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Testing the Mediating Role of Student Learning Outcomes in the Relationship Among Students’ Social Capital, International Mindsets, and Employability

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Abstract

Higher education policy fails to meet the requirement of rapidly changing society and employers’ expectation in Taiwan, resulting in a great gap between university education and employment. This study aims to explore the relationship among students’ social capital, international mindsets, learning outcomes, and student employability in higher education institutions (HEIs) via analyzing a purposely sample size of 801 undergraduates from 16 Taiwanese HEIs with structural equation model. The results show that the influences of students’ social capital and international mindsets on student employability are evident. Furthermore, male and female students do have different routes to the development of employability. The findings suggest that college student learning outcomes plays a critical role in developing the important employability. These results call for additional scholarly investigation into gender influence on college impact and gender-dependent activities during college; moreover, they encourage institutions of higher education to adopt more gender-specific approaches to relevant institutional policies and practices. Based on the findings, specific implications for HEIs are provided.

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Correspondence to Michael Yao-Ping Peng.

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Peng, M.YP. Testing the Mediating Role of Student Learning Outcomes in the Relationship Among Students’ Social Capital, International Mindsets, and Employability. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 28, 229–237 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-018-00431-3

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