EMPLOYABILITY OF HANDICRAFT WORKERS: MEDIATING ROLE OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

An enduring question we often face as individuals concerns “why it is that some people surpass others in the race for life’s prizes” (Mehra et al., 2001). Human capital is regarded as a significant answer to the mentioned query (Lin & Huang, 2005). Employees having higher investments in their human capital have the capability to develop work expertise enhance productivity and get recognition from their superiors. Moreover, the increasingly unstable work environment has more implications for individuals as they have to be more proactive and flexible to meet the changing demands (Assaf et al., 2015). Thus, the individual human capital becomes of utmost importance to be flexible in order to remain competent. Flexibility can be manifested in a variety of ways for employees. Employability is one such flexibility that enables individuals to handle the unpredictable employment relations. Therefore, being employable helps employees to deal with the turbulent workplace environment. Employability is dependent on ongoing learning, occupational expertise, skills, knowledge and being adaptable to the changing job demands. Consequently, employability has gained significant position as an outcome of modern careers. Employability plays a vital role both at the organizational level as well as individual level. Employability enables firms to maintain sustained competitive advantage and help employees in achieving career success (Baruch, 2001). In order to meet the fluctuating demands, environmental pressure, and technical developments; highly employable workers are necessary for the organizations.