Determining tourism graduate employability, knowledge, skills, and competencies in a VUCA world: Constructing a tourism employability model.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine tourism graduates’ employability, knowledge, skills, and competencies in a VUCA world by constructing a tourism employability model. The concept of employability differs depending on the context, as well as the views of the people making employment decisions and those seeking employment in a VUCA world. It has become imperative to ensure an adequate level of preparedness among tourism graduates in a world dominated by technology, by understanding what the important knowledge, skills, and competencies are to enhance graduates’ chances of securing and sustaining employment in the tourism industry in South Africa. The researcher adopted a sequential explanatory mixed method, which entailed combining quantitative and qualitative methods. A significant relationship was found between professional skills, personality traits, knowledge skills, and operational skills in the tourism industry. The originality of this study is that it developed a tourism graduate employability model for a VUCA world that is abbreviated to include the concepts Volatile, Unknown, Complex, and Ambiquity.

Keywords

• employability
• tourism industry
• higher education
• tourism graduates
• VUCA world