A Systemic Approach to the Determinants of Employability

Abstract

This paper identifies the economic, sociological, psychological, and managerial approaches to analyzing the determinants of employability, and their limitations, and then proposes an interdisciplinary approach and systemic framework. Through a theoretical analysis, we find that these determinants interact with the internal and external environment of the individual who is integrated within society; has upgradable human and social capital; has a psychological make-up; and lives in a constantly changing socioeconomic context. The complexity of societies, companies, and a globalized economic system induces the use of interdisciplinarity by considering instability, openness, creativity, ambiguity, and paradox. The operationalization of the systems approach is to analyze the internal factors of each subsystem, the interactions between subsystems, and the relationships between subsystems and their environments. Future investigations should seek to identify the empirical determinants of employability through a systemic approach.