Graduate work-readiness challenges in the Asia-Pacific region and the role of HRM

• Date: 14 March 2018
• Pages: 121-137
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-01-2017-0015
• Published date: 14 March 2018
• Author: Prikshat Verma,Alan Nankervis,Soegeng Priyono,Noorziah Mohd Salleh,Julia Connell,John Burgess
• Subject Matter: HR & organizational behaviour,Employment law,Diversity, equality, inclusion

Graduate work-readiness

challenges in the Asia-Pacific

region and the role of HRM

Prikshat Verma

Department of HRM/Management, Australian Institute of Business,

Adelaide, Australia

Alan Nankervis

Faculty of Business and Law, Curtin University, Melbourne, Australia

Soegeng Priyono

Department of Business Consulting, DevOne Advisory Co., Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia

Noorziah Mohd Salleh

Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Sabah,

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Julia Connell

Graduate Research School, University of Technology Sydney,

Broadway, Australia, and

John Burgess

Department of Management, RMIT University College of Business,

Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to focus on graduate work-readiness challenges in three Asia

Pacific economies (Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia), and the roles of three main stakeholders

(government, employers and industry) in the process. The intention of the paper is to design a stakeholder-

oriented HRM model to address the identified graduate work-readiness challenges.

Design/methodology/approach –A qualitative triangulation method comprising interviews and focus

groups was used with participant samples for each country –Australia (19), Indonesia (19) and Malaysia (15).

Stakeholder-oriented HRM theory underpins the conceptual framework for the paper.

Findings –All three countries are currently experiencing difficulties attracting graduates with the required

portfolio of qualifications, skills and personal capabilities. The reported effects include: constraints on national

economicgrowth, futureproduction structures, and long-term socio-economic development. Basedon a review of

the work-readiness and stakeholder-oriented HRM theory literature, it is positedthat graduate work-readiness

challenges can be effectively addressed by HR professionals in partnership with other key stakeholders.

Research limitations/implications –The study sought the input of only three stakeholder groups for

ascertaining graduate work readiness challenges, there is a strong case to include other groups including

students/parents and secondary schools.

Social implications –Bridging the graduate skills gap between government, employers and educational

institutions is an important area in which HR professionals can contribute by reducing the mismatch between

demand and supply through influencing and balancing the interests and goals of key stakeholders.

Originality/value –This study makes a contribution to the extant literature as it explores the role of HR

professionals in relation to a multiple stakeholder strategy to address these challenges in the less-explored

Asia Pacific region.

Keywords Asia Pacific, Human resource management, Higher education, Stakeholder-oriented HRM,

Work-readiness

Paper type Research paper Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 37 No. 2, 2018

pp. 121-137

© Emerald PublishingLimited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-01-2017-0015

Received 17 January 2017

Revised 11 June 2017

Accepted 18 November 2017

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/2040-7149.htm

The authors acknowledge funding support for this research from the Asia Business Centre,

Curtin University.

121

The role

of HRM

Introduction

The number of Asia Pacific employers reporting difficulties due to a lack of qualified talent

has risen from 45 per cent in 2014 to 48 per cent in 2015. This is the second highest increase

since 2006 according to Manpower (2015) report. Other regional studies have revealed skills

gaps in various occupations and industry sectors, notably in relation to skilled trades, sales

representatives, engineers, technicians, accountants, information technology workers and

managerial categories (Manpower, 201 5; Montague, 2013; Nankervis et al., 2012).

Brown et al. (2011, p. 46) suggest that “only 13% of university graduates”from the 28 low-

wage Asian nationswere considered to have the requiredskills and competencies required for

their jobs. This notion of “suitability”,or underdeveloped work competencies,emphasises the

desire for graduates to possess a range of generic skills and attributes that ensure that they

are “ready”for the workforce (Casner-Lotto and Barrington, 2006; Goldin, 2015).

There have been various terms used to define work-readiness, including: “graduate

skills”and/or “graduate attributes”(Barrie, 2004; Harvey et al., 1992; Yorke and Harvey,

2005) “graduate-ness”(UK Higher Education Quality Council, 1995, 1997; Walsh and Kotzee,

2010), “graduate identity”(Hinchliffe and Jolly, 2011; Holmes, 2013;), “graduate

pre-professional identity”( Jackson, 2016a) and “graduate capital”(Tomlinson and

Tomlinson, 2017). This paper uses the term “graduate work-readiness”as it encompasses

both the perceived needs of employers and the competencies desired by graduates, and it is

arguably broader than “job readiness”.“Graduates”include both vocational education (VE)

and higher education (HE) graduates.

Whilst some industry studies have reported gaps in the work-readiness skills required

by Asia Pacific graduates, few scholarly studies have been conducted in the region, and

even fewer have examined their specific skills deficiencies (Cameron et al., 2015;

Burgess et al., 2018). Thus, this paper analyses the nature and scope of graduate work-

readiness challenges (in terms of the critical “competencies”required by graduates to enter

the workforce). It focusses on three Asia Pacific economies-namely, Malaysia, Indonesia, and

Australia. These countries are all part of the group referred to as “ASEAN plus six”,

currently working towards a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which

aims to integrate the existing free trade agreements between the ASEAN bloc and its Plus

Six partners (Wilson, 2016). Specifically, this study focusses on the causes of work readiness

challenges; and potential collaborative strategies to address them, through the perspectives

of three main stakeholder representative groups (government, industry and educational

institutions). These three inter-related economies were chosen because they share the same

region, face similar challenges with respect to graduate work-readiness, and have taken

different approaches to address those challenges. Moreover, they are regional competitors

and trading partners. Many Malaysian and Indonesian students undertake their HE studies

in Australian institutions, and some Australian universities have off-shore campuses in

Malaysia and Indonesia.

This study extends stakeholder theory concepts in relation to strategic human resource

management theory by proposing the use of multiple respondents (Boselie et al., 2009;

Guerci and Shani, 2013; Ulrich et al. 2012), as a way of investigating the effectiveness of

HRM systems from the perspectives of multiple actors (in this case, national governments,

employers and educational systems). A new “inside-out”paradigm (in contrast to Ulrich’s

“outside-in”perspective –Ulrich et al., 2012) is introduced in this paper to clarify the

analysis. Whereas Ulrich’s focus is on the need for HRM professionals to incorporate

external environmental (outside) factors in their internal organisational (in) strategies,

planning, systems and processes; this paper emphasises the complementary imperative for

HR professionals to contribute their accumulated knowledge and experience from (inside) to

the external environmental graduate work-readiness strategies, policies and processes (out)

of the three key stakeholders.

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