The Influence of Work Readiness and Soft Skills on Employability of Undergraduate Students in the Digital Era

Abstrak

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the influence of work readiness and soft skills on employability of undergraduate students in achieving success in various career paths in the digital age.

Design/methodology/approach: This study employs a quantitative approach with an associative (causal) research design. Data were collected via a questionnaire distributed to 107 fourth-year undergraduate students from the Faculty of Economics and Business, Swadaya Gunung Jati University, Indonesia, using purposive sampling. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4.

Findings: The results indicate that work readiness and soft skills have a positive and significant influence on the employability of undergraduate students in the digital era. Soft skills were found to have the most dominant influence on students’ employability. These findings also confirm that work readiness is formed through the integration of psychological readiness and non-technical competencies, supporting the USEM Employment Model theory.

Research limitations/implications: This study is limited to undergraduate students from the Faculty of Economics and Business at a single university in Indonesia. Therefore, the findings may not be fully generalizable to students from other disciplines, institutions, or geographical contexts. Future research is encouraged to include broader and more diverse samples and to incorporate additional variables that may influence employability in the digital era.

Practical implications: These findings imply that higher education institutions need to strengthen the development of work readiness and soft skills to improve students’ employability in the digital labor market. Enhancing these competencies can support workforce competitiveness, reduce skill mismatches, and contribute to sustainable economic growth and workforce development in the digital era.

Originality/value: This study contributes to the employability literature by simultaneously examining work readiness and soft skills within a single explanatory framework among undergraduate students in the digital era. Unlike previous studies that predominantly investigate these variables separately, this research demonstrates their combined contribution to employability in the context of Indonesian higher education.

Paper type: Research Papers