The effect of soft skills, ethics, and value on the willingness of employers to continue recruiting UMT graduates

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of soft skills and ethics and value on the employers’ willingness to continue recruiting Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) graduates, together with the moderating effect of knowledge on the relationship between soft skills and the employers’ willingness to continue recruiting UMT graduates. The study’s respondents comprised of 208 employers in Malaysia who responded through an online survey using Google Forms. The survey data was then analyzed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), indicating that soft skills positively affected the employers’ willingness to continue recruiting UMT graduates. Nevertheless, ethics and value were found to be insignificant factors on the employers’ willingness to continue recruiting UMT graduates. It was also revealed that knowledge had the moderating effect on the relationship between soft skills and the employers’ willingness to continue recruiting UMT graduates. Therefore, universities were recommended to invest in soft skills and knowledge education to ensure that graduates met the employers’ professional recruitment standards in areas of expertise.