The impact of human resource practice of training on employees’ perceived employability in europe: a multi-country analysis

Abstract

Employability for those people already employed is increasingly relevant for academics since change in companies is a daily phenomenon that occurs on a global scale and such changes are quite often associated with job loss. Stemming from Perceived Employability, we focus on different facets of employability: basic and aspiring employability –that is, the expectation of obtaining and remaining in employment and of ‘upward mobility’, respectively; and internal and external employability –that is, the availability of employment opportunities with the current employer or with another employer. In particular, it is examined the impact of the human resource practice of training, beyond the effect of human capital variables –i.e., individual’s level of education and work experience–, on different facets of employees’ perceived employability, taking into account the cultural values of masculinity in Europe. Linear regression models tested the proposed hypotheses. The results confirm the importance of the national values of ‘masculinity’ in the impact of training to the perceived employability of European employees. In addition, there are different effects of said antecedents on the facets of perceived employability. Post-hoc analysis also shows that “person-work fit” is an important issue that moderates the influence of training practices on employee employability.