STUDIES ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS CAREER COMPETENCIES AND EMPLOYABILITY

21 6. Conclusion In the new normal amid overwhelming pandemic related uncertainties, economic and business survival is crucial for countries. Hence, to become stronger, be more competitive and agile nations worldwide must prioritize employable skills. Additional skills requirements to adapt for rapidly changing labour market conditions and accomplishing these in the IT sector are urgently needed if the world is to witness a reduction in the sharply expanding unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was conducted to identify the gap between skills expected by IT employers and skills possessed by IT graduates before and after COVID19 from the perspective of IT experts in the Sri Lankan context. Academic qualifications, professional qualifications, work experience (internship industrial experience) and practical knowledge were the hard skills and communication, teamwork and leadership, learning, presentation skills, problem solving /critical and analytical thinking, and empathy were the soft skills expected from the IT graduates before Covid 19. In the postpandemic phase, there are no significant changes in the hard skill requirements; however, there are changes observed in the soft skill requirements in the new normal with the implementation of the working from home (remote) concept such as the ability to work individually with minimum supervision, trustworthiness, confidence, accountability, and stress management. The graduates must strive to develop both hard and soft skills expected by the IT experts such as a self-driven nature, right attitude, team spirit, willingness to take challenges, responsibility, being a smart worker, being knowledgeable and staying up to date with the increasing demands of fulfilling the duties and responsibilities in the new normal. The Covid 19 pandemic emphasizes the importance of reforming assessments and assigning tasks that better reflect the types of skills needed for post-pandemic work, such as open book tasks, simulations, collaborative problem-based tasks, and dynamic case studies, as more authentic ways of equipping students with the required employability skills. Employmentseeking graduates must be confident in their job prospects in this changing work climate, and they must be held accountable for their ability to carry out their obligations effectively and independently. However, industries also are yet to figure the differences between IT graduate employability before and after the pandemic in Sri Lanka. Hence, it emphasizes the importance of conducting future research in this context to disseminate the new knowledge on employability paradigm in the new normal to alleviate the prevailing unemployment. References Abbasi, F. K., Ali, A., & Bibi, N. (2018). Analysis of skill gap for business graduates: Managerial perspective from banking industry. Education + Training, 60(4), 354–367. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-08-2017-0120 Albina, A. C., & Sumagaysay, L. P. (2020). Employability tracer study of Information Technology Education graduates from a state university in the Philippines. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 2(1), 100055. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2020.100055

22 Anicic, K. P., & Buselic, V. (2021). Importance of Generic Skills of ICT Graduates— Employers, Teaching Staff, and Students Perspective. IEEE Transactions on Education, 64(3), 245–252. https://doi.org/10.1109/TE.2020.3034958 Buheji, M., & Buheji, A. (2020). Planning Competency in the New Normal– Employability Competency in Post- COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 10(2), 237–251. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijhrs.v10i2.17085 Jameson, A., Carthy, A., McGuinness, C., & McSweeney, F. (2016). Emotional Intelligence and Graduates – Employers’ Perspectives. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 228, 515–522. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.07.079 Kadar Parahoo. (1997). Nursing Research: Principles, Process and Issues. Palgrave MacMillan Ltd. Kamaruddin, M. I. H., Ahmad, A., Husain, M. A., & Abd Hamid, S. N. (2021). Graduate employability post-COVID-19: The case of a Malaysian public university. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 11(3), 710–724. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-05-2020- 0114 Kelly, A., Moore, C., & Lyons, E. (2021). 6 Traditional Exams, 21st Century Employability Skills and COVID-19. Kiger, M. E., & Varpio, L. (2020). Thematic analysis of qualitative data: AMEE Guide No. 131. Medical Teacher, 42(8), 846–854. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2020.1755030 Kumar Chand, P., Sadasiva Kumar, A., & Mittal, A. (2019). Emotional intelligence and its relationship to employability skills and employer satisfaction with fresh engineering graduates. International Journal for Quality Research, 13(3), 735–752. https://doi.org/10.24874/IJQR13.03-15 Mantz Yorke. (2006). Learning & Employability. The Higher Education Academy. https://www.ed.ac.uk/files/atoms/files/hea-learning-employability_series_one.pdf Misra, R. K., & Khurana, K. (2017). Employability Skills among Information Technology Professionals: A Literature Review. Procedia Computer Science, 122, 63–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2017.11.342 Rommel, L. V. (2018). Predicting Employability Skills among Information Technology Graduates of Philippine State University in their On-the-Job Training using J48 Algorithm. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 11(37), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.17485/ijst/2018/v11i37/130842 Sato, S., Kang, T.-A., Daigo, E., Matsuoka, H., & Harada, M. (2021). Graduate employability and higher education’s contributions to human resource development in sport business before and after COVID-19. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 28, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2021.100306 Sehgal, N., & Nasim, S. (2018). Total Interpretive Structural Modelling of predictors for graduate employability for the information technology sector. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 8(4), 495–510. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-08-2017-0047

23 Suleman, F. (2016). Employability Skills of Higher Education Graduates: Little Consensus on a Much-discussed Subject. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 228, 169–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.07.025 Thang, P. V. M., & Wongsurawat, W. (2016). Enhancing the employability of IT graduates in Vietnam. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 6(2), 146–161. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-07-2015-0043 Virginia Braun & Victoria Clarke. (2012). Thematic Analysis. In APA handbook of research methods in psychology: Vol. 2:Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological (pp. 57–71). American Psychological Association. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269930410_Thematic_analysis View publication stats

Analysing the impact of sustainable human resource management practices and industry 4.0 technologies adoption on employability skills Manu Sharma Department of Management Studies, Graphic Era Deemed to be University, Dehradun, India and Guildhall School of Business and Law, London Metropolitan University, London, UK Sunil Luthra Ranbir Singh State Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jhajjar, India Sudhanshu Joshi Operations and Supply Chain Management Area, School of Management, Doon University, Dehradun, India and Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute (AAII), University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, and Anil Kumar Guildhall School of Business and Law, London Metropolitan University, London, UK Abstract Purpose – The study aims to examine the influence of Sustainable Human Resource Management (SHRM) practices and Industry 4.0 Technologies (I4Te) adoption on the Employability Skills (ES) of the employees. The study has undertaken four major SHRM practices – Training (TR), Flexibility (FL), Employee Participation (EP) and Employee Empowerment (EE) to measure its impact on the ES along with I4Te. Design/methodology/approach – A survey approach method was designed on the identified constructs from existing literature based on SHRM, I4Te and ES. The survey resulted into 198 valid responses. The study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 25.0 for constructs validation and hypothesis testing. Findings – The current study reveals that all the four SHRM practices (TR, FL, EP and EE) along with I4Te directly influence ES in the organisation. The I4Te along with the SHRM practices may bring enhancement in the skills and competencies of the employees that is the requirement of future organisations. Practical implications – Considering the results, the SHRM practices aligned with I4Te may directly influence the employee’s ES including core skills, IT skills and personal attributes. The SHRM practices in the organisation will enhance the opportunities for the employees and bring long-term association with the employees. Social implications – For the development of the economy and the individual, the SHRM practices need to conduct themselves in more socially responsible ways along with the I4Te to enhance the ES of the employees. The individual development will bring sustainable behavioural changes in the employees. Originality/value – There has been no research conducted on exploring SHRM, I4Te and ES together. This is the pioneer in the HRM fields that explores the interrelationships and influence amongst the five constructs undertaken in the study. Keywords Sustainable human resource management (SHRM), Industry 4.0 technologies (I4Te), Human resource (HR) practices, Employability skills, Structural equation modelling (SEM) Paper type Research paper Impact of SHRM practices and I4Te adoption 463 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/0143-7720.htm Received 13 February 2021 Revised 21 April 2021 3 June 2021 Accepted 7 June 2021 International Journal of Manpower Vol. 43 No. 2, 2022 pp. 463-485 © Emerald Publishing Limited 0143-7720 DOI 10.1108/IJM-02-2021-0085

1.Introduction The world has witnessed the wave of a sociotechnical revolution under the umbrella term Industry 4.0 (I4.0), influencing the hard and soft resources of the organisations (Singh et al., 2021). The repercussions are highly visible on society, governance and individuals. This new era is not limited to technological advancement and adoption only; it has heterogeneous implications on the policymakers and stakeholders (Sung, 2018; Fareri et al., 2020). It is projected that I4.0 will immensely influence people’s careers through dynamic changes in work, jobs, skills and processes in the future. However, the transition towards intelligent smart systems makes the current jobs obsolete by 2025 (Duan et al., 2019). Due to the changing requirements, there is a concern in the organisations towards the shortage of Employability Skills (ES). Thus, organisations need to develop their human resources (HR) to make the best fit competitive for the long run and consequently affect performance outcomes (Guerci et al., 2019). The organisations cannot overlook the critical issues faced by the economy, such as like climate change, global warming, pollution, waste generation, etc. It demands an urgent need for the adoption of sustainable practices for a better and healthier future. This is evident from the previous literature that HR development is mainly responsible for the achievement of the organisational vision (Jewell et al., 2022; Collins, 2021; Piwowar-Sulej, 2021). The organisations can also achieve sustainable development through strategic and operational management practices, including recruitment, selection, training and development, and creating a value system based on the triple bottom line business model (Adjei-Bamfo et al., 2019). For the individual and societal development, the Human Resource Management (HRM) of the organisations need to understand and transform their current practices and technologies to conduct themselves in more socially responsible ways (Cooke et al., 2020). In an organisation, the HRM act as a navigator to support the transformations and this new form of HRM practices is defined as Sustainable Human Resource Management (SHRM) that enables the organisations to achieve sustainability with an effective internal and external organisation environment over a long-term time horizon (Cuguer
o-Escofet et al., 2019; Almarzooqi et al., 2019; Karman, 2020). It is concerned with the use of HRM practices to develop human and social capital within the organisation. The digital technologies have revolutionised the environment where each organisation competes with other to develop their competitive advantage (Savaneviciene and Stankeviciute, 2017). The innovation through Industry 4.0 Technologies (I4Te) has brought major transformation in the manufacturing sector but it is also true that this move has diminished the requirement of HR. The efficiency and effectiveness in the decision-making have been enhanced drastically due to shared information through I4Te. In context to the I4.0 revolution, the concept of HRM 4.0 is a new area where the critical focus is on automation and strategic issues in place of repetitive actions (Stein and Scholz, 2020). HRM 4.0 aims to work on the fronts based on acquiring qualified talent, improvising organisational climate and firm’s strategic decision-making (Almaaitah et al., 2020). The digital transformation has also enforced firms to adopt online tools, methods and services for optimising their decision-making. But still, the most crucial factor is to develop the adaptive mindset of the professionals towards the digital transformation (Singh Dubey et al., 2021). In recent years, technological innovations have altered the competency requirements of the organisation (Wikhamn, 2019). The studies throw light not only on the presence of skill development but also the inevitable generation of new ones to cope with the digital transformation (Verhoef et al., 2021). ES include the soft skills that allow you to work well with others, apply knowledge to solve problems and fit into any work environment. The ES has become an emerging area due to the fierce competition in globalising markets influenced by innovation and technologies such as automation and virtual reality which demands both an individual and the firms to be agile and IJM 43,2 464

adaptive (Sima et al., 2020). Thus, the firms look for ways to develop sustainable career and human development that support longer working over the life cycle and continuously fulfil work requirements through optimal use of competencies (Schr€oderet al., 2020). The competencies refer to as “meta-competencies”, are significant for continuous learning and enable the HR professionals to stay employable (Mohamed et al., 2017). Employability is a key criterion for developing professionals, but to how much extent it is affected by SHRM practices and Industry 4.0 implementation is still unexplored. Until now, there have been few studies that examined SHRM practices. Thus, this study bridges this gap by exploring the effect of SHRM practices along with I4Te on the ES using stakeholder theory and institutional theory. In recent years, SHRM has gained attention amongst research scholars (Morgeson et al., 2013). This attention has grown as the multiple stakeholders are interested in the organisational matters, including fair conduct, sustainable practices, employee empowerment, etc. (Waldman and Siegel, 2008; J€arlstr€om et al., 2018). SHRM is based on institutional theory and stakeholder theory. The institution theory indicates the synthesis paradox perspective of HRM where organisations achieve financial goals through highperformance working systems as well as make efforts to reduce harm imposed on employees (Mariappanadar and Kramar, 2014). The stakeholder theory enables organised thinking related to the responsibilities of employees and SHRM practices (Greenwood, 2007). The employees are the key stakeholders that have specific interests and need such as fair treatment, retention, care, well-being, empowerment, etc. (Ulrich and Brockbank, 2005). Thus, this research intends to assess the SHRM practices on the ES of the employees in the I4.0 era. Based on the above-mentioned research gaps, the present study establishes two research objectives – (1) To examine the relationship between SHRM practices and the ES of the professionals in the firms; and (2) To study the relationship between I4Te and the ES of the professionals in the firms. The study contributes significant inputs in the area of SHRM practices and employee development. Firstly, the study will enrich the literature on SHRM practices and ES. This study would help develop sustainable practices and future strategies to enhance organisational and employee performance. Secondly, this study has proposed a unique hypothesized model based on stakeholder and institutional theories for measuring the effect of SHRM. The study has applied SEM using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 25.0 as the most appropriate method for hypotheses testing. The paper is organised into seven sections. Section 2 elaborates the concept and HR practices under the stream of SHRM. It also discusses the technological advancements in the organisations in the I4.0 era and the ES of the employees. Section 3 presents the hypotheses development followed by research methodology in section 4. Section 5 presents the analysis and results, followed by discussing the findings and implications of the study in Section 6. The paper ends with the conclusion, limitations and future research directions in section 7. 2. Literature review From the published literature on SHRM, I4Te and employability, the extraction of the relevant literature based on the systematic literature is conducted. The databases “Scopus” and “Web of Science” are searched with the multiple keywords “Sustainable Human Resource Management” AND “Sustainable Human Resource” AND “Human Resource Development” AND “Industry 4.0 Technologies” AND “Employability.” The extraction was carried step by step, as shown in Table 1. The research time limit has been undertaken from the year 2018– 2020. The databases were searched during January 2021 using the criteria shown in Table 1. Impact of SHRM practices and I4Te adoption 465

The first results in 2,086 articles. The first filter excludes the articles based on document types: such as thesis, reports, technical papers, editorial, magazines, conference proceedings and book chapters. A total was 413 papers were included for the second search. The second filter excluded the articles that were not in the English language that resulted in 382 articles. The third filter was used to exclude the articles based on duplicate publications title-wise. After the third refinement, a total of 188 articles were left. The fourth filter was to include the articles that were relevant to the study based on the abstract. Finally, a total of 71 articles were selected for the study. 2.1 Theoretical foundation The research and practices in HRM have been criticised for concentrating on profitability at the cost of employees (Guest, 2011). Few studies have shown the improper treatment of the employees rather than considering them as assets for the organisation (Vanhala and Stavrou, 2013; Marchington, 2015). The current study is based on stakeholder theory’s notion that an organisation’s success depends on the relationship with its stakeholders. This implies that successful organisations consider the relationship with the stakeholders that they affect and those that affect them (Freeman, 1994). The stakeholder theory elaborates the concept of organised thinking related to the organisational responsibilities and SHRM practices for sustainable development. The current study contributes to stakeholder theory by suggesting the extent of organisation with stakeholders that will enhance the sustainable practices of the organisation (Guerci and Shani, 2013; Sorribes et al., 2021). The stakeholders must play distinct roles and manage several functions related to SHRM (Guerci and Shani, 2013; Podgorodnichenko et al., 2022). The stakeholder’s interrelationship is the key element in developing SHRM practices in the organisation. The stakeholders include all the partners involved from the manufacturing process to the end-of-life process. The institutional theory works within the resilient dimensions of a social system. The norms and policies are covered in this theory that is set up as authoritative directives for social actions. It covers the norms and policies set up as authoritative directives for social actions (Scott et al., 2004). The micro-foundations of institutional theory have been discussed by Powell and Colyvas (2008). The institution theory indicates the synthesis paradox perspective of HRM where highperformance working systems are achieved through financial goals and a focus is on reducing the harm imposed on employees (Mariappanadar and Kramar, 2014). Search terms Initial search First filter Second filter Third filter Fourth filter “Sustainable Human Resource Management” AND “Sustainable Human Resource” 73 45 42 39 16 “Sustainable human resource practices” AND “Employability” 888 167 157 77 18 “Human Resource development” AND “employability” 1,042 151 149 55 19 “Industry 4.0 technologies” AND “Employability” 60 36 21 25 10 “Sustainable Human Resource Management” OR “employability” 23 14 13 12 8 Total articles Table 1. 71 Search criteria IJM 43,2 466

Institutional theory has been used by previous researchers such as Kondra and Hinings (1998) for organisational diversity; Kostova et al. (2008) for multinational corporations and Zhu et al. (2013) in the field of green supply chain management; the previous researchers have used this theory for multiple assessments (Kondra and Hinings, 1998; Kostova et al., 2008; Zhu et al., 2013; Singh Dubey et al., 2021). Bag et al. (2021) established that institutional pressure compels firms to obtain resources and supports in the adoption of big data analytics (BDA). 2.2 Sustainable human resource management (SHRM) SHRM denotes the combination of the sustainability concept with the HR. This concept is based on the approach promoting the HRM strategy that aims to develop a culture of mutual trust, cooperation, employee involvement and loyalty towards the organisation (Cuguer
o-Escofetet al., 2019). The soft approach of HRM aspires to achieve financial goals but with a vision of developing a strong relationship between employer and employee. This soft strategy is very much effective in the retention of the employee in the long run and enhancing the involvement through knowledge sharing, commitment, generating ideas to achieve organisational goals (Manutiet al., 2020). SHRM includes the planned HR strategies and practices that intend towards sustainable goal achievement (Ehnert, 2009). It has become a key element for creating an organisation’s competitive advantage, developing employees’ skills and capabilities, knowledge enhancement through training, motivation and rewards (Edvardsson, 2008). Therefore, the HR practices need to grow for possession of high skills, motivation and opportunities to develop their competencies (Elnaga and Imran, 2013; Par
e and Tremblay, 2007). The organisations intend to develop sustainable ecosystems for enhancing the employee’s responsible behaviour to achieve organisational goals (Law et al., 2017). Thus, SHRM includes the practices that primarily include the extent to which a certain behavioural outcome to be emphasized. The focus is on the capacity for production and creating an HR system that enhances the social, economic and environmental performances of the individual and the organisations (Manzoor et al., 2019). In other words, the HR system practices achieve goals based on the triple bottom line concept. The SHRM concept is gaining popularity in research due to its positive outcomes. The benefit of SHRM is not limited to organisations, it is beneficial for individuals, society and the environment (Westerman et al., 2020). It is acting as a business strategy for the organisations. Thus, SHRM is a broader term and encompasses than just an environmental outcome. There are several HR practices related to SHRM, including participation, work roles, well-being, training, empowerment, etc. 2.3 Industry 4.0 technologies The organisations are redesigning their existing processes to upgrade their soft and hard skills (Babatunde, 2021). The managers are identifying innovative models to adopt the I4Te for improvisation in their processes. The managers have an additional responsibility of achieving sustainability goals. Thus, the economic, environmental and societal aspects are essential to be considered by the organisations while transitioning to the I4Te. BDA, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics, Augmented Reality (AR) and Cloud Computing (CC) are adopted by the organisations to improvise their existing processes. All these technologies are considered under the umbrella of I4.0, known as the next generation of the industrial revolution, and emerged as the most promising solution to achieve sustainability. The major objective of the I4TEs is to enhance the responsiveness and the efficiency of the organisations (Ahuett-Garza and Kurfess, 2018). These technologies integrate the horizontal and vertical streams and enhance the real-time flow of information amongst the partners. The IoT and CC are the core information technologies of I4TEs. The IoT employs a network of interconnected devices where each device has a unique identification, and communication takes place between the devices without human intervention. The BDA is needed by the organisations to develop integrated Impact of SHRM practices and I4Te adoption 467

data-driven business models for enhancing the quality of data for analytics (Bag et al., 2020). The CC has the advantage of storing data on the Internet and helps in achieving economies of operation, fast services and ease of accessibility. AM, AR and robotics are required for simplifying and improvising the processes to achieve sustainability. AM is a useful technology for developing customised products in small batched with a high level of accuracy, whereas AR augments real-world objects. The other benefits of the I4TEs are quality control, remote assistance, safety, logistics and training. AI-based manufacturing is an opportunity to promote digital products. These technologies are used by organisations to enhance the quality of products, processes and services. The HR of the organisations are exposed to different types of training and workshop that are organised for their skill upgradation and enhances the knowledge related to sustainability outcomes. The I4Te has been implemented to educate HR of the organisations to adopt sustainable practices and to adapt to the advanced technologies systems for enhancing organisational performance. 2.4 Employability skills There is no doubt in admitting that ES are essential for enhancing the skill set of an individual and to make them competitive. The paradigm of ES is changing in context to the future skill requirement of digital transformation. The concept of ES has been a century year old. During these years, there are several versions of employability. The first version of ES was given in the 1990s by Gazier. The term dichotomic employability was coined by him that made a line of difference between the individuals who can work and who cannot work. The other contributions in ES are (Brown and Ryan, 2003; Fugate et al., 2004; Pool and Sewell, 2007; Bridgstock, 2009). The studies on employee perception have been discussed by (L
opez-Fern
andez, 2018). The recent works in context to I4Te are clear and growing, but its impact on the SHRM is complex and needs to be measured as the function is relatively new. Skill forecasting and skill need analysis for Industry 4.0 are the main issues and are managed by data analytics. Nowadays, multifaceted problem-solving skills and critical thinking is highly demanded in addition to soft skills (creative thinking, empathetic behaviour and ability to motivate) (Lichtenthaler, 2018). These ES can be developed by the organisation efforts through proper training and development programs (Ivanov and Webster, 2019). Acquisition of the people skills such as social networking, counselling and collaboration will be highly demanded in the forthcoming years as technology is yet limited with the capability of emotional needs of the human beings (Kolbjørnsrud et al., 2016). Moreover, the employees are required to be highly adaptive towards modern workspace and technology to achieve sustainable outcomes with more efficiency and less cost. Employee development is the need of today’s organisations (Lee and Bruvold, 2003). It needs the organisation to understand the importance of flexibility, well-being, participation and competency (Heijde and Van Der Heijden, 2006). Also, employers today cannot provide long-term guarantees for employment; they should provide more opportunities to enhance ES for their employees (Baruch, 2001). It is very much clear that ES has been evolved from an ability to get initial employment to become competent. ES enhances skills and capabilities, enabling employees to manage their careers and future actions. The ES includes core skills, technical skills and personal attributes in employees (Lowden et al., 2011). 3. Hypotheses development and research model 3.1 Sustainable human resource management and employability skills The SHRM practices include the HR practices for achieving organisational goals that are beyond financial performance. Sustainable practices will ensure a clean environment in the future, with healthy and satisfied employees. The SHRM practices not only entail the IJM 43,2 468

attraction and retention of motivated employees but also provide them with a healthy organisation culture to prosper in the future (Mariappanadar, 2020). SHRM is base for theory building in HRM that focusses on the research and the practice. The SHRM practices, including employee empowerment, knowledge sharing and performance outcomes, have been assessed in the previous studies and found the significant relationship among these practices (Moideenkutty et al., 2011; Almarzooqi et al., 2019). The current study concentrates mainly on the 4 main HR practices: Training (TR), Employee Empowerment (EE), Employee Participation (EP) and Flexibility (FL) that may affect ES in the organisations. The stakeholder’s interrelationship is the key element in developing SHRM practices in the organisation. Based on stakeholder theory, SHRM practices need strong inter-relationship amongst the organisation’s stakeholders. The SHRM practices, including TR, EE, EP and FL will be able to bring positive outcomes and accomplishing goals through stakeholder’s inter-relationships. The other perspective is based on the institutional theory as there is a need to focus on employee’s welfare and providing a workplace for knowledge enhancement and skill development. 3.1.1 Flexibility (FL). Previous studies have stressed the significance of FL in SHRM based on employee needs. The practices such as flexible working hours, remote working, work from home, etc. are needed by the employees. The companies that offer more FL for work-life balance, results in a greater competitive advantage (Palmet al., 2020). Sustainable practices in FL results in long-term careers and healthier life as well (Patky and Pandey, 2020). The FL practices give more time to the employees for their skill development. Digital technologies have made remote accessibility easy and save lots of employee’s time and cost. These technologies are preparing the human for the future where more of machine interference will be taking place. The FL is measured with a pre-defined scale with three items. The proposed hypothesis is as follows: H1(a). Flexibility (FL) has a significant impact on the employability skills (ES) of the employees. 3.1.2 Training (TR). The changing environment is crucial for the organisation and the society to understand the detailed knowledge of skill set required in TR programs that aims to enhance the sustainability practices and career opportunities to upskill and reskill. The enhancement of skills through TR implies the organisation’s assurance to the environment and societal problems (Teixeira et al., 2016). TR can upgrade the employee’s capabilities to recognise the sustainability issues to understand its implementation in daily actions (Perron et al., 2006). It can also improve decision-making competencies and stimulate the employees to adopt sustainable practices. TR programs on sustainability can contribute to shaping the new mindset and their perceptual development. It also fills the existing gap between the current skills of the employees and what is expected to gain in the future (Arag~ao and Jabbour, 2017). The TR is measured with three items. Thus, this study proposes a hypothesis to explore the interrelationship between the TR and ES. H1(b). Training (TR) has a significant effect on the Employability Skills (ES) of the employees. 3.1.3 Employee participation (EP). The employees of the organisation need support and a healthy environment to perform. The organisation needs to provide a participative environment to employees and inspire them to take new challenges. Employees are the resources or assets of the organisation. The organisation needs to develop a participatory environment that where supervisors and colleagues can work mutually. The previous literature shows that EP provides more opportunities to upgrade their skills and competencies. The EP is measured with three items. Thus, this study proposes a hypothesis to explore the interrelationship between the EP and ES. Impact of SHRM practices and I4Te adoption 469

H1(c). Employee participation (EP) has a significant effect on the employability skills (ES) of the employees. 3.1.4 Employee empowerment (EE). EE empowers to undertake many roles and responsibilities. The EE establishes the main roles such as competence, self-determination and impact and keeps the employees motivated to reciprocate the high-performance (Par
e and Tremblay, 2007). Further, EE stipulates positive organisational outcomes (Lashley, 2000; Chen et al., 2007) such as employee commitment, satisfaction, effectiveness and productivity (Meyerson and Kline, 2008; Yao et al., 2013). ES acts as a psychological process (Hechanova et al., 2006) as it directly links the sustainable perception of organisational support. This is evident that effective employee empowerment brings sustainable HRM (Dewettinck and Van Ameijde, 2011). The EE is measured using three items. This study proposes a hypothesis to explore the interrelationship between the EE and ES. H1(d). Employee empowerment (EE) has a significant impact on the employability skills (ES) of the employees. 3.2 Industry 4.0 technologies and employability The I4Te have significantly influenced the standard of living, income, flexibility, work from home, employee participation, training, etc. As human capital is the most valuable asset for the organisation, they can derive competitive advantages from valorisation (Fulmer and Ployhart, 2014; Becker and Gerhart, 1996). HR needs to rethink its competencies and perception to adapt to the changes for developing the required skill set for employability and future needs. The organisations also need to reconsider the current innovative skill development and advance I4Te to be implemented in the business processes for enhancing performance. BDA has been utilised by organisations to explore new technological innovations around the world. The skill anticipation has been carried mainly for the macro level and very far from the company itself. Therefore, organisations struggle to reshape their skill inventory, job profiles and structure. Previous work of I4Te has shown the effect of these technologies on employees, especially the job profiles that need novel skills (Chryssolouris et al., 2013; Fareri et al., 2020). The changing environment affects the working conditions and competencies of individuals. Moreover, the concept of soft skills is the new essential for the workforce as these skills are resilient (Frey and Osborne, 2017). There is no question on the impact of the I4Te on the different aspects of work-life and employment skills. The I4.0 revolution is creating ample opportunities for organisations, but at the same time, it is raising fundamental questions about the characteristic of the future human. Thus, this study proposes a hypothesis to explore the interrelationship between the I4Te and ES. H2. I4Te (IT) has a significant effect on the Employability Skills (ES) of the employees. 4. Research methodology 4.1 Developing instrument and data collection The current research work has employed a survey approach for collecting the data and evaluating the relationships amongst the constructs. The questionnaire was structured based on the research questions, and the responses were collected on a five-point Likert scale. The constructs for SHRM, I4Te and ES were taken from previous studies, including exogenous constructs; FL (J€arlstr€om et al., 2018); TR (Pellegriniet al., 2018); ES (J€arlstr€om et al., 2018); EE (Dewettinck and Van Ameijde, 2011); I4Te (Chryssolouris et al., 2013; Fareri et al., 2020). The endogenous construct ES is adapted from Fareri et al. (2020). The FL, TR, EP, EE and ES constructs are reflective. IJM 43,2 470

The measurement scales have considered the implementation phase of I4Te and the adoption of SHRM practices. Through the measurement model, this study assesses the impact of the SHRM and I4Te on ES. The concept of SHRM and I4Te are still limited. Thus organisations are less aware of the benefits of these practices. The validation of the questionnaire was conducted in two phases. The first phase included the e-discussion with the experts from academia and corporates to check the relevance of the measure undertaken. For e-discussion, a panel of nine experts was undertaken, including two senior professors in the area of HR, three professionals from the IT industry with experience of five or more years and four professionals from the area of Operations. The second phase included a pilot study conducted on 20 professionals working in HR firms. These professionals are well exposed to the I4Te and SHRM practices. The values of Cronbach’s alpha are computed and the items with low values are modified to enhance the clarity, ambiguity and appropriateness. Table 2 elaborates the respondents’ demographic details for the survey conducted. Gender Percentage Male 56% Female 44% Age > 30 years 11.62% 30–35 years 47.47% 36–40 years 22.22% 40–45 years 18.69% Industry Manufacturing Electronic and electrical manufacturing products 27.27% Pharmaceutical firms 12.12% Automobiles 10.10% IT industry IT solutions provider 18.18% Healthcare Healthcare services 9.60% Services Aviation 10.10% Banking 12.63% Position in the company Operations manager 25.76% Supply chain practitioner 11.62% HR manager 33.33% IT expert 8.08% Strategist 9.09% Corporate trainers 5.56% Finance managers 6.57% Experience >5 years 38.59% 6–10 years 21.62% 11–15 years 24.44% > 15 years 15.35% Table 2. Respondents demographic details (n 5 198) Impact of SHRM practices and I4Te adoption 471

The sample undertaken comprises 198 employees working in a multinational firm located in north India. The employees belong to the industrial and service sector, covering a wide variety of services. Based on gender, 56% of the samples are males. The mean age of the employees is 30.75 years, distributed over the age groups >30 years (11.62%), 30–35 years (47.47%), 36–40 years (22.22%), 40–45 years (18.69%). The offline survey was carried out in January 2021, and the online survey was carried in February 2021. The rate of response was limited to 62% in the field survey, and 3% was the rejected rate due to errors made in the questionnaire. The online survey was conducted through a Google form, and thus there was no rejection as all the questions were compulsory for the submission. The questionnaire included a cover letter defining the objectives of the study. For speedy response, the questionnaire was shared with the personal contacts in the organisations and requested to forward the same in their network to reach a large number of respondents. The respondents belonging to managerial positions were targeted. The respondents mainly belonged to the IT, consultancy, healthcare and manufacturing industries. A sample of 198 professionals is adequate (Hair et al., 2014). The selected sample is varied on several dimensions such as industry, number of employees, number and type of products manufactured, designation and experience. The missing values are found in the offline questionnaire, whereas the online questionnaire prohibits the missing values and makes the responses valid for usage. For the internal consistency reliability check, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated. As it is the most used tool to test the reliability of Likert scale-based data (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). The values of factor loading are checked for convergent validity; If the values are greater than 0.5, the scale is considered to have convergent validity. By measuring the Cronbach’s alpha values for each component, the instruments’ reliability and inner consistency test were assessed in the current study. Using the inter-item correlation study, testing for the validity of the model was conducted. KMO and Bartlett’s test results are shown in Table 3. 4.2 Non-response bias The primary data was received in two phases. The early responses (76) and the late responses (122) were checked using an independent t-test for non-response biases. There was no significant difference found between early and late responses. The value of Chi-square was computed to confirm the proposed model in addition to Goodness of Fit Index (GFI), Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI), Non-normated Fit Index (NFI), Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) (Hair et al., 2014). The impact of SHRM and I4Te on employability has been analysed using standardised regression coefficients obtained through SEM analysis. For conducting the test, IBM SPSS 26 and IBM AMOS 25 were employed. 5. Analysis and results The proposed model is checked using SEM. The measurement model is shown in Figure 1. The CMB, measurement model, hypotheses testing is conducted to calculate the following results: KMO and Bartlett’s test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy 0.810 Bartlett’s test of sphericity Approx. Chi-square 418.867 Df 237 Sig. 0.000 Table 3. KMO and Bartlett’s test IJM 43,2 472

5.1 Measurement model The data are collected from professionals from different industries. As the industries are diversified, there is a need to check the bias. Thus, common method bias (CMB) was checked using Harman’s single factor. The values of skewness and kurtosis were calculated to check the normality in the dataset. composite scale reliability (CSR) followed the normality test with a threshold value of 0.70. The convergent validity (factor loading >0.50), average variance extracted (AVE >0.50) and discriminant validity were calculated for the measurement items. 5.2 Common method bias, normality and reliability For normality check, Skewness and kurtosis were calculated. Based on the values obtained, the values of skewness and kurtosis both were less than 1. The value for Mahalanobis dsquared was less than 48 (24 3 2). Hence the dataset showed the normality and could be tested for the maximum likelihood estimation. This study had an acceptable level of reliability ranges from 0.85 to 0.93. Cronbach’s alpha values were computed and found to be more than 0.70. CMB is used to check the correlations amongst the observed variables (Malhotra et al., 2006). The mean response of the constructs was checked using “Kolnogorov–Srimov” test (Wallace and Mellor, 1988) and found that there was no significant difference. The CMB adjusted estimates were compared with the original structural model parameter estimates. The path coefficient values were stable after the correction for CMB, indicating the proposed model was unaffected by the CMB. The values obtained for CSR and AVE are shown in Table 4, indicating that there are no convergent validity issues in the measurement model (Factor loading >0.50; CSR >0.70 and AVE >0.50). The values of factor loadings are higher than the cut-off value (shown in italics) H1(a) FL1 FL2 FL3 TR3 TR2 TR1 EP EE EP1 EP2 EP3 EE1 EE2 EE3 H1(b) H1(d) ES1 ES2 ES3 ES4 ES5 ES6 H2 IT IT IT IT4 IT1 SHRM Practices FL TR ES I4Te (IT) IT H1(c) Figure 1. Measurement model Impact of SHRM practices and I4Te adoption 473

indicating that results are consistent (Hairet al., 2014). Additionally, CFA is carried out to test the hypothesized model. 5.3 Structural model The effects of SHRM, I4TEs on ES are tested through a complete structural model. The model includes six first-order constructs. The latent constructs are developed through 24 observed variables. The SEM method applied for testing the hypothesis is exhibited in Figure 2. H1(a) exhibits the relationship between the FL and the ES. The hypothesis was tested using the SEM model. Table 5 shows that FL positively influences ES (p < 0.001). Hence, H1(a) can be supported. A p-value less than 0.05 (typically ≤ 0.05) is statistically significant. H1(b) proposed that greater inclusion of training practices will have a positive effect on the ES of the employees. The values are presented in Table 5, showing that TR is significantly influencing ES (p < 0.001). This supports H1(b). CR AVE MSV MaxR(H) IT FL TR EP EE ES IT 0.859 0.504 0.298 0.866 0.710 FL 0.938 0.836 0.248 0.955 0.273 0.914 TR 0.925 0.803 0.113 0.929 0.279 0.317 0.896 EP 0.896 0.741 0.117 0.902 0.301 0.313 0.250 0.861 EE 0.792 0.563 0.298 0.835 0.546 0.498 0.336 0.342 0.751 ES 0.874 0.545 0.108 0.906 0.155 0.319 0.228 0.329 0.129 0.738 Table 4. Convergent and discriminant validity results Figure 2. Structural model IJM 43,2 474

H1(c) proposed that EP will have a significant impact on the ES of the employees. Table 5 shows that EP is significantly influencing ES (p < 0.001). Thus, hypothesis 1(c) can be accepted. H1(d) proposed that greater EE will have a significant impact on the ES of the employees. Table 5 shows that EE influences ES (p < 0.001). Thus, H1(d) can be accepted. H2 proposed that higher IT will have a positive impact on the ES of the employees. Table 5 shows that IT is significantly influencing ES (p < 0.001). This supports H2. The CFA has confirmed the constructs and tested them by SEM. The CMB analysis was conducted to check the discriminant validity of the scales. A full measurement model was tested to identify the correlation amongst the variables. Error terms were free to covary between one pair of willingness for mobility items to improve fit and help reduce bias in the estimated parameter values (Reddy, 1992). Multiple fit indices were calculated to determine how the model fitted the data as recommended by Hu and Bentler (1999). The five-factor model showed a good model fit (χ2 5 418.867; df 5 237; GFI 5 0.905; AGFI 5 0.895; NFI 5 0.909; RMSEA 5 0.06; CFI 5 0.969; RMSEA 5 0.048) is presented in Table 6. 6. Discussions of findings The study assesses the SHRM practices and their effect on the ES of the employees. The theoretical model is tested to identify the extent to which the SHRM practices affect ES. The current study has contributed to the wider debate on increasing employability by strengthening the SHRM practices. This study particularly has analysed four main SHRM practices (Flexibility, Training, Employee participation, Employee empowerment) and I4Te on the ES. The previous studies discussed the combined role of supervisors, managers and employees in enhancing the ES, without considering the interaction between the roles (Van Der Heijden et al., 2009). The findings suggest that all 4 SHRM practices have a positive relation to ES. The concept of soft skills is the new essential for the workforce as these skills are resilient (Frey and Osborne, 2017). It is very much required by the organisations to remain competitive in the market and need to become responsive, flexible as per the changing environment. Employees are the resources required to be developed continuously Hypotheses Estimate S.E. C.R. p value Result ES ← FL 0.185 0.04 4.19 *** Significant; Hypothesis supported ES ← TR 0.143 0.05 3.06 *** Significant; Hypothesis supported ES ← EP 0.202 0.05 3.75 *** Significant; Hypothesis supported ES ← EE 0.192 0.06 3.29 *** Significant; Hypothesis supported ES ← IT 0.254 0.07 3.82 *** Significant; Hypothesis supported Fit indices’ analysis of the research model Model fit Reference index χ2 /df 1.45 <3 Goodness-of-fit index (GFI) 0.905 >0.9 Adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI) 0.895 >0.8 Normed fit index (NFI) 0.909 >0.9 Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) 0.964 >0.9 Comparative fit index (CFI) 0.969 >0.9 Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) 0.048 <0.05 Table 5. Hypotheses results Table 6. Model fit summary Impact of SHRM practices and I4Te adoption 475

(Rigby and Ryan, 2018). Thus, creating favourable conditions for the development of employees and careers will increase the overall performance of the organisation. The first hypothesis suggests that flexibility in the organisation will provide more opportunities to the employees for developing themselves. This is in line with the previous research that suggests HR flexibility affects performance outcomes in the organisation. With flexible working hours, employees may have more time for their skill development (Karman, 2020; Ybema et al., 2020). This sustainable practice will provide a comfortable and safer work culture and save the organisation’s resources. The flexibility will bring less consumption of renewable resources, saves cost and time too. Also, with flexible work culture, skilled employees in the future will be able to achieve more economic and environmental outcomes. The second hypothesis indicates that employee training on sustainable practices is an investment that positively influences the economic outcomes of the organisations. It improves the organisation’s image as well as employee development. The digital environment of the organisation needs to understand the detailed knowledge of the skill set required in training programs that aims to enhance the sustainability practices and career opportunities to upskill and reskill. The organisations surveyed in the study are committed to the adoption of environment and skills through training programs. The TR programs will be able to upgrade the employee’s competencies to recognise the sustainability practices and its implementation (Perron et al., 2006; Chillakur et al., 2016; Almarzooqi et al., 2019). It is the prime responsibility of the organisation to provide the right information in the right way. The training programs on sustainability practices with advanced technologies like augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) will drastically change the organisation performance. The ARenabled training has been adopted by the organisations as it provides information with utmost clarity and practical demonstration. Along with I4Te, the organisations need to develop their employees towards sustainable solutions and technologies that aim for a greener and sustainable future. The third hypothesis exhibited that EP may boost up ES. This has been seen in the previous studies where employees are involved in working with new tools, technologies, new channels for developing a participative organisation culture. EP in sustainable practices may develop the organisation a place for knowledge sharing. The fourth hypothesis showed that EE positively affects ES. With more opportunities for employee participation and empowerment, the organisation will develop skilled manpower for the future. This is in line with the previous studies which shows that empowering employee positive outcomes for the organisation (Chillakur et al., 2016; Almarzooqi et al., 2019). EE is directly linked to employee commitment, satisfaction, effectiveness and productivity as shown in the previous studies based on institution theory (Meyerson and Kline, 2008; Yao et al., 2013). With the changing environment, several online platforms have been evolving to enhance the participation amongst the employee and the organisation. Moreover, decision support systems/expert systems are also helping the employees in their decision-making during uncertainty. The empowered dynamic environment brings optimum utilisation of resources such as energy, raw materials, water, etc. and helps the organisation to build a sustainable ecosystem for the future. The fifth hypothesis has proven that I4Te is one of the most significant factors for raising the ES of the employees. The SHRM practices are meant to bring sustainable development for the economy, but achieving the same is highly dependent on the I4.0 inclusion in the organisation (Caputo et al., 2019). The organisations need to reconsider the current innovative skill development and advance I4Te to be implemented in the business processes for enhancing the performance outcomes. The skill anticipation has been performed, but mainly it is for the macro level, and very far from the company itself. Therefore, organisations struggle to reshape their skill inventory, job profiles, structure and match it with the requirement (Fulmer and Ployhart, 2014; Becker and Gerhart, 1996). With the I4Te revolution, IJM 43,2 476

the information has been shared in real-time and helps the employees to make appropriate decisions on time. It also helps in anticipating skill inventory, restructuring, manpower planning, etc. that saves time and cost for the organisation. It also provides satisfaction to the employees in achieving their desired outcome. Previous work of I4Te has shown that these technologies affect employees especially the job profiles (Chryssolouris et al., 2013; Fareri et al., 2020). The changing technological and social environments affect the working conditions and competencies of the individual (Lopez-Cabrales and Valle-Cabrera, 2020). ES including core, technical and personal attributes are the ongoing practices that need to be enhanced through continuous learning. Today’s society is often described as a “Society of Knowledge”. This concept suggests that knowledge upgradation of the employees is the key element for organisational as well as individual development. The TR, FL, EP and EE are the key elements for improving the skills, personality and competencies of employees. ES can be developed by the organisation efforts through proper training and development programs (Ivanov and Webster, 2019). Acquisition of the people skills such as social networking, counselling and collaboration will be highly demanded in the forthcoming years as technology is yet limited with the capability of emotional needs of the human beings (Kolbjørnsrud et al., 2016). Thus, these SHRM practices will play a key role in developing ES in the employees. 6.1 Theoretical implications The proposed theoretical model contributes in two main areas: SHRM and Industry 4.0 adoption. The current study develops a model that makes it possible for the researchers to comprehend the impact of I4Te and SHRM practices on the ES of the employees. The findings are helpful for the decision-makers to take actions for developing a sustainable ecosystem in their organisation where digital technologies like Industry 4.0 will enhance the retention, association and satisfaction amongst the employees. The organisations should accept that the employees are the key stakeholders that have specific interests and need such as fair conduct, work quality, long-term employment, care, well-being, empowerment, etc. and it is the prime responsibility of the organisation to take care of the employees and develop them continuously. Thus, this study intends to study the stakeholder’s perspective on the SHRM practices and the employability in the Industry 4.0 era. Using stakeholder theory in the study, the organisation must take care of the employees that will enhance their performance and healthy relationship with the organisation (Guerci and Shani, 2013; Sorribes et al., 2021). The literature is limited in the area of SHRM practices and I4.0 impact on HR as well as their ES. Thus, it needs more research studies in future to explore the effect of SHRM practices. Based on institutional theory, the current study contributes to indicate the relationship between employee development and SHRM practices. The SHRM will enhance the effects on the long-term association of the employees and their skill development. 6.2 Managerial implications In addition to the research contribution, the current study offers insights for the organisations to perform their actions. There is a need to enhance the sustainable practices amongst the employees and to enhance their skills for the digital competitive world. SHRM practices TR, FL, EE and EP will decrease the use of energy, organisation renewable resources and carbon emissions. HR is considered as the main changing agent in society and thus organisation’s efforts for practices sustainable practices influencing employability will bring a big change in the future. SHRM aims to enhance the effects on the long-term association of the employees and their skill development. Impact of SHRM practices and I4Te adoption 477

Considering the results, the SHRM practices and I4Te influences the employee’s ES and can enhance the employee’s core, IT skills and personal attributes. The positive work culture that promotes employees’ caring in terms of health and safety contributes to employees’ satisfaction and brings long-term association with the employees. This will also increase ES and improvement of career opportunities that improve employees’ engagement with the organisation. The I4Te is needed to educate HR of the organisations towards the adoption of sustainable practices and advanced technologies to enhance organisational performance. Today, multifaceted problem-solving skills and critical thinking is highly demanded in addition to soft skills. The results suggest that the ES can be developed by the organisation efforts through SHRM practices that will consequently support decision-making in the organisation. The managers can adopt SHRM practices including TR, FL, EE, EP to enhance the ES of the employees. 7. Conclusion, limitations and future research directions SHRM is an emerging area that connects organisations’ sustainability with the roles and responsibilities of humans. The current study was conducted in the area of SHRM by including multiple constructs and an SEM model. The study has revealed that the changing landscape is prompt and requires skill development through I4Te with SHRM. The majority of the organisations, irrespective of their size, must update their inventories of skills and competencies to become sustainable. The literature supports the fact that research on HR and their employability is scarce till now. Hence, the findings from the current study contribute to bridging this gap and builds a better understanding of SHRM practices and their impact on ES. The effect of TR, EE, EP, FL and I4Te on the ES has been found positive in the current study and thus suggests that if organisations need to build sustainable ecosystems, must focus on SHRM practices. The efficiency and effectiveness in the decision-making have been enhanced drastically due to shared information through I4Te. Thus, HRM 4.0 is a new area where the key focus is on automation and strategic issues in place of repetition. The digital transformation has also enforced firms to adopt online tools, methods and services for optimising their decision-making. The organisations must acknowledge the significance of flexibility, well-being, participation, competency and provide more opportunities to enhance ES for their employees. The core skills, technical skills and personal attributes in employees for analytical and decision-making skills are needed to be developed. There is no doubt in the fact that ES has been evolved across the years from an ability to get initial employment to become competent, enhances skills and capabilities amongst the employees to manage their careers and future actions. SHRM practices can contribute to shaping the new mindset and their perceptual development. It will fill the existing gap between the current skills of the employees and what is expected to gain in the future. There are few limitations also. The current study has undertaken only four main SHRM practices only and thus the future studies can be expanded with the other practices. The respondents were mainly from managerial positions in the organisations. Thus it might be possible that their position affected their answers. The employability concerns could be better understood with a large group of people with different positions. The dimensions of SHRM that are identified are from the perspective of countries that are on the way to sustainable development. Since India is a developing country and struggling with many issues such as environmental sustainability, resource security, less skill labour, etc. and may face constraints to adopt SHRM practices thoroughly. The context of countries may vary, but the study can be generalized to other developing countries that are moving toward sustainable development. Future studies can extend the current study in identifying the effect on the employee performance, efficiency and organisation performance outcomes based on SHRM practices. IJM 43,2 478

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Ybema, J.F., Tinka van Vuuren and Karen van Dam (2020), “HR practices for enhancing sustainable employability: implementation, use, and outcomes”, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 31 No. 7, pp. 886-907. Zhu, Q., Sarkis, J. and Lai, K.H. (2013), “Institutional-based antecedents and performance outcomes of internal and external green supply chain management practices”, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 106-117. Further reading Cukier, W. (2019), “Disruptive processes and skills mismatches in the new economy”, Journal of Global Responsibility, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 211-225. Fugate, M. and Kinicki, A.J. (2008), “A dispositional approach to employability: development of a measure and test of implications for employee reactions to organizational change”, Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology, Vol. 81 No. 3, pp. 503-527. Gazier, B. (Ed.) (1999), Employability: Concepts and Policies: Report 1998, Institute for Applied SocioEconomics. Guest, D. (2004), “Flexible employment contracts, the psychological contract and employee outcomes: an analysis and review of the evidence”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 1-19. Heller, F.A., Drenth, P.J., Koopman, P. and Rus, V. (1977), “A longitudinal study in participative decision-making”, Human Relations, Vol. 30 No. 7, pp. 567-587. Sanders, J. and De Grip, A. (2004), “Training, task flexibility and the employability of low-skilled workers”, International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 73-89. Spurk, D. and Straub, C. (2020), “Flexible employment relationships and careers in times of the COVID-19 pandemic”, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 119, 103435. About the authors Manu Sharma is a visiting research fellow at Guildhall School of Business and Law, London Metropolitan University, London, United Kingdom (UK). She has received her Post-Doctoral Fellowship sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, from Doon University, India. For the last ten years, she has been contributing in teaching and research. She has analytical skills in qualitative and quantitative research methods such as Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, Fuzzy Theory, Multivariate analysis, etc. Her current research areas are Digital supply chains, Digital Marketing, Circular economy, Sustainability, Waste management, Internet of Things (IoT), Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) campaigns, Retail supply chains, Omnichannel Retailing and Branding. She is serving various journals as an editorial board member in the area of Digital Technologies, Sustainable development, Waste Management, Supply Chains and Digital Marketing published by Emerald, Springer, Elsevier and IGI. Sunil Luthra is Director-Principal at Ch. Ranbir Singh State Institute of Engineering and Technology (CRSSIET), Jhajjar, India. He is Honorary Visiting Professor (Research and Training) at Centre for Supply Chain Improvement (CSCI), University of Derby, United Kingdom (UK). He is also working as Honorary Research Fellow at triple crowned Bradford School of Management, University of Bradford, UK. He has contributed over 180 research papers in international referred and national journals, and conferences at international and national level. He has an excellent research track record (over 470 cumulative research impact points; received more than 6,800 citations on Google Scholar; H-index – 44 on Google Scholar). He has received many Awards and Honours for the research and teaching. He is a Guest Editor of many reputed journals such Journal of Cleaner Production, Technology Forecasting and Social Change, Production Planning and Control, Resources Policy, Resources, Conservation and Recycling and Annals of Operations Research, etc. He is reviewing papers for more 50 reputed journals. He is on editorial board of many reputed journals. He has published six books with reputed publishers such as CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC and New Age International Publisher (P) Ltd. etc. His research interests are: Productions and Operations Management; Sustainable Production and Consumption; Green/Sustainable/Circular Supply Chain Management (GSCM/SSCM/ CSCM); Digitization in Supply IJM 43,2 484

Chain; Industry 4.0; Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Cities, etc. Sunil Luthra is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected] Sudhanshu Joshi currently working in Operations and Supply Chain Management Area, Doon University, India. His research interest anchored within Digital-Twin, Cyber Supply Chain Management with special focus on green supply chain network design, sustainable supply chain design and coordination in humanitarian supply chain network, application of big data analytics in sustainable and humanitarian supply chains, emerging technologies (Including Industry 4.0), Circular Economy, Agriculture Supply Chain and Soft-computing Applications in Supply Chain Management. He is member with leading Societies including CSI, IEEE, POMS and INFORMS. He is a series editor of research note series CRC press, Taylor & Francis. Anil Kumar is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at Guildhall School of Business and Law, London Metropolitan University (LMU), London, U.K. For the last ten years, he has been associated with teaching and research. Before joining LMU, he was Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in area of Decision Sciences at Centre for Supply Chain Improvement, University of Derby, United Kingdom (UK). He earned his Ph.D. in Management Science from ABV-Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Gwalior, India. He did his graduation in Mathematics (Hons) and MSc (Mathematics) from Kurukshetra University, India. He earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) and qualified National Eligibility Test (NET), June 2011. He has contributed over 80þ research papers in international referred and national journals, and conferences at the international and national level. He has sound analytical capabilities to handle commercial consultancy projects and to deliver business improvement projects. He has skills and expertise of Advance Statistics Models, Multivariate Analysis, Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, Fuzzy Theory, Fuzzy Optimisation, Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, Grey Theory and Analysis, Machine Learning, Application of Soft-Computing, Econometrics Models, etc. His areas of research are sustainability science, green/sustainable supply chain management, customer retention, green purchasing behaviour, sustainable procurement, sustainable development, circular economy, Industry 4.0, performance measurement, human capital in supply chain and operations, decision modelling for sustainable business, and integration of operation area with others areas. For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website: www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm Or contact us for further details: [email protected] Impact of SHRM practices and I4Te adoption 485

Leading towards the students’ career development and career intentions through using multidimensional soft skills in the digital age Naimatullah Shah College of Business Administration, Al Yamamah University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Safia Bano Institute of Management Sciences, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan Ummi Naiemah Saraih Faculty of Business and Communication, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Kangar, Malaysia; Centre of Excellence for Social Innovation and Sustainability, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Kangar, Malaysia and Department of Business Administration, Daffodil International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh Nadia A. Abdelmegeed Abdelwahed Department of Business Administration, College of Business Management, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, and Bahadur Ali Soomro Centre of Excellence for Social Innovation and Sustainability, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Kangar, Malaysia Abstract Purpose – In the digital age, the development of students’ career intentions requires serious concentration since these are associated with the students’ future employment and, ultimately, their survival. This study attempted to demonstrate in Pakistan’s Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) the role of soft skills towards the students’ career development (CD) and their future career intentions (CI). Design/methodology/approach – In this study, the researchers used a quantitative approach and a questionnaire to collect the data from the surveyed participants. Finally, the researchers based this study’s findings on 392 useable samples. Findings – By employing the structural equation model (SEM), this study’s findings show that soft skills, such as Creative Self-Efficacy (CSE), Problem-Solving Confidence (PSC) and Teamwork (TW) have a positive and significant effect on CD and CI. However, while Critical thinking and Creativity (CRC) has a positive and significant effect on CD, it has no effect on CI. In addition, this study’s findings confirm, also, that CD has a positive and significant effect on CI. Practical implications – This study’s findings assist policymakers and university administrators to understand the importance of soft skills in creating CD and CI. These promote the development of employability skills and fulfill its part in preparing graduates for the unpredictable job market. This study’s findings help, also, to develop logical reasoning in making decisions and in dealing with complex organizational issues. Originality/value – In a practical way, in Pakistan, this study’s findings confirm the role of soft skills towards students’ CD and CI. Keywords Soft skills, Career development (CD), Digital technology, Career intentions (CI), Digital age Paper type Research paper Students’ career development The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/0040-0912.htm Received 5 December 2022 Revised 7 February 2023 Accepted 14 March 2023 Education þ Training © Emerald Publishing Limited 0040-0912 DOI 10.1108/ET-12-2022-0470

Introduction More particularly, among university graduates, the chance of having a professional career and inclinations toward a vocation has become a serious problem to society in the digital age (Ahmad et al., 2021a, b). Significant indicators of students’ success are tenacity of commitment, career ambitions and career preparations. Career objectives are the primary drivers of career intentions (CI) which help people to establish their cultural orientations and epochs (Kemp and McLoughlin, 2022). Self-initiative and the focus on one’s career are crucial elements of entrepreneurship since these provide a smooth path to the individual’s development and success (Baluku et al., 2018). There are several factors, such as employability culture and employee mentorship, that have an impact on the avenues of career plans which lead to prodigious careers (Wong et al., 2017). More importantly, as career traits, soft skills are responsible for developing the individuals’ attitudes towards career development (CD) and CI through enriching leadership skills, communication skills, a positive work attitude and teamwork (TW). In the business sector, soft skills are critical for grooming individuals to be involved in business and market expectations (Nusrat and Sultana, 2019). However, in the education sector, the lack of further upgrading caused high unemployment among graduates (Seetha, 2014). In the literature, soft skills are proven to be the protagonist enablers and innovative tools that improve employability (Rao, 2014; Tejan and Sabil, 2019; Succi and Canovi, 2020) and accountability, management, listening and communication (Desha et al., 2021). However, soft skills, which include critical thinking, business negotiation, responsibility and marketing, can be developed in educational institutes (Ahmad et al., 2017; Ayodele et al., 2021). According to Singh and Jaykumar (2019), employable or soft skills are a better way to inform graduates about the capabilities which they can acquire during their degree programs. Unlike graduates and managers, these abilities help to develop graduates’ soft skills. Across all age groups, soft skills are the leading agents of professional engagement (Aryaniet al., 2021) and are enhanced by training. Self-efficacy and confidence allows the individual to choose career management skills that meet their professional development objectives (Getachew et al., 2020). In addition, Problem-Solving Confidence (PSC) increases an individual’s CD and CI (Aryani et al., 2021). Soft skills in TW, creativity and communication are important indicators of employment status (Forrest and Swanton, 2021).Khalid and Ahmad (2021) claim that there is a meaningful relationship between career flexibility and students’ employability skills in complex PSC, Critical Thinking and Creativity (CRC) and people management. PSC and CRC increase individuals’ capabilities and lead them to success (Baird and Parayitam, 2019). Likewise, career coaching in programs develops the CRC and in higher education enables students to creativity and innovation (Forrest and Swanton, 2021). Finally, TW is the best predictor of performance and employment status and, among most real soft skills, makes a substantial impact on students’ CD and CI (Tang, 2020). Consequently, due to their vital contribution to students’ CD and CI, the researchers cannot ignore the importance of soft skills (Volkov and Volkov, 2015). These skills usually come through either university or higher education. Therefore, the researchers asked the following questions: How do soft skills, in terms of CSE, PSE, CRC and TW, enhance the CD and CI among Pakistan’s university students? How is CD responsible for developing CI among Pakistan’s university students? The researchers considered that this study’s findings would help policymakers and university authorities to develop the students’ soft skills to tackle unemployment and their future career challenges. This study’s findings would open, also, new avenues and, through nurturing soft skills in CSE, PSE, CRC and TW, set the individuals’ CI towards making their ET

futures bright t. With the introduction being section one of this paper, the other sections are as follows. Section two is the literature review and the formulation of this study’s hypotheses. Section three explains this study’s methods. Section four sets out the data analysis. Finally Section five sets out discussion and conclusion, the limitations and the recommendations for future research. Literature review and the formulation of this study’s hypotheses Soft skills In the digital age, soft skills are valuable and innovative tools to improving employability (Rao, 2014). Employers place a high value on soft skillsets related to accountability, management, listening and communication, logical thoughts, business negotiation and work ethics. These abilities are taught face-to-face and include, also, critical thinking, business negotiation, responsibility and marketing (Ahmad et al., 2017; Ayodele et al., 2021). However, there are substantial deficiencies in respect of graduate personnel’s technical capabilities such as valuation, property investment analysis, feasibility and viability appraisal, market research methods and facility management (Ayodele et al., 2020). More particularly, in Malaysian universities, the curriculum fosters soft student skills and promotes the link between soft skills and student job readiness. The findings show, also, that, when compared to respondents from Chinese universities, respondents from Malaysian universities were more likely to respond positively to statements about their respective universities’ abilities to develop their soft skills (Teng et al., 2019). On the other hand, Spanish university students, who participate in more leisure activities, exhibit higher levels of creativity. Most students are involved in some activities, and in this regard, two interpersonal skills are essential (Mareque et al., 2019). According to Singh and Jaykumar (2019), soft or employable skills for the hospitality sector offer insightful information from employers and help the graduates to acquire those abilities during their degree programs. Graduates and managers describe differently their use tools to develop the graduates’ soft skills. It has become clear that Italian and German businesses evaluate soft skills very differently during the hiring process (Succi and Wieandt, 2019). Faculty and recruiters have different opinions about the importance attached to the four soft skills. Therefore, there is a need for greater clarity between the business curriculum and the employers’ requirements from recently graduated business students (Nusrat and Sultana, 2019). Ibrahim et al.’s (2017) findings show the connections between employees’ development of soft skills, the trainer’s training approach and job performance. The method of training and the acquisition of soft skills are significant predictors of employee performance. Information professionals consider their soft skill levels to be “moderately proficient” despite the development of their soft skills being hampered often by the university library and information workers’ “lack of administrative assistance”; “lack of personal commitment” and “lack of financial support” from the parent organizations (Ahmad et al., 2021a, b). According to Bak et al. (2019), behavioral skills, such as communication, planning, initiative and bargaining, are more critical than decision-making, negotiating and management skills. In the case of Malaysian students, their college lives have been improved significantly through their integration of soft skills. The quality of all aspects of college life, including academics, social life and facilities, is greatly enhanced by students integrating soft skills and, more particularly, those promoting critical thinking and problemsolving (Tan et al., 2019). However, in Vietnam, the provision of opportunities, such as those connected to independent work, interpersonal interactions and the capacity to work in international environments, to help the students develop their soft skills is thought to improve their employability (Yao and Tuliao, 2019). In a similar vein, more than half of the participants reported that there were few possibilities for soft skills training and ongoing Students’ career development

professional development (Ahmad et al., 2021a, b). However, the designers’, programmers’ and testers’ soft skill needs are quite consistent across various contexts, including those in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Cultural differences are apparent only in the case of system analysts (Ahmed et al., 2012). According to Thailand’s students, entrepreneurial role models indirectly influence their entrepreneurial skills (Rajchamaha and Prapojanasomboon, 2022). In Hong Kong, Ng et al.’s (2021) findings suggest that the development of young graduates’ employability skills can develop their professional development, entrepreneurship attitudes, communication and problem-solving and selfmanagement. Among Russian university students, there is a positive and significant connection between participation in case competitions and career decision-making selfefficacy (Plakhotnik et al., 2020). Career development (CD) A CD culture helps productivity, competition, affirmative action and succession planning. A regulated CD culture can benefit both the company and the employees (Conger, 2002). According to Lee and Lee (2018), organizational commitment and job satisfaction are critical personal characteristics that influence job performance through CD. Although organizational factors, such as mentorship and coaching, have an impact, work rotation hinders, also, the enhancement of job performance through CD. There are close relationships between development programs, career management and performance. CD increases when employees and senior executives own a significant percentage of a company’s total shares. Employees’ CD is enhanced by the availability of external education and continuous professional development (Pinnington et al., 2022). Although they operate in different ways, mentors and mentees are both complimentary about the mentoring program. However, women’s CD can be impeded frequently by their self-attitudes, gender values and management and leadership perceptions (Maxwell, 2009). According to Okolie et al. (2020), in the case of Nigeria, when combined with mentoring, career training can improve students’ clarity about their career ambitions, interests, personal development plans and employability. In Australia, undergraduate students are interested in computer technology as it boosts CD and employability (McKenzie et al., 2018). The manner, in which managers approach CD techniques, can shift in response to a vital nuance (Cullen, 2013). The organizational-related factors, such as mentoring and employability culture, are possible predictors of a flexible career. Career plans significantly moderate the association between employability culture and employee mentorship leading to prodigious careers (Wong et al., 2017). Self-regulation serves as a mediator between CD and employee productivity. According to Delbari et al. (2021), the members of staff’s abilities to self-regulate have a favorable and significant impact on the factors that affect individual, organizational and environmental productivity. Self-regulation may be able, also, to anticipate those elements. In the United Arab Emirates, the progressive, reasonable, facilitated and idealistic CD is essential for women’s CD among managers (Omair, 2010). In addition, the CD has a significant impact on effective devotion in a family business. Similarly, the degree of mastery of goal orientation and support for CD, namely the students’ aptitude to be adaptable, has a significant influence on their self-efficacy and, in turn, their career decision-making (Park and Park, 2020). Career intentions (CI ) The CI represent the likelihood of a career shift and the associated predictive factors among those looking for new jobs. Men and women, individuals with different family responsibilities and those on permanent and temporary contracts all share the same devotion to their careers and the purpose of staying in the field. Among undergraduate students, there is a strong ET

correlation between flexibility and career direction and emigrating abroad. However, the path of mediation has no significance. CI’s main enhancers are social obligations and career goals. According to Kemp and McLoughlin (2022), CI contributes to the development of cultural orientation and millennia characteristics. On the other hand, there is a significant mediation path between the crucial factors of self-initiative and focusing on one’s career and entrepreneurship (Baluku et al., 2018). Self-efficacy plays a substantial mediating role between perceived organizational support and external whistleblowing intents. Similarly, students, who have histories of family business, are substantially more likely to join their family businesses than to start their own businesses (Cie
slik and van Stel, 2017). The perception of informal organizational career management has a considerable negative direct and indirect impact on turnover intentions. Only the indirect effects on perceived formal administrative career management are significant (Haridas et al., 2022). Similarly, accounting students are optimistic about expanding their knowledge base and obtaining an accounting job. Education in business and entrepreneurship impacts on career planning and personal growth beyond just wanting to start new businesses (Rae and Woodier-Harris, 2013). Entrepreneurial awareness enhances Entrepreneurial Intentions (EI). The new courses in digital technology and the teachers’ instructive employability skills improve students’ opportunities of self-employment (Zinser, 2003). According to Daniel and Almeida (2020), students, who participate in junior enterprises, have higher levels of EI and their antecedents, such as behavioral attitudes, perceived behavioral control and social norms. The impact of this extracurricular activity is more profound on engineering students rather than social sciences students. Consequently, the literature offers several factors that are valuable predictors in developing CD and CI among the several sectors (Bak et al., 2019; Kemp and McLoughlin, 2022; Haridas et al., 2022). These factors include behavioral control, attitudes toward digital entrepreneurship, employability, career management, optimistic knowledge, social obligations, career goals, cultural orientation and behavioral skills, such as initiative, bargaining, communication and planning, decision-making, negotiation and management skills. However, there are still significant gaps in the literature. First, no previous study provides evidence of the connection between soft skills, CD and CI in an integrative way. Second, there is no confirmation of the association between CD and CI in the presence of soft skills such as CSE, PSC, CRC and TW. Finally, despite being in the digital era, more needs to be done by Pakistan’s Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) in these areas. Therefore, in recognition of these deficiencies among Pakistan’s university students and based on these relationships, the researchers developed the model (Figure 1). Creative self-efficacy (CSE), career development (CD) and career intentions (CI) Soft skills have a beneficial impact on psychological capital which leads to increased professional engagement across all age groups (Aryani et al., 2021). A strong correlation exists between skill improvement before and after training. After receiving soft skill training, students are better equipped to identify their areas for professional development. The setting of professional development goals and receiving training in career management skills are all essential components of the development of soft skills (Getachew et al., 2020). Accordingly, Maria et al.’s (2022) quantitative analysis shows that transformational leadership and CSE have a strong influence on staff creativity. In addition, self-efficacy is a mediator in developing the relationship between transformational leadership and worker creativity. There is a positive correlation between occupational self-efficacy and work engagement and the climate of developing human resources and the favorable impact on women’s career goals in the workplace (Hartman and Barber, 2020). Chen’s (2016) findings show that there is a positive association between CSE and work engagement. Nevertheless, they did not find Students’ career development

evidence of openness to experience having a moderating role in this relationship. In addition, their findings show that there is no statistically significant difference in CSE and job engagement between men and women. However, the findings demonstrate that, compared to women, men have statistically more significant professional aspirations. Other than workplace social support, Sarkar’s (2022) seminal work supports the favorable and significant effects of family support, mentorship support, networking and visible assignment on the overall self-efficacy of women leaders (2022). Similarly, among nurses, leadership selfefficacy and motivation to lead impact upon their career goals (Czirakiet al., 2018). Moreover, the production of direct and indirect knowledge production capacity through personal affective commitment and CSE is a strong predictor of supervisory-rated inventive performance (Sarwat and Abbas, 2021). Peers, who support entrepreneurship, improve this link which moderates the association between creativity and entrepreneurial goals. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) mediates this relationship. According to Drnovsek et al. (2010), the best way to understand ESE is as a multidimensional construct of goal and control beliefs and propositions on how these two dimensions function throughout the different stages of the process of launching a new business. Through the partly mediating influence of entrepreneurial outcome expectancies, there is a positive correlation between ESE and entrepreneurial ambitions (Santos and Liguori, 2020). According to Sidratulmunthah et al. (2018), the main determinants of female students’ aspirations to start their own businesses are a proactive personality, ESE and university support factors. Among French students, ESE impacts on EI. Moreover, ESE moderates to some extent the association between a proactive personality and female students’ entrepreneurial goals. According to Sweida and Reichard’s (2013) conceptual analysis, high-growth CSE can promote women’s desires to establish high-growth ventures. In the case of Chinese students, there are links between CSE and growth- and independenceoriented ambitions (Shiet al., 2020). Self-efficacy has the most significant mediation impact in terms of identifying opportunities. Through boosting CSE, the findings of a further pertinent study contend that there is appositive correlation between creativity and corporate goals. Women’s ESE reinforces the association between institutional support, entrepreneurial Figure 1. Conceptual model of the study ET

knowledge and venture performance (Abdelwahed et al., 2022a, b). Therefore, the researchers formulated the following hypotheses: H1a. CSE enhances students’ CD. H1b. CSE enhances students’ future CI. Problem-solving confidence (PSC), career development (CD) and career intentions (CI) Regardless of the impact on performance, PSC has an excellent reputation for improving CD and CI, and people view the mastery of soft skills as a source of efficacy (Aryani et al., 2021). There are strong correlations between, on the one hand, verbal communication, self-reported PSC, creativity, TW and employment status and, on the other hand, output, hourly pay and employment status (Forrest and Swanton, 2021). PSC includes a greater understanding of the value of accurate and pertinent information; a greater appreciation of the various roles played by professional practitioners in problem-solving depending on the type of problem; and a greater understanding of the value of interdisciplinary teams in tackling complex and challenging issues (Desha et al., 2021). According to Park and Park (2020), career decisionmaking self-efficacy influence, also, their aptitude for engineering and career adaptability in a favorable way. Finally, among Korean engineering students, the student’s enthusiasm for engineering benefited their capacity for job adaptation. Khalid and Ahmad’s (2021) findings demonstrate that among final year part-time United Arab Emirates students, there is a significant correlation between, on the one hand, the employability abilities of complex PSC and people management and, on the other hand, career flexibility. Individuals’ capabilities are enhanced by critical thinking and problemsolving abilities; these include listening skills, oral and written communication skills, professionalism and an internal drive for success (Baird and Parayitam, 2019). According to King (1994), an exercise, which allows participants to compare their real thinking and problem-solving attitudes and behaviors in profession choice, training and other situations, follows a heuristic pattern of user-friendly self-discovery in Kosovo, and business managers are taught how to handle conflicts and be entrepreneurial. There exists a positive and statistically significant link between forcing style and EI. A manager spends a significant amount of time dealing with decision-making and problem-solving difficulties. Making decisions and addressing problems together can help to create a more comprehensive framework for managing problem-solving challenges (O’Loughlin and McFadzean, 1999). Wu et al.’s (2021) findings show that, while it is essential to navigate the interface to capture the users’ full attention and control for problem-solving, the visual appeal contributes to their enjoyment. According to Ayalew and Zeleke’s (2018) empirical analysis, information and opportunity seeking, creativity and problem-solving abilities are significant predictors of students’ selfemployment and CI. The relationship between academic aptitude and self-perceived problemsolving skills is essential for determining academic performance. Therefore, the researchers formulated the following hypotheses: H2a. PSC enhances students’ CD. H2b. PSC enhances students’ future CI. Creative thinking and creativity (CRC), career development (CD) and career intention (CI) The CRC has a significant impact in introducing career coaching into programs that train students in creativity and innovation in higher education. There is a correlation between, on the one hand, high performance, hourly pay and employment status and, on the other hand, with verbal and creative communication skills (Forrest and Swanton, 2021). In the same Students’ career development

dimension, assessment design enhances students’ critical thinking in a subject concerned with business enterprise systems (Wilkin, 2017). The success of new ventures is influenced greatly by entrepreneurs’ abilities to think creatively. Entrepreneurs, who fit the “creative constructionist” description have higher professional success in terms of their firm’s creative performance, personal career accomplishments, reputation in society, and a sense of fulfillment and contentment. Similarly, Tejan and Sabil’s (2019) findings show that most respondents viewed creativity and innovation as essential employability qualities. Selfefficacy, opportunity detection skills, inventiveness, perseverance, risk-taking tendency, planning skills and leadership qualities all have a positive and significant on the growth of an entrepreneur’s career (Zainal, 2022). Graduates’ managerial abilities are crucial factors when starting a successful career in marketing (Kelley and Bridges, 2005). In a similar vein, career exploration serves as a mediator in the development of the association between thinking patterns and challenges in making professional decisions among Chinese college students (Li and Fan, 2017). High degrees of abstraction have a substantial impact on emotional intelligence and the interaction with self-efficacy (Bazzy et al., 2019). Male rather than female participants are more aware of the “think entrepreneur–think male” bias because a woman entrepreneur seems less approachable (or more counter-stereotypical) to male participants. Smith et al.’s (2016) findings show that there is a direct and positive relationship between creativity and EI. There is only a positive correlation between EI and a predisposition to take risks. Curiously, academic creativity is reported to encourage a more conservative approach to risk-taking. However, artistic creativity tends to improve EI (Altinay et al., 2022). Consequently, the literature indicates in several ways the importance of CRC shaping future entrepreneurial CI careers. However, in the context of Pakistan, further research is required to substantiate these contributions and, more especially, among university students. Therefore, the researchers formulated the following hypotheses: H3a. CRC enhances students’ CD. H3b. CRCS enhances students’ future CI. Teamwork (TW ), career development (CD) and career intentions (CI ) Soft skills, such as TW, leadership and communication skills, are seen as character traits for the job that people should possess (Seetha, 2014). Academics use cooperative learning exercises in the curriculum to teach students the value of working well with others in their future careers (Volkov and Volkov, 2015). Forrest and Swanton’s (2021) findings demonstrate that TW is the best predictor of performance and employment status. Professors have learnt from all four programs that, except for tourist management, the most effective soft skills are TW and a commitment to lifelong learning. This study’s qualitative section indicates that the acquisition of soft skills has a significant and favorable impact on students’ CD and enrichment (Tang, 2020). University students are successfully acquiring or improving TW through various extracurricular activities such as sports, music, volunteering, international group work experiences and professional practice (Riebe et al., 2010). Similarly, Majid et al.’s (2019) findings show that, in Singapore, soft skills are optimal for a productive, successful and enjoyable career and for job hunting. The students are completely aware of the importance of soft skills to their CD and employability. The top soft skills are TW, collaboration, decisionmaking, problem-solving, time management and critical thinking (Dabke, 2015). Among the highly evaluated soft skills are a positive attitude, vocal communication, self-motivation and self-direction and problem-solving. Globally, workplace competitiveness is increased by developing talents such as effective communication, TW, leadership traits, stress management, emotional intelligence, etc. Soft skills are crucial to creating a bright career ET

(Tripathy, 2020). According to Majid et al. (2012), most respondents believe that both their CD and social interactions benefited from having soft skills. They do not believe, however, that these abilities have a significant impact on their academic achievement. Although the students have demonstrated a great understanding of the value of soft skills, Itani and Srour’s (2016) quantitative study findings suggest that some of these perceptions stem from their professional objectives. Similarly, Gloria et al.’s (2015) findings assert that working conditions have a significant influence on employees’ intentions to change careers. HEIs educating students on the importance of soft skills helps them to take ownership of their learning and to develop these essential job-search capabilities (Succi and Canovi, 2020). Consequently, TW has an excellent reputation for enhancing organizational performance, CD and, as a robust developer of trust, leads individuals towards more options in respect of their CI. However, in Pakistan, despite their incredible significance in building careers and commitments, there is a need to investigate further the relationship between soft skills and CD and CI. Therefore, the researchers formulated the following hypotheses: H4a. TW enhances students’ CD. H4b. TW enhances students’ future CI. Career development (CD) and career intentions (CI) CD and CI are the important factors that propel students toward achievement. In this regard, career orientation is the best indicator of expatriation intentions and EI (Baluku et al., 2018). To attain the CD for positive professional development, one needs to have the right objectives and attitudes. The perceptions of informal organizational career management have a considerable negative direct and indirect impact on turnover intentions. The association between both types of organizational CD and turnover intentions is mediated by trust in management (Haridas et al., 2022). Career choice plays an active role on children’s development in several CD areas. Women make wise preparations for CD and education. Strong aspirations for a career and higher education and the acceptance of having to juggle work and motherhood affect their confidence in making plans (Marks and Houston, 2002). Darmanto and Pujiarti’s (2020) findings reveal that the use of CDtheory, CD management and ambitions are essential for students’ employability and career options. While, as a behavioral control, there is a significant correlation between entrepreneurial drive and students’ shortterm career goals, there is no significant correlation between entrepreneurial drive and students’ long-term entrepreneurial goals. Consequently, CD and CI are complementary to each other. For instance, several scholars, such as Baluku et al. (2018) andHaridas et al. (2022) state that CDpredicts EI or CI and that CD is forecasted through CI. Accordingly, this confirms CD’s role Pakistan’s HEIs in developing the students’ future CI. Therefore, the researchers formulated the following hypothesis: H5. CD enhances students’ future CI. Methods Approach and samples The researchers used quantitative methods since these were highly validated and dependable techniques that ensured the respondents’ confidentiality and integrity (Abdelwahed et al., 2022a, b). These methods are more helpful in identifying peoples’ attitudes and behavioral responses and help the researchers to conserve time and resources (Soomro et al., 2022a). In addition, these benefit the respondents by offering a broad range of Likert scale options that provide outstanding reliability and validity (Cummins and Gullone, 2000). Furthermore, in the field of management and more particularly when examining soft skills, engagement, CD, Students’ career development

EI and CI are usually assessed by using a quantitative method (Baluku et al., 2018; Majid et al., 2019; Tang, 2020; Aryani et al., 2021; Forrest and Swanton, 2021; Dubey et al., 2022). These methods are used predominantly in higher education when assessing the students’ career success. In this study, the researchers focused on students from Pakistani universities which promised to provide them with knowledge. By identifying the students’ skills gaps and, more particularly in developing contexts, the universities created specialized programs and shaped soft skills that helped countries to improve social cohesion, economic prosperity and workforce advancement (Soomro et al., 2022a, b). The researchers surveyed the students between January and June 2022. We carried it out as part of a larger strategic initiative by Pakistan’s universities to change the student curricula and instructional techniques in response to new challenges. These are reflected in the increasing number of students with family business backgrounds and those who combine their education with running their businesses. The researchers preferred university students due to their keen enthusiasm towards CD and having positive attitudes and CI for a bright future (Hizzett and Snaith, 2022). These students wished to develop their soft skills to tackle not only issues at the domestic level but, also, to attain global competition (Dubey et al., 2022). Data collection tactics and respondents’ ethical values The researchers used both paper and online surveys. In consideration of the existence and accessibility of the HEIs’ respondents, we employed convenience sampling (non-probability sampling approach) since this is the recommended practice for online and offline questionnaires (Arora and Aggarwal, 2018). The researchers visited seventeen Pakistani universities which the US News and World Report, a Washington-based ranking guide, named among the best global universities for 2022 (see Table 1) (Hayder, 2022). In addition, we sent emails to a select group of respondents along with links to an online survey, to WhatsApp groups and to the university students’ Facebook pages. The questionnaire consisted of three sections. The first section consisted of a cover form and a consent form. The second section highlighted the respondents’ demographic information such as age and Ranking in Pakistan University Global ranking 1 Quaid-i-Azam University 461 2 Aga Khan University 473 3 COMSATS University Islamabad 495 4 National University of Sciences and Technology 922 5 University of Peshawar 933 6 University of Agriculture Faisalabad 954 7 Government College (GC) University Faisalabad 1,149 8 University of Punjab 1,242 9 Bahauddin Zakariya University 1,368 10 University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore 1,458 11 University of Karachi 1,543 12 University of Lahore 1,562 13 University of Sargodha 1,664 14 Government College (GC) University Lahore 1739 15 Arid Agriculture University Unranked 16 Dow University of Health Sciences Unranked 17 University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila Unranked Source(s): Online available at: https://propakistani.pk/2022/04/05/17-pakistani-universities-named-amongbest-global-universities-for-2022/ Table 1. Visited universities for sampling ET

gender. Most respondents (60.20% or n 5 236) were 21–30 years of age. 30.61% (n 5 120) were below 20 years and only 9.19% (n 5 36) were 31 years and above. As regards gender, most respondents (54.60% or n 5 214) were men and the other (45.40% or n 5 178) were women. Finally, the third section contained the dependent and independent variables based on the Likert scales. The researchers considered the respondents’ ethical standards before asking them for their opinions. According to Grinnell and Williams (1990), ethics is a discipline that deals with right and wrong in terms of moral duties and responsibilities. In informing the students of this study’s aims and objectives, the researchers considered the following ethical principles. To participate in the survey, participants had to sign consent papers and to grant permission to the researchers (Jenkins et al., 2006) who protected the respondents’ privacy and confidentiality regarding their responses during their study participation. Once the researchers ensure the security of the questionnaire, we sent copies to the students. Having considered the completed questionnaires, the researchers used 392 valid samples for the final analysis. To ensure the required sample size, we used G*Power (version 3) which is an excellent freeware program with high precision power (Cunningham and McCrumGardner, 2007). This statistical software package is the best and most widely used in social and behavioral science to calculate statistical power for sample analysis (Erdfelderet al., 1996; Shah and Soomro, 2021). The researchers used five predictors to support an adequate sample size for this test because G* power required 138 samples to perform SEM analysis. Therefore, this study’s 392 valid samples met the G* power and SEM criteria for analysis. Instrumental validation The quantitative method highlights the hazards of mistakes which is a serious problem more particularly in social science, management and business research. Expressly, the reliability of the quantitative method is that it demonstrates the consistency among the items and the degree to which a construct or group of variables is dependable in what it is intended to examine (Yin, 1994). Therefore, the researchers used the Cronbach’s alpha reliability test to confirm the questionnaire’s overall and individual reliability, and we discovered it to be within acceptable bounds (>0.60) (Hair et al., 2019). We used factor loading to guarantee further the association between the items and their appropriate variables. Consequently, the loading scores for most items appeared higher than 0.60 and proved acceptable (Hair et al., 2019). Similarly, a questionnaire’s validity can be guaranteed if general conclusions can be drawn from the used model, the collected data and if the results can be extrapolated to other situations (McFadden, 1977). The researchers distributed a few questionnaires to academics and industry professionals to verify the face validity, i.e. the items, variables, language and design of the survey instrument. On the advice of the experts, the researchers revised specific questions in the questionnaire. Consequently, the researchers had a legitimate and trustworthy questionnaire to gather extensive data for this study. Measures Soft skills. We applied four multidimensional soft skills, namely, CSE, PSC, CRC and TW. We measured CSE on three items adopted from Beghetto (2006), the sample item of the scale is “I am good at coming up with new ideas”. We assessed PSC on six items adopted from the Cassidy and Long’s (1996) empirical investigation. The sample item of the scale is “I use logic to make my own decisions even if they are different from others”. Likewise, we evaluated the CRC factor on three items adopted from Strom and Strom (2011) with sample item content “I have a good imagination”. Finally, we assessed TW on three items adopted from Strom and Strom (2011). The sample item of the scale is “I stay focused on the task during group work.” Students’ career development

CD. We assessed CD on five items adopted from Getachew et al. (2020). The sample item of the scale is “I know my interests and how they relate to my career.” CI. We gauged CI based on six items adopted from Cie
slik and van Stel’s (2017) empirical assessment. The sample item of the scale is “I shall be an employee of a large organization or company”. We gauged all the items using a five-point Likert scale where 1 (strongly agree) and 5 (strongly disagree). Data analysis Descriptive statistics and correlations The researchers used descriptive statistics to characterize how the data were represented throughout the entire population (Hair et al., 2019). CD has the highest mean score (3.663), whereas CRC has the lowest (2.002). For TW, the highest standard deviation scores are 1.968, while the lowest values for CSC are 1.212 (see Table 2). Also, we used a correlation matrix to guarantee the association’s strength (Hair et al., 2019). Consequently, all components (independent) are connected to the dependent variables (see Table 2). Measurement model The researchers assessed the dependability of each individual item under the premise of the factor loadings. The bulk of the items show loading values greater than 0.70. However, we removed two elements, psc4 and ci5, from the further estimation because these did not occur with the required values (Hairet al., 2019). In addition, the composite reliability (CR) values are in the range of 0.798 (CI)-0.857(TW) or higher than the recommended values (0.70) (see Table 3) (Isaac et al., 2010). Similarly, we used the average variance extracted (AVE) values to evaluate the identity of the construct. All constructions (>0.50) have AVE values between 0.778 (TW) and 0.852 (CRC) (Hair et al., 2019). In the final analysis, the researchers ensured that the Cronbach’s alpha values for each construct were between 0.781(CD) and 0.898 (CRC) or within acceptable ranges (>0.70) (see Table 3). Later, the researchers examined discriminant validity (DV) to determine the degree of construct discrimination among the items (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). Accordingly, we compared the AVE’s square root with rising correlations. The scores in the columns and rows of the definite construct appear to be outperformed by the condition of the AVE square root when measured diagonally (see Table 4). Consequently, sufficient DV is guaranteed. Initially, the researcher noticed chi-square/df (2.189), which is <5.0 and provides the initial fitness of the model. Further, the researchers found this study’s adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI) to be 0.927; this is above the recommended value of (>0.85) (Hair et al., 2019). In addition, the comparative fit index (CFI) is 0.933; this exceeds the suggested cut-off threshold Variables Mean (SD) 1 2 3 4 5 6 1. CD 3.663 (1.501) – 2. CI 3.557 (1.432) 0.392** – 3. CSE 3.001 (1.212) 0.4003** 0.333** – 4. PSC 3.194 (1.392) 0.382** 0.382** 0.342* – 5. CRC 2.002 (1.897) 0.086 0.128 0.148* 0.123* – 6. TW 2.985 (1.968) 0.298** 0.223** 0.492** 0.352** 0.3661** – Note(s): SD, Standard deviation **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) Source(s): The researchers’ own calculation Table 2. Descriptive statistics and correlation ET

of 0.90 (Bentler, 1990). The normed fit index (NFI) is 0.914; this is higher than SchermellehEngel et al.’s (2003) suggested value (>0.90). Finally, the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) is 0.038; this too is smaller than the estimated 0.08 value of the excellent fit to the data (Browne and Cudeck, 1993) (see Table 5). As presented in Figure 2 and Table 6, the SEM path analysis suggests that CSE has a positive and significant effect on CD and CI (H1a 5 SE 5 0.024; CR 5 7.362***; H1b 5 SE 5 0.021; CR 5 6.222***; p < 0.01). Therefore, hypotheses H1a and H1b are accepted. The analysis demonstrates that PSC has a positive and significant effect of on CD and CI. Therefore, hypotheses H2a and H2b are accepted (H2a 5 SE 5 0.033; CR 5 7.783***; Construct Code Loadings CR AVE α Creative self-efficacy [CSE] cse1 0.884 0.821 0.838 0.848 cse3 0.879 cse2 0.861 Problem-solving confidence [PSC] psc1 0.866 0.809 0.811 0.839 psc2 0.838 psc3 0.822 psc6 0.808 psc5 0.788 Critical thinking and creativity [CRC] crc1 0.892 0.833 0.852 0.860 crc2 0.868 crc3 0.844 Teamwork [TW] tw2 0.879 0.857 0.778 0.857 tw3 0.852 tw1 0.849 Career development [CD] cd1 0.891 0.842 0.805 0.781 cd3 0.876 cd2 0.864 cd4 0.833 cd5 0.825 Career intention [CI] ci1 0.867 0.798 0.790 0.822 ci4 0.848 ci3 0.820 ci2 0.812 ci6 0.799 Note(s): AVE 5 summation of the square of the factor loadings CR 5 square of the summation of the factor loadings α 5 Cronbach’s alpha Source(s): The researchers’ own calculation Constructs 1 2 3 4 5 6 1. CD 0.803 2. CI 0.290 0.798 3. CSE 0.306 0.187 0.773 4. PSC 0.329 0.172 0.152 0.810 5. CRC 0.209 0.289 0.280 0.341 0.798 6. TW 0.302 0.199 0.321 0.390 0.344 0.780 Note(s): Diagonals represent the square root of the AVE while the other entries represent the correlations Source(s): The researchers’ calculation Table 3. Measurement model Table 4. Discriminant validity Students’ career development

H2b 5 SE 5 0.037; CR 5 5.672***; p < 0.01). Similarly, the analysis shows that, while CRC has a positive and significant effect of on CD (H3a 5 SE 5 0.034; CR 5 5.382***; p < 0.01), it has a negative and insignificant effect on CI (H3b 5 SE 5 0.011; CR 5 0.528; p > 0.01). Therefore, hypothesis H3a is accepted and hypothesis H3b is rejected. As per expectations, TW has a positive and significant predictive effect on CD and CI (H4a 5 SE 5 0.030; CR 5 5.882***; H4b 5 SE 5 0.037; CR 5 6.328***; p < 0.01). Therefore, hypotheses H4a and H4b are accepted. Finally, CD has a positive and significant effect on CI (H55SE50.036; CR 5 6.890***; p < 0.01). Consequently, hypothesis H5 is accepted. Discussion and conclusion In this study, the researchers aimed to investigate the role of soft skills in developing CD and CI among Pakistan’s university students. The researchers based the conceptualizations and methods of analysis on the existing literature. The effect of soft skills on CD and CI. The SEM analysis shows that CSE has a positive and significant effect on both CD and CI. These findings are consistent with those of several scholars such as Drnovsek et al. (2010), Chen (2016), Sidratulmunthah et al. (2018), Getachew et al. (2020), Hartman and Barber (2020), Aryani et al. (2021), Sarwat and Abbas (2021), Maria et al. (2022) and Sarkar (2022). These findings demonstrate the students’ aptitudes for developing original concepts. They are creative and have many ideas to enable them to pursue their CD and CI in many career fields. They anticipate that their CSE soft skills will H.No Path Estimate SE CR P Assessment H1a CSE → CD 0.212 0.024 7.362 *** Accepted H1b CSE → CI 0.208 0.021 6.222 *** Accepted H2a PSC → CD 0.210 0.033 7.783 *** Accepted H2b PSC → CI 0.071 0.037 5.672 *** Accepted H3a CRC → CD 0.069 0.034 5.382 *** Accepted H3b CRC → CI 0.022 0.011 0.528 0.719 Rejected H4a TW → CD 0.189 0.030 5.882 *** Accepted H4b TW → CI 0.230 0.037 6.328 *** Accepted H5 CD → CI 0.320 0.036 6.890 *** Accepted Note(s): SE 5 standard error; CR 5 critical ratio; p 5 significance level; ***p < 0.05 CSE, Creative self-efficacy; PSC, Problem-solving confidence; CRC, Critical thinking and creativity; TW, teamwork; CD, career development; CI, career intention Source(s): The researchers’ own calculation Goodness of fit indices Value Acceptance level Reference Chi-square/df 2.189 <5.0 Marsh and Hocevar (1985) CFI 0.933 >0.90 Bentler (1990) GFI 0.905 >0.90 J€oreskog and S€orbom (1993) AGFI 0.927 >0.85 Anderson and Gerbing (1984) NGI 0.914 >0.90 Schermelleh-Engel et al. (2003) RMSEA 0.038 <0.08 Browne and Cudeck (1993) Note(s): CMIN 5 χ2 /chi-square/df; df 5 degrees of freedom; GFI 5 goodness-of-fit index; AGFI 5 adjusted goodness-of-fit index; NFI 5 normed fit index; CFI 5 comparative fit index; RMSEA 5 root mean square error of approximation Source(s): The researchers’ own calculation Table 6. Hypotheses assessment Table 5. Model fit indices and their acceptable thresholds ET

help them become more engaged in their careers and more eager to continue the development of their skills through various training courses. They think their skills are a great asset that will enable them to achieve many of their goals. Their CSE will provide them with the best way to develop CI to launch a new business. A university education will be supportive in creating students’ aspirations to start their own businesses. Also, CSE increases women’s intentions to engage in high-growth ventures. Turning to PSC’s effect of on CD and CI, this study’s findings demonstrate that PSC makes a positive and significant impact on both CD and CI. These findings are consistent with the findings of various scholars in different settings (Ayalew and Zeleke, 2018; Baird and Figure 2. Path analysis [SEM] Students’ career development

Parayitam, 2019; Park and Park, 2020; Aryani et al., 2021; Forrest and Swanton, 2021; Desha et al., 2021). This study’s findings demonstrate the wishes of Pakistan’s university students to use logic to make their conclusions, even if they differ from others. By contrasting the advantages and disadvantages of various concepts, they give their decisions a lot of thought. In general, they view issues as obstacles to be overcome and seek to identify solutions to difficult circumstances. When they make decisions, they will ultimately be delighted with them. These projects contribute to CD and CI trends. Further, this study’s findings confirm that CRC has a positive and significant effect on CD. However, the findings of Li and Fan (2017), Bazzy et al. (2019), Tejan and Sabil (2019), Forrest and Swanton (2021), Zainal (2022), and Altinay et al. (2022) in different contexts show acceptance and rejection of CRC’s effects on CI outcomes are supported by the different earlier investigations. This study’s findings indicate that university students have strong imaginations regarding CD but not for CI. They know how to reach future goals and have good ideas and innovation to advance their careers. They have many positive and productive ideas that will help them to succeed. According to them, creative people can manage their time; deal with change head-on; set clear goals; develop profitable business and marketing plans; and communicate and lead others well. Innovation and originality are crucial to possessing employment skills. It helps people seize chances and identify skills, creativity, persistence, propensity for taking risks, planning abilities and leadership traits. All these have a substantial and favorable impact on the development of an entrepreneurial career. With regard to the final soft skills hypothesis, as reinforced by the existing literature about soft skills, this study’s findings show thatTW has a positive and significant effect of on CD and CI literature (Volkov and Volkov, 2015; Gloria et al., 2015; Majid et al., 2019; Tang, 2020; Tripathy, 2020; Succi and Canovi, 2020; Forrest and Swanton, 2021). This study’s findings show that, during group work, university students maintain their attention on the task at hand. They carry out group-assigned individual roles. Also, they express optimism about the group’s success. In the classroom, they cooperate to complete learning assignments in courses related to their future occupations. They think TW is the most effective way to achieve achievement and employment. They believe that, also, in terms of TW, soft skills offer the best alternative to a fruitful and effective, career and an entertaining method of job hunting. The effect of CD on CI. The path analysis supports CD’s positive effect on CI among Pakistan university students. These findings are consistent, also, with those of numerous studies by Marks and Houston (2002), Baluku et al. (2018), Darmanto and Pujiarti (2020) and Haridas et al. (2022). These findings show that the students know their passions and how they connect to their careers. They possess the necessary skills to obtain efficient jobs. They are aware of their potential for professional development. They acknowledge that their preferred working methods and ideals are important to them. They anticipate working for a major corporation or bank in addition to joining the staff of a public administration organization. They aspire, also, to work for a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) without having any familial ties. They wish to operate their firm and family business (eventually with a business partner). In summary, this study’s findings show that, on the one hand, soft skills, such as CSE, PSC and TW, have a positive and significant effect on CD and CI. On the other hand, CRC has negative effect on CI. This study’s findings support, also, that, among Pakistan’s university students, CD has a positive and significant impact on CI. Limitations, implications and future research agenda Since the researchers conducted this study in a developing society, it has several limitations. In terms of the methods, the researchers limited this study by using quantitative methods and ET

a single source of cross-sectional data. The researchers chose a few soft skills (CSE, PSE, CRC and TW) towards CD and CI and did not use a relevant theory to strengthen the study’s conceptualization. Turning to the survey tools, the researchers used a survey questionnaire based on closeended options. The researchers used a five-point Likert scale which restricted the respondents to five choices. The researchers limited the study to seventeen Pakistani universities named among the best global universities for 2022. In terms of demography, the researchers examined only two indicators, namely, age and gender. The researchers applied non-probability sampling (convenience), and this might cause some issues in respect of the generalization of this study’s findings. The researchers targeted the university students only as this study’s respondents, and from the returned questionnaires, we used a 392 sample to arrive at this study’s findings. This study’s findings enhance the students’ beliefs and creativity to develop creative outcomes, academic excellence and performance. This study’s findings help, also, to build the students’ confidence to becoming true leaders who can step forward to face different organizational challenges and take control of situations. This study’s findings help to define and identify the causes of problems and how these can be dealt with wisely. This study paves the way, also, for an intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information gathered from various sources. In addition, this study’s findings help policymakers and university administrators to understand the importance of soft skills in creating CD, CI, and professional prospects for students and enhancing graduates’ employability prospects as educators. This study’s findings promote the development of employability skills and fulfil its aim in preparing graduates for the volatile job market. This study’s findings may inspire students also, to use their creativity and imagination to meet the demands of a new career field. The findings help to develop logical reasoning when dealing with complex organizational issues and to making reasoned decisions and. This study’s objective was to spark students’ interest in their careers and the skills they may offer to their employment. In addition, this study’s findings help students to form optimistic attitudes and intentions toward jobs and a promising future. Finally, this study’s findings add to the existing management and education literature and, more especially, in the context of Pakistan as a developing country. The researchers recommend that future studies on soft skills’ impact on CD, and CI use extensive longitudinal data. For example, the idea of planned behavior may be considered to explore the CI and CD in greater detail. The researchers recommend, also, that a future integrated model should include numerous additional factors such as attitudes, subjective norms, need for achievement, innovation, perceived behavioral control, career engagement, career commitment, turnover intention and job satisfaction. References Abdelwahed, N.A.A., Soomro, B.A. and Shah, N. (2022a), “Predicting employee performance through transactional leadership and entrepreneur’s passion among the employees of Pakistan”, Asia Pacific Management Review, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 60-68. doi: 10.1016/j.apmrv.2022.03.001. Abdelwahed, N.A.A., Soomro, B.A., Shah, N. and Saraih, U.N. (2022b), “Effect of institutional support and entrepreneurial knowledge on women’s entrepreneurial self-efficacy and venture performance in a developing country”, International Journal of Innovation Science, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. doi: 10.1108/IJIS-12-2021-0218. Ahmad, S., Ameen, K. and Ullah, M. (2017), “Modes of soft skills learning: a case of university information professionals’ in Pakistan”, Library Review, Vol. 66 Nos 8/9, pp. 711-725. Students’ career development

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Sustainable relevancy in the changing library job market in Kuwait Hanadi Jumah Buarki, Mashael Alomar and Munirah Abdulhadi Department of Library and Information Science, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Al-Ardiya, Kuwait Abstract Purpose – The Library and Information Science (LIS) discipline face challenges such as technology applications and information overload in its effort to remain relevant in the challenging job market. This study aims to determine the skills and knowledge needed for LIS professionals in the job market to rethink the current syllabus and offer better future employability. Design/methodology/approach – The research used a survey method to collect data concerning personal information, LIS employment opportunities, job titles and skills needed. Content analysis followed to determine librarianship job listings and the need for LIS graduate jobs in Kuwait. Findings – The findings suggested difficulties and challenges; they also compiled a comprehensive list of skills needed and recommended courses and institutions hiring LIS graduates. The research improves decision-making in syllabus development and experiences recommended by employers. Practical implications – Academic departments can follow this research to develop and update their syllabuses according to the requirements of the job market, thus offering better future job opportunities. Social implications – As LIS graduates are provided with better education, the updating of their employability skills will help them socially by recognising their employment status and economically by raising their pay. Originality/value – The research is the first in Kuwait to collect LIS job titles and analyse employability needs. Keywords Kuwait, Content analysis, Graduate employment, Library and information science, Job market, Information and communication technologies, Job title, Syllabus development Paper type Research paper Introduction Library and Information Science (LIS) is considered as one of the dynamic domains. Because of the rapid increase in technology, data are made quickly available. The development in technology has helped to plan, organise and restructure information. The main purpose of restructuring the whole syllabus was to mainly streamline things and make new emerge The authors would like to thank all employers, Appendix 5, that have participated in answering the survey and provided valuable comments despite their commitments. Special thanks to Mrs Fatma Alnajar, Manager of the Research Administration, at the PAAET for her continuous valuable guidance. Funding: This research was partially funded by the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training. Declaration of interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. GKMC 71,8/9 800 Received 17 March 2021 Revised 22 June 2021 9 July 2021 Accepted 28 July 2021 Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication Vol. 71 No. 8/9, 2022 pp. 800-836 © Emerald Publishing Limited 2514-9342 DOI 10.1108/GKMC-03-2021-0037 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2514-9342.htm