Conceptualizing the Employability Agency of International Graduates

Abstract

The notion of agency has been widely used in varied disciplines, but is relatively new in the field of international graduates’ employability. This chapter critically discusses two “extreme” paradigms about agency in the context of international graduates’ employability and grounds these theoritical accounts by empirical findings to see how much they can inform international graduates’ employability. The article then suggests a conceptualization of the employability agency of international graduates which is informed by the critical discussions of the selected theoritical accounts, grounded in empirical findings and the incorporation of other relevant theoritical perspectives. In essence, the conceptualization positions international graduates’ employability agency as being both constrained and resourced by five components including contextual structures, subjectivities, host country’s resources, home country’s resources, and agentic features and actions. These components are highly interdependent and constitute each other in complex ways. Consequently, to negotiate employability, international graduates need to develop various forms of agency depending on the interactions of these components.