Exploration of employability perceptions with blended multi-criteria decision-making methods

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore employment perception of students as a relevant indicator of higher education quality, using blended multicriteria decision making methods. Design/Methodology/approach – The differential impact of these variables was analyzed in this paper taking a sample of 641 students and six higher education lecturers identified as experts on young vocational careers. The traditional study of student behavior and perceptions of employability does not incorporate the uncertainty associated with multi-criteria decision processes and is therefore less adapted to the human reasoning process. This research applies traditional techniques together with Fuzzy techniques capable of managing more effectively the uncertainty associated with student actions and behaviors. Findings – This research shows that it is important to consider previous work experience, academic achievement, and soft skills developed during education experiences. In this way, this research shows the lecturers how to adapt their pedagogical practices according to students' perceptions of employability and assess their students' perceptions of employability. In addition, lecturers will be able to incorporate the uncertainty associated with decision making processes to optimize employability perception. Originality/value – Higher Education related research on uncertainty environments as multicriteria decision problems is still in early stages. The incorporation of the uncertainty associated with decision making processes to this field allows to optimize employability perception thanks to its adaptation to real human behavior in the adoption of decisions.This work is funded by CIEd Research Centre on Education, Institute of Education, University of Minho, projects UIDB/01661/2020 and UIDP/01661/2020, through national funds of FCT/MCTES-PT