Leadership potential and self-perceived employability of undergraduate students in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

One of the main challenges facing higher education institutions (HEIs) is developing students’ employability skills, such as leadership. The earlier students acquire leadership skills, the higher their self-perceived employability (SPE) is upon graduation. Understanding how leadership is associated with SPE can help HEIs provide better leadership development programmes to increase SPE so that students pursue sustainable employment after graduation and use their leadership skills successfully in the workplace. Currently, there is a scarcity of published research on how youth leadership potential (LP) impacts SPE among undergraduate students at HEIs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Arab region in general. Therefore, this study begins with validating the psychometric properties of the LP scale in the UAE context and then tests the relationship between the LP and SPE of undergraduate students. The empirical study used data from an online survey of 523 undergraduate students to apply partial least squares structural equation modelling to test hypotheses. The study validated the 10-item LP scale for the UAE context, and a statistically significant positive relationship was found between the LP of undergraduate students and their SPE.