Discussing employability: current perspectives and key elements from a bioecological model

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the concept of employability. It reviews and systematizes the two main current perspectives about employability, the individual and the critical. The individual perspective is dominant and currently determines the term; its basic premise is that an individual is responsible for his/her socio-professional career. By contrast, the critical perspective deconstructs the former concept and analyzes its role in maintaining the status quo.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a review of literature about employability this paper analyses the different conceptions and the consequences of the assumption of each perspective nowadays.

Findings

This paper provides an analytical framework of all the key elements involved in the notion of employability based upon the bioecological model (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006). This model offers a vision that encompasses the different explanatory elements of the employability concept.

Originality/value

The ultimate goal of this paper is to rekindle the debate on employability and to do so, it is necessary to explore the origins of the concept, the contexts it affects, who it benefits and, conversely, who it jeopardizes.

Citation

Llinares Insa, L.I., Zacarés González, J.J. and Córdoba Iñesta, A.I. (2016), "Discussing employability: current perspectives and key elements from a bioecological model", Employee Relations, Vol. 38 No. 6, pp. 961-974. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-07-2015-0145