IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i16p10436-d894642.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding Employability in Changing Labor Market Contexts: The Case of an Emerging Market Economy of Thailand

Author

Listed:
  • Thunyalak Weerasombat

    (Faculty of Social Administration, Thammasat University, Bangkok 10200, Thailand)

  • Pongsaya Pumipatyothin

    (Faculty of Social Administration, Thammasat University, Bangkok 10200, Thailand)

  • Chaturong Napathorn

    (Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University, Bangkok 10200, Thailand)

Abstract

This paper qualitatively reexamines the definitions, components, and sub-components of employability under the changing labor market contexts of the under-researched country of Thailand, an emerging market economy (EME). Semi-structured interviews among chief human resources (HR) officers, HR experts, HR academics, HR consultants, and top HR executives in various well-recognized private firms across industries in Thailand, virtual field visits to each company located in Bangkok and other provinces in Thailand, nonparticipant observation, and a review of archival documents and web-based resources were conducted. This paper proposes that Thailand’s institutional context, specifically the labor market context, plays an important role in shaping employability among workers needed by firms within that context. Several challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, aging societies, technological disruption, the growth of the cryptocurrency market, and the changing patterns of work, affect Thailand’s institutional context, specifically the labor market context, and worsen the problem regarding the shortage of job candidates or graduates who are readily employable. Here, employability among workers refers to the strong potential that helps job candidates obtain suitable jobs and readies them for work and to survive in the real word. It consists of three main components: (1) career ability, (2) resiliency, and (3) attitudes and personal attributes. Each component consists of several sub-components (25 sub-components in total). All of the components and sub-components of employability are necessary for job candidates or young graduates in the context of the Thai labor market. However, there are sub-components of employability that are necessary for job candidates who are working in EMEs with several abovementioned challenges that affect the labor market context.

Suggested Citation

  • Thunyalak Weerasombat & Pongsaya Pumipatyothin & Chaturong Napathorn, 2022. "Understanding Employability in Changing Labor Market Contexts: The Case of an Emerging Market Economy of Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-25, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:16:p:10436-:d:894642
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/16/10436/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/16/10436/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Finegold, David, 1999. "Creating Self-Sustaining, High-Skill Ecosystems," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 15(1), pages 60-81, Spring.
    2. Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury & Cirrus Foroughi & Barbara Larson, 2021. "Work‐from‐anywhere: The productivity effects of geographic flexibility," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(4), pages 655-683, April.
    3. Samina Sabir & Anum Rafique & Kamran Abbas, 2019. "Institutions and FDI: evidence from developed and developing countries," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 5(1), pages 1-20, December.
    4. Ronald W. McQuaid & Colin Lindsay, 2005. "The Concept of Employability," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(2), pages 197-219, February.
    5. Fields, Gary S., 2011. "Labor market analysis for developing countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(S1), pages 16-22.
    6. Borah, Dhruba & Malik, Khaleel & Massini, Silvia, 2021. "Teaching-focused university–industry collaborations: Determinants and impact on graduates’ employability competencies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(3).
    7. Beamond, Maria Teresa & Farndale, Elaine & Härtel, Charmine E.J., 2016. "MNE translation of corporate talent management strategies to subsidiaries in emerging economies," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 499-510.
    8. Veronika Bikse & Liva Grinevica & Baiba Rivza & Peteris Rivza, 2022. "Consequences and Challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Impact on the Development of Employability Skills," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-23, June.
    9. Eleonora Picco & Andrea Gragnano & Arianna Daghini & Massimo Miglioretti, 2022. "Systematic Review of Intervention Studies to Foster Sustainable Employability Core Components: Implications for Workplace Promotion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-16, March.
    10. Culpepper, Pepper D, 1999. "The Future of the High-Skill Equilibrium in Germany," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 15(1), pages 43-59, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eleftherios Giovanis & Oznur Ozdamar, 2022. "Accommodating Employees with Impairments and Health Problems: The Role of Flexible Employment Schemes in Europe," Merits, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-26, December.
    2. Ali Junaid Khan & Waseem Ul Hameed & Jawad Iqbal & Ashfaq Ahmad Shah & Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman Tariq & Saira Ahmed, 2022. "Adoption of Sustainability Innovations and Environmental Opinion Leadership: A Way to Foster Environmental Sustainability through Diffusion of Innovation Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kuruvilla, Sarosh & Erickson, Christopher L. & Hwang, Alvin, 2002. "An Assessment of the Singapore Skills Development System: Does it Constitute a Viable Model for Other Developing Countries?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(8), pages 1461-1476, August.
    2. Chaturong Napathorn, 2022. "The implementation of green human resource management bundles across firms in pursuit of environmental sustainability goals," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 787-803, October.
    3. CONTRERAS CUEVA, Angélica Beatriz & DÁVALOS GARCÍA, Sergio & GONZÁLEZ-MORALES, Olga & ÁLVAREZ-GONZÁLEZ, José Antonio, 2014. "The Employability Of Mexican University Students: An Analysis By Gender And Training Areas," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 14(3), pages 155-168.
    4. Ro’i Zultan & Eldar Dadon, 2023. "Missing the forest for the trees: when monitoring quantitative measures distorts task prioritization," Working Papers 2319, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    5. Charlot, Olivier & Malherbet, Franck & Ulus, Mustafa, 2013. "Efficiency in a search and matching economy with a competitive informal sector," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 192-194.
    6. María Gabriela Palacio, 2016. "Institutionalizing segregation: Conditional cash transfers and employment choices," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-91, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Margarian, Anne & Lankau, Matthias & Lilje, Alena, 2017. "Strategien kleiner und mittlerer Betriebe in angespannten Arbeitsmarktlagen. Eine Untersuchung am Beispiel der niedersächsischen Ernährungswirtschaft," Thünen Report 266399, Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut (vTI), Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries.
    8. Nghia Thi Thu Nguyen & Cheng-Tao Tang & Chun Yee Wong, 2021. "The Impacts of Social Enterprises on Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-13, September.
    9. Luis Mayor & Line F. Lindner & Christoph F. Knöbl & Ana Ramalho & Remigio Berruto & Francesca Sanna & Daniele Rossi & Camilla Tomao & Billy Goodburn & Concha Avila & Marg Leijdens & Katharina Stollewe, 2022. "Skill Needs for Sustainable Agri-Food and Forestry Sectors (I): Assessment through European and National Focus Groups," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-24, August.
    10. Paul Spoonley, 2008. "Utilising a Demand-led Approach in a Local Labour Market," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 23(1), pages 19-30, February.
    11. Richard Mussa, 2015. "Youth wage employment and parental education in Malawi," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 526-537, July.
    12. Cai, Xiaomei & Liu, Chan & Zheng, Shuxian & Hu, Han & Tan, Zhanglu, 2023. "Analysis on the evolution characteristics of barite international trade pattern based on complex networks," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    13. Donald Houston, 2005. "Employability, Skills Mismatch and Spatial Mismatch in Metropolitan Labour Markets," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(2), pages 221-243, February.
    14. Norlander, Peter & Erickson, Christopher, 2022. "The Role of Institutions in Job Teleworkability Before and After the Covid-19 Pandemic," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1172, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    15. Klaus E. Meyer & Chengguang Li & Andreas P. J. Schotter, 0. "Managing the MNE subsidiary: Advancing a multi-level and dynamic research agenda," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-39.
    16. Vanessa da Silva Mariotto Onody & Ana Catarina Gandra de Carvalho & Eduardo Polloni-Silva & Guilherme Augusto Roiz & Enzo Barberio Mariano & Daisy Aparecida Nascimento Rebelatto & Herick Fernando Mora, 2022. "Corruption and FDI in Brazil: Contesting the “Sand” or “Grease” Hypotheses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    17. Changhyun Kim & Yoonseok Zang & Heli Wang & Kate Niu, 2024. "When Do Corporate Good Deeds Become a Burden? The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility Following Negative Events," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 192(2), pages 285-306, June.
    18. Pan, Wei-Fong, 2018. "Does the stock market really cause unemployment? A cross-country analysis," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 34-43.
    19. Barrero, Jose Maria & Bloom, Nick & Davis, Steven J., 2020. "Why Working From Home Will Stick," SocArXiv wfdbe, Center for Open Science.
    20. Alex Bryson & Christine Erhel & Zinaïda Salibekyan, 2017. "The Effects of Firm Size on Job Quality: A Comparative Study for Britain and France," DoQSS Working Papers 17-08, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:16:p:10436-:d:894642. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.