selected to ensure the reliability and validity of the variables.

Students’ Employability

Students’ employability is composed of the following four aspects: general work ability, professional work ability, work attitude, and career planning and confidence. This study adopted the scale developed by Pan and Lee (2011), in which there are eight items for general work ability, four items for professional work ability, and three items for the last two categories respectively.

Problem-Based Pedagogical Mode

In terms of problem-based pedagogical mode, the scale designed by Chen et al. (2006) that includes six items were selected, and the questionnaires were designed to effectively reflect students’ feelings when teachers used the problem-based teaching method.

Employment-Based Pedagogical Mode

In terms of employment-based pedagogical mode, we referred to the scale developed by Li et al. (2007), Philip et al. (2008), and Pike et al. (2011) and also revised it. This test required the testee to truthfully reflect their feelings and gains when taking employment-based education.

Absorptive Capacity

In terms of absorptive capacity, the absorptive capacity is defined as a process to evaluate, assimilate, and exploit knowledge to explore the students’ cognition of absorptive capacity. The questionnaire adopted is designed by Cadiz et al. (2009), which includes three items for evaluation, assimilation and exploitation, respectively.

All items for each variable are processed in the native language so as to develop the corresponding questionnaire.

Analysis and Results

Reliability and Validity

In this study, 428 samples were obtained to meet the sample size requirement of SEM, as a large sample size can improve the generalization of the research in addition to enhancing the stability and goodness-of-fit index (GFI) of the model (Iacobucci, 2010). The reliability and validity of each construct were analyzed, and a test on the substitution of a second-order model to a first-order model was conducted. The data show that all items have a favorable reliability and validity except the item EM3. Two types of validity measurement are used to optimize the model, including convergent validity and discriminant validity measurements (Hair et al., 2010). In this research, we employed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to conduct the measurement and maximum likelihood (ML) of Amos 24.0 to do an estimation, while referring to the convergent validity evaluation standards by Fornell and Larcker (1981): (1) the loading of all standardized items should be >0.50 and reach a significant level; (2) the composite reliability (CR) should be higher than .70; and (3) the average variance extracted (AVE) should be >0.50. The AVE of each construct herein ranges from .80 to .95. Meanwhile, the goodness-of-fit among each latent variable is favorable, indicating a good convergent validity in each latent variable of the model, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1.

Analysis of Convergent Validity.

Constructs	Items	Parameter significance estimation			p	Factorloading	Itemsreliability	Compositereliability	Convergentvalidity
Constructs	Items	Unstd	SE	t-Value	p	Std	SMC	CR	AVE
Absorptive capacity	A1	1.000				.902	.814	.958	.718
	A2	0.976	0.038	25.692	***	.883	.780
	A3	0.918	0.039	23.427	***	.845	.714
	A7	1.000				.873	.762
	A8	0.998	0.041	24.531	***	.889	.790
	A9	0.968	0.045	21.461	***	.829	.687
	A4	1.000				.719	.517
	A5	1.452	0.085	17.147	***	.893	.797
	A6	1.103	0.074	14.844	***	.772	.596
Employability	EM1	1.000				.804	.646	.969	.646
	EM2	1.048	0.060	17.542	***	.784	.615
	EM4	1.127	0.060	18.915	***	.827	.684
	EM5	0.957	0.055	17.510	***	.783	.613
	EM6	0.865	0.055	15.828	***	.725	.526
	EM7	1.101	0.076	14.499	***	.677	.458
	EM8	1.022	0.058	17.700	***	.789	.623
	EM9	1.000				.819	.671
	EM10	0.981	0.056	17.682	***	.774	.599
	EM11	1.048	0.048	21.640	***	.885	.783
	EM13	1.000				.772	.596
	EM14	1.124	0.062	18.203	***	.857	.734
	EM15	0.862	0.061	14.015	***	.688	.473
	EM12	1.020	0.047	21.713	***	.887	.787
	EM16	1.000				.867	.752
	EM17	1.013	0.046	21.881	***	.848	.719
	EM18	0.943	0.044	21.535	***	.841	.707
Problem-based pedagogical mode	P1	1.000				.857	.734	.943	.733
	P2	1.053	0.046	22.715	***	.867	.752
	P3	0.944	0.042	22.636	***	.866	.750
	P4	0.999	0.042	23.593	***	.885	.783
	P5	0.976	0.045	21.862	***	.849	.721
	P6	0.873	0.043	20.180	***	.811	.658
Employment-based pedagogical mode	EX1	1.000				.798	.637	.962	.716
	EX2	1.072	0.052	20.552	***	.875	.766
	EX3	1.064	0.054	19.814	***	.853	.728
	EX4	1.137	0.055	20.582	***	.876	.767
	EX5	1.097	0.055	19.950	***	.857	.734
	EX6	1.025	0.056	18.221	***	.804	.646
	EX7	1.059	0.054	19.662	***	.849	.721
	EX8	1.056	0.053	20.105	***	.862	.743
	EX9	1.124	0.055	20.554	***	.875	.766
	EX10	0.978	0.053	18.346	***	.808	.653

***

p < 0.001.

Additionally, the present research refers to the standards of evaluating discriminant validity by Capron (1999), that is, there is support for discriminant validity when the square root calculation (SRC) value of AVE is larger than the absolute value of the correlation coefficient of a construct. As shown diagonally in Table 2, the SRCs of AVE are larger than the absolute values of the other coefficients listed in the column of the correlation coefficient table, so the present research is of discriminant validity.

Table 2.

Analysis of Discriminant Validity.

	AVE	Employability	Absorptive capacity	Problem-basedpedagogical mode	Employment-basedpedagogical mode
Employability	.646	.804
Absorptive capacity	.718	.893	.847
Problem-based pedagogical mode	.733	.765	.869	.856
Employment-based pedagogical mode	.716	.777	.821	.834	.846

Note: Boldface numbers in the diagonal represent square root of the AVE of each construct; Pearson correlation are presented below the diagonal.

Goodness-of-Fit of the Model

Bagozzi and Yi (1988) took into account the sample size and suggested that the ratio between χ² and degree of freedom should be <3.0 when it was used for testing goodness-of-fit of models (Hair et al., 2010). As shown in Table 3, the ratio between χ² and degree of freedom approximates to 3.0, the GFI value was 0.77 (<0.80), CFI was 0.90 (>0.80), IFI 0.90 (>0.80) and NFI 0.858 (>0.80), exceed the acceptable value 0.80, and RMSEA is 0.072 (<0.08), which indicates an acceptable goodness-of-fit of the present research model.

Table 3.

Goodness-of-Fit Index of the Structural Model.

Measurement index	Acceptable values	Empirical results
Ratio between χ² and degree of freedom (χ²/df)	<3.0	3.029
Goodness-of-fit index (GFI)	>0.8	0.77
CFI	>0.8	0.90
AGFI	>0.8	0.743
IFI	>0.8	0.90
NFI	>0.8	0.858
Root mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA)	<0.08	0.072

Analysis of the Structural Model

The study followed Baron and Kenny’s (1986) suggestion and used a causal steps strategy to test the Hypotheses. The correlation coefficients indicated that employment-based teaching was positively and significantly related to students’ absorptive capacity (r = .46, p < .01), which indicates that Hypothesis 1 is supported. The path coefficient of problem-based pedagogical mode to students’ employability is .18 (p < .01), thereby Hypothesis 2 is supported. The correlation coefficients indicated that problem-based pedagogical mode was positively and significantly related to students’ absorptive capacity (r = .69, p < .01), showing that Hypothesis 3 is supported. The path coefficient of problem-based pedagogical mode to students’ employability is −.12 (p > .10), showing that Hypothesis 4 is unsupported. The correlation coefficient of students’ absorptive capacity to their employability is .83 (p < .01), and thus Hypothesis 5 is supported (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Analysis path of the structural model.

Mediating Effect of Absorptive Capacity

As the correlation coefficient of employment-based pedagogical mode to students’ employability is .18, which is close to the acceptable value of .19, whether absorptive capacity is a complete mediator in the model is uncertain. In order to investigate the effect of the mediator, we performed percentile bootstrapping and bias-corrected percentile bootstrapping at a 95% confidence interval with 1,000 bootstrap samples (Taylor et al., 2008). Following the suggestions of Preacher and Hayes (2008), the confidence interval of the lower and upper bounds was calculated to test whether the indirect effects were significant.

As shown in Table 4, the results of the bootstrap test confirmed a positive and significant completely mediating effect for absorptive capacity between problem-based pedagogical mode and employability (zero is not between the lower and upper bound, direct effect value Z = 1.32, |Z| < 1.96), while the effect of employment-based pedagogical mode on students’ employability is partly mediated by absorptive capacity (zero is not between the lower and upper bound, direct mediating effect value Z = 2.203, |Z| > 1.96).

Table 4.

Mediating Effect of Absorptive Capacity.

Variables	Point estimate	SE	Z	Bias-correct (95%)		Percentile (95%)
Variables	Point estimate	SE	Z	Low	Up	Low	Up
Employment-based pedagogical mode → Employability	Total effect
	0.432	0.092	4.695	0.260	0.612	0.268	0.612
	Indirect effect
	0.291	0.062	4.694	0.175	0.424	0.173	0.424
	Direct effect
	0.141	0.064	2.203	0.031	0.287	0.032	0.287
Problem-based pedagogical mode → Employability	Total effect
	0.364	0.091	4	0.206	0.549	0.182	0.549
	Indirect effect
	0.465	0.082	5.67	0.334	0.653	0.305	0.653
	Direct effect
	−0.101	0.076	1.32	−0.246	0.061	−0.261	0.061

Note. 1,000 bootstrap samples.

Discussion

This study aims to explore how problem-based and employment-based pedagogical modes affect college students’ employability and clear the role of the absorptive capacity in the formation of students’ employability. To date, only a few studies have concentrated on the employment ability of higher education institutions via the pedagogical mode. Most studies have focused on improving students’ employability through some external stimulation such as mechanism and system or policy measures; however, little attention has been paid to the external stimulation of daily teaching work on students’ internal absorptive capacity and employability improvement. This study explored the path from pedagogical mode to students’ employability by conducting a survey and has drawn specific conclusions.

Absorptive Capacity and Employability

By adopting the scale designed by Cadiz et al. (2009), absorptive capacity was divided into three aspects: evaluation, assimilation, and exploitation, with each aspect having three items. The result shows that the path coefficient of absorptive capacity to students’ employability is .83, that is, absorptive capacity has a significant positive impact on employability. That is to say, students are capable of absorbing knowledge exchange and openly sharing the connotations of knowledge through common interest and language, thereby acquiring valuable knowledge (Cadiz et al., 2009; Wenger, 1998). This has a positive impact on their employability training.

Mediating Effect of Absorptive Capacity

The path analysis indicates that absorptive capacity can exert a mediating effect between employment-based pedagogical mode and student employability as well as between problem-based pedagogical mode and employability. In combination with the mediating effect test using the bootstrapping method, we identified that the impact of problem-based pedagogical mode on students’ employability can be completely mediated by absorptive capacity, while the impact of employment-based pedagogical mode on employability can be partially mediated by it.

Employment-Based Pedagogical Mode and Employability

The measurement items were designed by referring to principles developed by Yorke and the scale designed by Li et al. (2007), Philip et al. (2008), and Pike et al. (2011). Then use them in combination with national conditions. The survey results show that employment-based pedagogical mode can positively affect students’ employability as the path coefficient is .18, and zero is not between the lower and upper bound of the direct effect of the employ-based pedagogical mode to employability. Meanwhile, it can also have a significant positive impact on their absorptive capacity (the path coefficient is .46). Additionally, absorptive capacity can have a significant positive impact on students’ employability as well as play a mediating role between employment-based pedagogical mode and students’ employability. While using the employment-based pedagogical mode, teachers should focus on the improvement of students’ absorptive ability. From this viewpoint, the improvement of students’ absorptive ability is not only a simple skill familiarization but also includes students’ absorptive capacity and other internal factors as well as psychological factors. It echoes the point that employability refers to the best utilization of individual capabilities, subsequent learning, and creation of basic technical proficiencies for overall task achievement and adaptation to internal and external vicissitudes in the employment market (Cuyper et al., 2008; Malik et al., 2019; Vermeulen et al., 2018).

Problem-Based Pedagogical Mode and Students’ Employability

To assess the problem-based pedagogical mode, this study employed the scale designed by Chen et al. (2006), which includes six items. The results show that problem-based pedagogical mode has no positive impact on college students’ employability (the path coefficient is −.12), while it has a significant positive impact on students’ absorptive capacity (the path coefficient is .69). Absorptive capacity however has a significant positive impact on students’ employability (the path coefficient is .83). These values lead us to conclude that problem-based pedagogical mode does not have a positive effect on college students’ employability but have a positive effect on students’ absorptive capacity; thus, it taking absorptive capacity as a complete mediator, affects college students’ employability.

The aforementioned findings showed that university and college students’ absorptive capacity has a significant positive effect on college students’ employability. The employment-based pedagogical mode positive effect college students’ employability and have a significant positive effect on absorptive capacity. The employment-based pedagogical mode, taking absorptive capacity as a partial mediator, positively affect college students’ employability. Problem-based pedagogical mode do not affect college students’ employability but significantly positively affect their absorptive capacity. Problem-based pedagogical mode, taking absorptive capacity as a complete mediator, positively influence college students’ employability. The absorptive capacity is one of the important mediator variables when the employment- and problem-based pedagogical mode influence college students’ employability.

Based on the above results, some interesting findings can be derived, which are as follows:

First, in terms of improving students’ employability, neither employment-based pedagogical mode nor problem-based pedagogical mode can bypass the intermediary role of absorptive ability. In other words, teachers should pay attention to students’ internal absorptive ability when designing teaching curriculum in a timely manner, and create corresponding teaching situations from this point of entry. While improving employability, teachers should consider students’ absorptive ability and provide students a certain amount of time and space, accompany and guide students through the process of absorption-understanding-digestion-transfer to improve their employability.

Second, employment-based pedagogical mode can improve employability directly and can improve employability through improving students’ absorptive capacity. However, problem-based pedagogical mode has no direct effect on employability, but can improve employability through increasing students’ absorptive capacity.

Third, the path coefficient of the problem-oriented teaching model is higher (.69) than that of the employment-oriented teaching model (.46), and its positive effect on students’ absorptive capacity is more significant, which means that the problem-based pedagogical mode can more effectively enhance students’ internal absorptive capacity. Even while improving students’ employability, the embedding of problem-based pedagogical mode cannot be ignored as the problem-based pedagogical mode could enhance students’ deep learning (Dolmans et al., 2016), critical thinking ability (Masek & Yamin, 2011), and self-directed and regulated learning (Loyens et al., 2008) that could equip students with skills required for their future.

Conclusion

This study constructs the theoretical framework between an employment-based pedagogical mode, problem-based pedagogical mode, absorptive capacity and employability. This helps analyze the SEM and demonstrates the intermediary role and mediating effect of absorptive capacity between employment-based pedagogical mode and students’ employment as well as between problem-based pedagogical mode and students’ employability. Both pedagogical modes are shown to improve students’ employability by improving students’ absorptive capacity and absorptive capacity act as an important mediator variable when the employment-based and problem-based pedagogical mode influence students’ employability. The employment-based pedagogical mode, considering the absorptive capacity as a partial mediator, was positively related to students’ employability. The problem-based pedagogical mode, considering the absorptive capacity as a complete mediator, was positively related to students’ employability. Employment-based pedagogical mode can improve employability directly and can improve employability through improving students’ absorptive capacity. However, problem-based pedagogical mode has no direct effect on employability, but can improve employability through increasing students’ absorptive capacity. This research enriches the theoretic connotations of student employability and absorptive capacity, demonstrates the influence rules between pedagogical mode, students’ absorptive capacity and employability, explores the impact and performance of the intrinsic stimulation of the pedagogical mode on students’ intrinsic absorptive capacity and their employability and further provides useful paths and approaches to improve employability. This research provides significant suggestions for cultivating talents and improving students’ employability in higher education.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This article was supported by Educational Science Planning Foundation of Hunan Province (ND227673) .

ORCID iD

Zhi-ting Liu

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

References

Almulla

M. A.

(2019). The efficacy of employing PBL approach as a method of facilitating students’ achievement. IEEE Access, 7, 146480–146494.

Baek

Cho

(2018). Identifying the virtuous circle of humanity education and post-graduate employment: Evidence from a Confucian country. Sustainability, 10, 202.

Bagozzi

R. P.

(1988). On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 16(1), 74–94.

Bandura

(1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. Choice Reviews Online, 35(3), 801–804.

Baron

R. M.

Kenny

D. A.

(1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182.

Bassi

Steca

Delle Fave

Caprara

G. V.

(2007). Academic self-efficacy beliefs and quality of experience in learning. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36(3), 301–312.

Blázquez

Herrarte

Llorente-Heras

(2018). Competencies, occupational status, and earnings among European university graduates. Economics of Education Review, 62, 16–34.

Bogler

Caspi

Roccas

(2013). Transformational and passive leadership: An initial investigation of university instructors as leaders in a virtual learning environment. Educational Management Administration and Leadership, 41(3), 372–392.

Bridgstock

(2009). The graduate attributes we’ve overlooked: Enhancing graduate employability through career management skills. Higher Education Research and Development, 28(1), 31–44.

10.

Cadiz

Sawyer

J. E.

Griffith

T. L.

(2009). Developing and validating field measurement scales for absorptive capacity and experienced community of practice. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 69(6), 1035–1058.

11.

Capron

(1999). The long-term performance of horizontal acquisitions. Strategic Management Journal, 20(11), 987–1018.

12.

Chang

C. C.

Jong

Huang

F. C.

(2012). Using electronic resources to support problem-based learning. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 46(2), 195–206.

13.

Chen

J. Y.

Lee

M. C.

Lee

H. S.

Wang

Y. C.

Lin

L. Y.

Yang

J. H.

(2006). An online evaluation of problem-based learning (PBL) in Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan—A pilot study. Annals-Academy of Medicine, Singapore, 35(9), 624.

14.

Cheng

(2016). Development of measurement tools of college students’ employment ability. Heilongjiang Researches on Higher Education, (6), 13–15.

15.

Cheng

(2017). An empirical study on the employment ability of college students and its improvement—Based on the effective sample analysis of 64 universities in China. Higher Education Exploration, (7), 98–105.

16.

Cheng

Zhi

S. H.

(2016). Modelling of employ ability of university students from the perspective of career development. Chongqing Higher Education Research, (4), 102–110.

17.

Corbett

A. C.

(2005). Experiential learning within the process of opportunity identification and exploitation. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(4), 473–491.

18.

Crossman

J. E.

Clarke

(2010). International experience and graduate employability: Stakeholder perceptions on the connection. Higher Education, 59(5), 599–613.

19.

Cuyper

N. D.

Bernhard-Oettel

Berntson

Witte

H. D.

Alarco

(2008). Employability and employees’ well-being: Mediation by job insecurity. Applied Psychology, 57(3), 488–509.

20.

De Vos

De Hauw

Van der Heijden

B. I. J. M.

(2011). Competency development and career success: The mediating role of employability. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79(2), 438–447.

21.

Dolmans

D.H.J.M.

Loyens

S.M.M.

Marcq

H. L N.

Gijbels

(2016). Deep and surface learning in problem-based learning: a review of the literature. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 21(5), 1087–1112.

22.

Duncan

M. J.

Al-Nakeeb

(2006). Using problem-based learning in sports related courses: An overview of module development and student responses in an undergraduate sports studies module. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education, 5(1), 50–57.

23.

Dunlap

J. C.

(2005). Problem-based learning and self-efficacy: How a capstone course prepares students for a profession. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(1), 65–83.

24.

Fave

A. D.

Massimini

(2005). The relevance of subjective well-being to social policies: Optimal experience and tailored intervention. In Huppert

F. A.

Baylis

Keverne

(Eds.), The science of well-being (pp. 379–402). Oxford University Press.

25.

Feng

(2009). A study on the misalignment of major setting, talent cultivation and market demand in colleges and universities. China University Teaching, (2), 24–26.

26.

Feng

J. L.

X. Y.

Liu

(2022). Exploring the employment situation and trends of graduates from top universities in China in the context of the COVID-19: A survey based on the 2017–2021 employment quality report of graduates from eight universities. University Education Science, (6), 87–97.

27.

Fornell

Larcker

D. F.

(1981). Structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error: Algebra and statistics. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(3), 382–388.

28.

Franz

(2008). A pedagogical model of higher education/industry engagement for enhancing employability and professional practice. In Kay

(Ed.), Work integrated learning (WIL): Transforming futures…practice…pedagogy…partnerships (pp. 164–169). Australian Collaborative Education Network.

29.

Goteng

G. L.

Shohel

Mahruf

Tariq

(2022). Enhancing student employability in collaboration with the industry: Case study of a partnership with Amazon Web Services. Academy Education Sciences, 12(6), 355–367.

30.

Hair

J. F.

Anderson

R. E.

Babin

B. J.

Black

W. C.

(2010). Multivariate data analysis: A global perspective (Vol. 7). Pearson.

31.

Hennemann

Liefner

(2010). Employability of German geography graduates: The mismatch between knowledge acquired and competences required. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 34(2), 215–230.

32.

Hmelo-Silver

C. E.

Duncan

R. G.

Chinn

C. A.

(2007). Scaffolding and achievement in problem-based and inquiry learning: A response to Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006). Educational Psychologist, 42(2), 99–107.

33.

Iacobucci

(2010). Structural equations modeling: Fit indices, sample size, and advanced topics. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 20(1), 90–98.

34.

Jing

A. L.

(2016). Background, trait and trend of world undergraduates’ employability evaluation. Journal of National Academy of Education Administration, (3), 83–88.

35.

Khan

I. U.

Hameed

Khan

S. U.

(2017). Assessing the determinants of flow experience in the adoption of learning management systems: The moderating role of perceived institutional support. Behavior and Information Technology, 36, 1162–1176.

36.

Kim

J. H.

Park

J. W.

(2019). The effect of airport self-service characteristics on passengers’ perceived value, satisfaction, and behavioral intention: Based on the SOR model. Sustainability, 11(19), 5352.

37.

Lei

Z. G.

(2006). “Employment oriented” concept of vocational education curriculum development. Chinese Vocational and Technical Education, (13), 9–11.

38.

Greenberg

B. A.

Nicholls

J. A. F.

(2007). Teaching experiential learning: Adoption of an innovative course in an MBA marketing curriculum. Journal of Marketing Education, 29(1), 25–33.

39.

Liu

X. J.

(2014). The development tendency of College Curricula Construction. Journal of Higher Education, (2), 62–69.

40.

Loyens

S. M. M.

Magda

Rikers

R. M. J. P.

(2008). Self-directed learning in problem-based learning and its relationships with self-regulated learning. Educational Psychology Review, 20(4), 411–427.

41.

Malik

Yuningtias

U. A.

Mulhayatiah

Chusni

M. M.

Sutarno

Ismail

Hermita

(2019). Enhancing problem-solving skills of students through problem solving laboratory model related to dynamic fluid. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1157(3), 32010.

42.

Maringe

Sing

(2014). Teaching large classes in an increasingly internationalising higher education environment: Pedagogical, quality and equity issues. Higher Education, 67(6), 761–782.

43.

Martin

West

Bill

(2008). Incorporating problem-based learning strategies to develop learner autonomy and employability skills in sports science undergraduates. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education, 7(1), 18–30.

44.

Masek

Yamin

(2011). The effect of problem-based learning on critical thinking ability: A theoretical and empirical review. International Review of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2(1), 215–221.

45.

McGrath

Comfort

M. B.

Luo

Samaranayake

L. P.

Clark

C. D.

(2006). Application of an interactive computer program to manage a problem-based dental curriculum. Journal of Dental Education, 70(4), 387–397.

46.

Nor

M. N. M.

Nor

N. M.

Daud

N. M.

Hisham

(2012). Determining the moderating impact of lecturer support on the relationship between students’ absorptive capacity, motivation and knowledge transfer. Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences, 6(8), 1238–1245.

47.

Pan

Y. J.

Lee

L. S.

(2011). Academic performance and perceived employability of graduate students in business and management—An analysis of nationwide graduate destination survey. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 25, 91–103.

48.

Philip

C. T.

Unruh

K. P.

Lachman

Pawlina

(2008). An explorative learning approach to teaching clinical anatomy using student generated content. Anatomical Sciences Education, 1(3), 106–110.

49.

Pike

G. R.

Kuh

G. D.

McCormick

A. C.

Ethington

C. A.

Smart

J. C.

(2011). If and when money matters: The relationships among educational expenditures, student engagement and students’ learning outcomes. Research in Higher Education, 52(1), 81–106.

50.

Preacher

K. J.

Hayes

A. F.

(2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891.

51.

Robinson

V. M.

Lloyd

C. A.

Rowe

K. J.

(2008). The impact of leadership on student outcomes: An analysis of the differential effects of leadership types. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44(5), 635–674.

52.

Sacchetti

Tortia

E. C.

(2013). Satisfaction with creativity: A study of organizational characteristics and individual motivation. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14, 1789–1811.

53.

Seibert

S. A.

(2021). Problem-based learning: A strategy to foster generation Z’s critical thinking and perseverance. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 16(1), 85–88.

54.

Spronken-Smith

(2005). Implementing a problem-based learning approach for teaching research methods in geography. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 29(2), 203–221.

55.

Tagg

(2003). The learning paradigm college. Anker Publishing.

56.

Taylor

A. B.

MacKinnon

D. P.

Tein

J. Y.

(2008). Tests of the three-path mediated effect. Organizational Research Methods, 11(2), 241–269.

57.

Vermeulen

Kesselhut

Pyka

Saviotti

P. P.

(2018). The impact of automation on employment: Just the usual structural change? Sustainability, 10(5), 1661.

58.

Wenger

(1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge University Press.

59.

Wiek

Xiong

Brundiers

Van der Leeuw

(2014). Integrating problem- and project-based learning into sustainability programs a case study on the school of sustainability at Arizona State University. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 15(4), 431–449.

60.

Yorke

Knight

(2004). Self-theories: some implications for teaching and learning in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 29, 25–37.

61.

Zahra

S. A.

George

(2002). Absorptive capacity: A review, reconceptualization, and extension. Academy of Management Review, 27(2), 185–203.

62.

Zhai

Wang

Ghani

(2020). The SOR (stimulus-organism-response) paradigm in online learning: An empirical study of students’ knowledge hiding perceptions. Interactive Learning Environments, 28(5), 586–601.

63.

Zhang

Z. G.

S. Y.

C. P.

(2018). The effect of individual knowledge absorptive capacity on employee innovation performance. Human Resources Development of China, 35(3), 73–83.

64.

Zhao

Seibert

S. E.

Hills

G. E.

(2005). The mediating role of self-efficacy in the development of entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(6), 1265.

65.

Zhu

S. Y.

(2009). An investigation in employability of under graduates: Based on the perspective of employers and undergraduates. Research in Educational Development, (23), 81–85.

66.

Zimmerman

B. J.

(2010). Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. Theory into Practice, 41(2), 64–70.

How Pedagogical Modes Influence Students’ Employability: The Evidence from China

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

Students’ Employability

Employment-Based Pedagogical Modes

Problem-Based Pedagogical Modes

Absorptive Capacity

Existing Literature Review

Hypotheses

Relation Between Employment-Based Pedagogical Mode and Students’ Absorptive Capacity and Their Employability

Relation Between Problem-Based Pedagogical Mode and Students’ Absorptive Capacity and Their Employability

Relation Between Students’ Absorptive Capacity and Employability

Overall Research Model

Approach and Methodology

Research Design

Sample and Questionnaire

Variable Measure

Students’ Employability

Problem-Based Pedagogical Mode

Employment-Based Pedagogical Mode

Absorptive Capacity

Analysis and Results

Reliability and Validity

Goodness-of-Fit of the Model

Analysis of the Structural Model

Mediating Effect of Absorptive Capacity

Discussion

Absorptive Capacity and Employability

Mediating Effect of Absorptive Capacity

Employment-Based Pedagogical Mode and Employability

Problem-Based Pedagogical Mode and Students’ Employability

Conclusion

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

ORCID iD

Data Availability Statement

References