THE INFLUENCE OF LEADERSHIP SKILLS, IT LITERACY SKILLS AND TEAMWORK ABILITY ON INTERNSHIP STUDENTS’ EMPLOYABILITY: PERCEPTION OF EMPLOYERS’ INTERNSHIP COORDINATORS

Abstract

Lack of emphasis on the quality and excellent competencies should be equipped by the students who joining internship programme leads to negative implications on their future career markets. Therefore, the students will not be able to maintain their competitiveness in getting the bright prospects of their careers. Determination of the strategic factors that would promote employability among the students at internship proramme are very crucial. This research aims to examine the employers’ internship coordinators’ perceptions on the influence of competencies on employability among the students who undergo for internship programme. Investigating students competencies in this study are based on the dimensions namely leadership skills, IT literacy skills and teamwork ability. Questionnaires were adapted from previous empirical research instruments and data were analyzed using the "Statistical Package for Social Science" (SPSS) version 26.0. This study involved a total of 113 internship coordinators from different public sector employers as respondents. The results of the correlation and regression analyses revealed that leadership skills, IT literacy skills and teamwork ability had a positive relationship and significant effect on employability respectively. In addition, the result of this study showed that the most dominant determinant factor of students’ competencies affecting employability was teamwork ability. The results of this study were seen to be able to contribute within the scope of knowledge in managing education, training and development and the importance of improving students’ competencies in promoting their employability as required by the employers.