Abstract
Employability is a major issue for Malaysians. It is even more so for the graduates. Currently the nation has unemployment rate of 3.0 % amounting to 425,000 unemployed people. Numerous efforts are being done to solve the issue, and one of them was by promoting entrepreneurship development with the intention of intensifying the creation of entrepreneurs among graduates by creating job opportunities on their own as well as for others. In relation to the entrepreneurship agenda by the government to cope with the unemployment issue, this study will investigate the emerging concept of entrepreneurship called social entrepreneurship. The main objective of this research paper is to study on how social entrepreneurship could improve the graduate’s employability. A program conducted to promote social entrepreneurship was observed to address a number of unemployment causes that were highlighted in previous studies. Twenty-five students from all over Malaysia participated in the program and were researched using phenomenology method. The findings show that by involving students with social entrepreneurship programs, they are unconsciously being embedded with skills needed for employment such as confidence, English proficiency, creativity and innovation, selflessness, leadership, teamwork, time management, knowledge acquisition, networking, and communication skills.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Department of Statistics Malaysia (2013) Labor force survey report Malaysia 2012. Retrieved on 24 February, 2014 from http://www.statistics.gov.my/portal/download_Labour/files/labour_force/Labour_Force_Survey_Report_Malaysia_2012.pdf
Bank Negara Malaysia (2014) The 2014 budget speech. Retrieved on 24 February, 2014 from http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=en_announcement&pg=en_announcement_all&ac=257
Dasar Pembangunan Keusahawanan (2010) Dasar pembangunan keusahawanan institut pengajian tinggi. Retrieved on 25 January, 2014 from http://jpt.mohe.gov.my/GRADUAN/Dasar%20Keusahawanan.php
Nordin K (2013) Amanat 2013 menteri pengajian tinggi. Retrieved on 25 January, 2014 from http://mstar.com.my/cerita.asp?file=/2013/1/29/mstar_kampus/20130129191923&sec=mstar_kampus
Razak N (2013) Ucapan bajet tahun 2014: memperteguh ketahanan ekonomi, memperkasa transformasi dan melaksana janji. Retrieved on 25 January, 2014 from http://www.1malaysia.com.my/blog/ucapan-bajet-tahun-2014-memperteguh-ketahanan-ekonomi-memperkasa-transformasi-dan-melaksana-janji/
Malaysia Labor Force (2011) Malaysia LFS. Retrieved on 26 February, 2014 from http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Flaborsta.ilo.org%2Fapplv8%2Fdata%2FSSM3_NEW%2FE%2FMalaysia%2520(LFS).doc&ei=DW8NU6mTJ4SLrQfUmICwBw&usg=AFQjCNEACFxRvtVYUE6vCHXH8GTUK3oaSg&bvm=bv.61965928,d.bmk
Project Atlas (2010) Malaysia higher education sector. Retrieved on 24 February, 2014 from http://www.iie.org/en/Services/Project-Atlas/Malaysia/Higher-Education-Sector
Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia (2010) Statistics of higher education of Malaysia. Ministry of Education (MOE), Putrajaya
Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia (2012) The national graduate employability blueprint 2012–2017. Ministry of Education (MOE), Putrajaya
Reeve F, Gallacher J (2005) Employer-university ‘partnerships’: a key problem for work-based learning programmes. J Educ Work 18(2):219–233
Rae D (2010) Universities and enterprise education: responding to the challenges of the new era. J Small Bus Enterp Dev 17(4):591–606
Yorke M (2006) Employability in higher education: what it is – what it is not, Learning and Employability Series 1. The Higher Education Academy, New York
Murdoch IJ (2004) Developments in the evaluation of work-based learning: a UK perspective. Ind High Educ 8(2):121–124
Evans C (2008) Developing career management skills within the HE curriculum: a review and evaluation of different approaches. Int J Manag Educ 6(3):45–55
Singh GKG, Singh SKG (2008) Malaysian’s graduate employability skills. Unitar e-J 4(1):14–44
Johnson S (2002) Social entrepreneurship literature review. New Acad Rev 2(2):42–56
Roberts D, Woods C (2005) Changing the world on a shoestring: the concept of social entrepreneurship. Univ Auckland Bus Rev 7(1):45–51
Barendsen L, Gardner H (2004) Is the social entrepreneur a new type of leader? Lead Lead 2004(34):43–50
Dees JG (2007) Taking social entrepreneurship seriously. Society 44(3):24–31
Ashoka Front Page (nd) Retrieved on 24 February, 2014 from www.ashoka.org/home/index.cfm
Ashoka (2004) Selections from leading social entrepreneurs. Ashoka, Arlington
Helm S (2007) Social entrepreneurship: defining the nonprofit behavior and creating an instrument for measurement (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database (UMI No. 3265545)
Dees JG (2009) Social ventures as learning laboratories in innovations: technology, governance, and globalization. MIT Press Journal, Boston
Handy C (1997) The hungry spirit: beyond capitalism – a quest for purpose in the modern world. Hutchinson, London
Yunus M (2008) Social business entrepreneurs are the solution. In: Nicholls A (ed) Social entrepreneurship: new models of sustainable social change. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 39–44
Enactus (2014) Who we are. Retrieved on 24 February, 2014 from http://enactus.org/who-we-are/our-story/
Lajin NFM, Rahim HL, Abdullah J (2013) Social entrepreneurship at Universiti Teknologi MARA. In: ASEAN entrepreneurial conference 2013. Sunway Resort Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 5–6 Nov 2012
Spiegelberg H (1975) Doing phenomenology: essays on and in phenomenology. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague
Merleau-Ponty M (1956) What is phenomenology? CrossCurrents 6:59–70
Colaizzi P (1978) Psychological research as the phenomenologist views it. In: Valle R, King M (eds) Existential phenomenological alternative for psychology. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 48–71
Huq A, Gilbert DH (2013) Enhancing graduate employability through work-based learning in social entrepreneurship. Retrieved on 24 February from www.emeraldinsight.com/0040-0912.htm
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this paper
Cite this paper
Rahim, H.L., Lajin, N.F.M. (2016). Enhancing Graduate Employability Through Social Entrepreneurship. In: Mohd Sidek, N., Ali, S., Ismail, M. (eds) Proceedings of the ASEAN Entrepreneurship Conference 2014. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0036-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0036-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0034-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0036-2
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)