Contextual dynamics, individual resources and employability: The case of university professors

Abstract

From a multidimensional perspective, it is analyzed the configuration of the employability of university professors. For this purpose, contributions from the specialized literature are systematized, as well as findings from the content analysis of 24 interviews on trajectories of academics working in Spanish and Colombian universities. The contrast of spatio-temporal contexts allows us to visualize the differential impact of socio-economic, cultural, political, educational and organizational dynamics on markets and labor relations. Similarly, it is analyzed the personal, relational and psychological resources of the faculty, which facilitate or limit their insertion, support and mobility in the labor markets. This contributes to the understanding of employability as a complex, multidimensional and situational phenomenon, dependent on the context and the individual, which represents a relative potential estimate of difficult apprehension, but with concrete consequences for the people who work.