Toward a contextualized perspective of employability development

Abstract

In this article, we discuss two critical challenges in employability research. First, we argue that more research is needed to capture the dynamic nature of employability development. Although theories in this area typically incorporate temporal elements, these are rarely studied in empirical work. Second, employability research must capture the contextual nature of employability more fully, as research thus far has predominantly framed employability as an individual agentic phenomenon. Based on these two crucial challenges, we then introduce the special issue entitled “Toward a contextualized perspective of employability development,” which contains six studies that all contribute to taking up these challenges. Based on various methodologies–including conceptual, quantitative, and qualitative–these articles, together, offer a meaningful contribution to developing employability research further. We conclude this editorial by formulating an agenda for future research based on the insights offered in this special issue.