Validation of Self-Perceived Employability Scale among Portuguese university students and its relevance to job-seeking behaviors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17979/reipe.2022.9.1.9014Keywords:
self-perceived employability, Self-Perceived Employability Scale, test validation, university studentsAbstract
The aim of this study is to present the main findings of the process of translation and of the Self-Perceived Employability Scale (SPES) adaptation to Portuguese university population, based on a sample of 526 students. The results of the analyses performed on the items confirm the psychometric quality of the SPES. Regarding construct validity (CFA), the goodness-of-fit indexes for the one-factor (Perceived Employability), two-factor (Internal Employability and External Employability) and four-factor models (Labour Market, My University, Field of Study, Personal Skills) were found to be quite satisfactory. However, in the one-factor model, it was necessary to eliminate four items; in the two-factor model, three items were eliminated in internal employability and two in external employability, and in the four-factor model, four items were eliminated. Regarding the scale’s convergent validity, the results were as expected, with the SPES found to be significantly associated with career adaptability, self-efficacy in the school-to-work transition, and job-seeking intentions and behaviours. In summary, the good levels of reliability and validity obtained appear to support the use of the Portuguese version of SPES in the assessment of perceived employability among Portuguese university students.
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