Predicting career advancement with structural equation modelling

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to use the authors' prior findings concerning basic employability skills in order to determine which skills best predict career advancement potential. Design/methodology/approach - Utilizing survey responses of human resource managers, the employability skills showing the largest relationships to career advancement were used in a regression analysis. The regression results generated structural equation models. Findings - According to human resource managers, leadership skills and information technology skills needed for job performance were shown to be significant contributors to recent graduates' career advancement potential. Work ethic and critical thinking skills were found to be closely linked with leadership skills. Additionally, management skills, leadership skills, and basic literacy and numeracy skills received from recent graduates by their employers were found to be the strongest predictors of graduates' career advancement potential. Research limitations/implications - The research study was limited to graduates, faculty, and recruiters at a business school in southern California. Further studies can determine whether differences in attitudes from those found in this study might exist. Practical implications - It is important that students develop basic employability skills prior to entering the workforce, since remedial training on the job could impede career advancement. Social implications - Those graduates who show deficiencies in the skills that are viewed by employers to be predictors of advancement are likely to experience difficulties with career growth. Originality/value - The first part of this study utilized a triangular approach to survey three distinct groups of respondents - graduates, the faculty who taught them, and the human resource managers who recruited them - concerning their attitudes toward basic employability skills. In this second part of the study, the novelty utilized was structural equation modelling, which highlighted those skills that are most critical to career advancement.