Personal Attributes and Emotional Intelligence on Employability among Graduate Employees in SMEs: An Empirical Study in Selangor, Malaysia

Adeyemo, D. A. (2008). Demographic characteristics and emotional intelligence among workers in some selected organsiations in Oyo State, Nigeria. Vision: The Journal of Business Perspectives, 12(1), 43-48.
Armstrong-Stassen, M. (2004). The influence of prior commitments on the reactions of lay off survivors to organisational downsizing. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 9(1), 41-60.
Agus, A., Awang, A. H., Yussof, I., & Makhbul, M. Z. K. (2011). The gap analysis of graduate employees’ work skills in Malaysia. Proceedings of Business and Information, 8, 15.
Ashton, M. (1998). Personality and job performance: the importance of narrow traits. Journal of Organisational Behaviour, 19(3), 289-303.
Barrick, M., & Ryan, A. (2003). Personality and work: reconsidering the role of personality in organizations. San Francisco: Josey Bass.
Baruch, Y. (2004). Transforming careers: From linear to multidirectional career paths. Career Development International, 9 (1), 58–73.
Barrie, S. C. (2006). Understanding what we mean by the generic attributes of graduates. Higher education, 51(2), 215-241.
Baruch, Y. (2004). Transforming careers: From linear to multidirectional career paths. Career Development International, 9 (1), 58–73.
Baruch, Y., & Bozionelos, N. (2011). Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology, 2, 67–113). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Bhagwati, J. (2004). In defense of globalization. New York: Oxford University Press.
Blau, F. D., & Kahn, L. M. (1990). The U.S. gender pay gap in the 1990s: Slowing convergence. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 60(1), 45–66.
Borneo Post (2012). SMEs expected to contribute 62 pct to employment by 2020. Retrieved Feb 1,2013, from http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/05/24/smes-expected-to-contribute-62-pct-to-employment-by-2020/#ixzz3N4Vfs4CT.
Branine, M. (2008). Graduate recruitment and selection in the UK: A study of the recent changes in methods and expectations. Career Development International, 13(6), 497-513.
Brown, C., George-Curran, R., & Smith, M. L. (2003). The role of emotional intelligence in the career commitment and decision-making process. Journal of Career Assessment, 11(4), 379-392.
Brown, P., Hesketh, A., & Wiliams, S. (2003). Employability in a knowledge-driven economy. Journal of education and work, 16(2), 107-126.
Carver, C. S., Pozo, C., Harris, S. D., Noriega, V., Scheier, M. F., Robinson, D. S., ... & Clark, K. C. (1993). How coping mediates the effect of optimism on distress: a study of women with early stage breast cancer. Journal of Personality and social psychology, 65(2), 375..
Coetzee, M., & Roythorne-Jacobs, H. (2007). Career guidance and counselling in the workplace- a manual for practitioners. Cape Town: Juta.
Coetzee, M. (2008). Psychological career resources and subjective work experiences of working adults: A South African survey. South African Journal of Industrial Psychology, 34(2), 32–41.
Coetzee, M., & Beukes, C. J. (2010). Employability, emotional intelligence and career preparation support satisfaction among adolescents in the school-to-work transition phase. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 20(3), 439-446.
Coetzee, M., & Harry, N. (2014). Emotional intelligence as a predictor of employees' career adaptability. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 84(1), 90-97.
Coetzee, M., & Schreuder, D. (2011). The relation between career anchors, emotional intelligence and employability satisfaction among workers in the service industry. Southern African Business Review, 15(3), 76-97.
Confederation of British Industry. (2010). Ready to grow: business priorities for education and skills. Education and Skills Survey.
Crant, J. (2000). Pro-active behaviour in organisations. Journal of Management, 26(3), 435-462.
Dacre Pool, L., & Sewell, P. (2007). The key to employability: developing a practical model of graduate employability. Education and Training, 49(4), 277-289.
Day, D. V. (2001). Leadership development:: A review in context. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(4), 581-613.
De Lange, P., Jackling, B., & Gut, A. M. (2006). Accounting graduates’ perceptions of skills emphasis in undergraduate courses: an investigation from two Victorian universities. Accounting & Finance, 46(3), 365-386.
De Lange, A. H., Taris, T. W., Jansen, P. G. W., Kompier, M. A. J., & Houtman, I. (2005). Work and motivation to learn: Are there differences between younger and older workers? Gedrag en Organisatie, 18(6),309–325.
Emmerling, R., & Cherniss, C. (2003). Emotional intelligence and the career process. Journal of Career Assessment, 11(2), 153–167.
Feldman, D. C., & Ng, T. W. (2007). Careers: Mobility, embeddedness, and success. Journal of management, 33(3), 350-377.
Fleischmann, M., Koster, F., & Schippers, J. (2015). Nothing ventured, nothing gained! How and under which conditions employers provide employability-enhancing practices to their older workers. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(22), 2908-2925.
Foskett, N., & Maringe, F. (Eds.). (2010). Globalization and internationalization in higher education: Theoretical, strategic and management perspectives. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Fugate, M., Kinicki, A. J., & Ashforth, B. E. (2004). Employability: A psycho-social construct, its dimensions, and applications. Journal of Vocational behavior, 65(1), 14-38.
Fugate, M. (2006). Employability in the new millennium. In J. H. Greenhaus., & G. A. Callanan (Eds.),.Encyclopaedia of Career Development. Sage: London.
Gallopeni, B. (2013). The (Mis) Match between supply and demand labor systems in Kosovo on employability skills: The moderating effects of personal attributes in transition to employment. Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), 9(2), 34-52.
Gazier, B. (1998a) Observations and recommendations. In B. Gazier (Ed.), Employability — Concepts and Policies. Berlin: European Employment Observatory.
Gazier, B. (1998b) Employability — definitions and trends. In B. Gazier (Ed.) Employability: Concepts and Policies. Berlin: European Employment Observatory.
Gerards, R., De Grip, A., & Witlox, M. (2014). ‘Employability-miles’ and worker employability awareness. Applied Economics, 46(9), 952-965.
Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. Why it can matter more than IQ?. New York:
Bantam Books.
Goleman, D. (1998a). Working with emotional intelligence. New York:Bantam Books.
Hamid, H. (2009). Job markets face the brunt of slowdown (New Straits Times. Retrieved
February 17, 2009, from http://www.nst.com.my.
Harvey, L. (2005). Embedding and integrating employability. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2005(128), 13-28.
Harvey, L., Moon, S., Geall, V., & Bower, R. (1997). Graduates’ Work. Birmingham- Centre for Research into Quality.
Hashim, M. K., & Zakaria, M. (2010). Business strategy and performance of small and medium manufacturing firms in Malaysia. World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 6(1-2), 125-134.
Hayward, B. A., Baxter, J., & Amos, T. L. (2008). Employee performance, leadership style and emotional intelligence: An exploratory study in a South African parastatal. Acta Commercii, 8(1), 15-26.
Jordan, P. J., Ashkanasy, N. M., & Hartel, C. E. (2002). Emotional intelligence as a moderator of emotional and behavioral reactions to job insecurity. Academy of Management Review, 27(3), 361-372.
Judge, T. A., Cable, D. M., Boudreau, J. W., & Bretz, R. D. (1995). An empirical investigation of the predictors of executive career success. Personnel psychology, 48(3), 485-519.
Judge, T. A., Higgins, C. A., Thoresen, C. J., & Barrick, M. R. (1999). The big five personality traits, general mental ability, and career success across the life span. Personnel psychology, 52(3), 621-652.
Kanfer, R., & Kantrowitz, T. (2002). Emotion regulation: Command and control of emotion in work life. New York. NY: Jossey-Bass.
Karaevli, A., & Hall, D. T. T. (2006). How career variety promotes the adaptability of managers: A theoretical model. Journal of Vocational behavior, 69(3), 359-373.
Lips-Wiersma, M., & Mcmorland, J. (2006). Finding meaning and purpose in boundaryless careers: A framework for study and practice. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 46(2), 147-167.
Macdonald, R., & Wisdom, J. (2003). Academic and educational development: research, evaluation and changing practice in higher education. Routledge.
McFadden, K. L., Jansen, B., & Towell, E. R. (1999). Building OM curriculum for the new millennium: Industry perceptions. American Journal of Business, 14(2), 37-46.
Man, M. M. K. (2009). The relationship between distinctive capabilities, innovativeness, strategy types and the performance of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) of Malaysian manufacturing sector. The International Business & Economics Research Journal, 8(11), 21.
Mandell, B., & Pherwani, S. (2003). Relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership style: A gender comparison. Journal of business and psychology, 17(3), 387-404.
Martinelli, R. J., Rahschulte, T., & Waddell, J. M. (2010). Leading global project teams: The new leadership challenge. Multi-Media Publications.
Mayer, J. D., DiPaolo, M., & Salovey, P. (1990). Perceiving affective content in ambiguous visual stimuli: A component of emotional intelligence. Journal of personality assessment, 54(3-4), 772-781.
Mayer, J. D., & Geher, G. (1996). Emotional intelligence and the identification of emotion. Intelligence, 22(2), 89-113.
Mayer, J. D., Caruso, D. R., & Salovey, P. (1999). Emotional intelligence meets traditional standards for an intelligence. Intelligence, 27(4), 267-298.
McQuaid, R. W., & Lindsay, C. (2005). The concept of employability. Urban studies, 42(2), 197-219.
Menhart, S. (1999). Emotional intelligence: An alternative explanation of career success. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: Science and Engineering, 59(7B), 3748.
Milhauser, K. L., & Rahschulte, T. (2010). Meeting the needs of global companies through improved international business curriculum. Journal of Teaching in International Business, 21(2), 78-100.
Moyo, S., & Theron, C. (2011). A preliminary factor analytic investigation into the first-order factor structure of the Fifteen Factor Plus (15FQ+) on a sample of Black South African managers. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 37(1), 01-22.
Murphy, A., & Janeke, H. C. (2009). The relationship between thinking styles and emotional intelligence: an exploratory study. South African Journal of Psychology, 39(3), 357-375.
Nauta, A., Vianen, A., Heijden, B., Dam, K., & Willemsen, M. (2009). Understanding the factors that promote employability orientation: the impact of employability culture, career satisfaction, and role breadth self?efficacy. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 82(2), 233-251.
Nelis, D., Quoidbach, J., Mikolajczak, M., & Hansenne, M. (2009). Increasing emotional intelligence:(How) is it possible?. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(1), 36-41.
Opengart, R., & Short, D. C. (2002). Free agent learners: the new career model and its impact on human resource development. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 21(3), 220-233.
Othman, A. K., Abdullah, H. S., & Ahmad, J. (2008). Emotional intelligence, emotional labour and work effectiveness in service organisations: A proposed model. Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective, 12(1), 31-42.
Palys, T. (2008). Purposive sampling. The Sage encyclopedia of qualitative research methods, 2, 697-698.
Palmer, B.R. (2003). Measure of emotional Intelligence in the workplace – A comparative analysis. Australia:Swinburne University.
Palmer, B. R., & Stough, C. (2001). Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test: Interim technical manual. Melbourne: Organisational Psychology Research Unit, Swinburne Universtity of Techology (unpublished).
Palmer, B. R., Stough, C., Harmer, R., & Gignac, G. (2009). The Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory: A measure designed specifically for workplace applications. In Assessing Emotional Intelligence (pp. 103-117). Springer US.
Parker, S. K. (1998). Enhancing role breadth self-efficacy: the roles of job enrichment and other organizational interventions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(6), 835.
Pillai, S. (2009). Enhancing Graduate Employability through University-Industry Partnerships. University Industry Partnership-ASAIHL.
Polite, D. F., Beck, C. T., & Hungler, B. P. (2001). Essentials of nursing research methods, appraisal and utilization. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Potgieter, I. L. (2013). Development of a career meta-competency model for sustained employability (Doctoral dissertation).
Potgieter, I., & Coetzee, M. (2013). Emotional intelligence as a predictor of postgraduate students' psychosocial employability attributes. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 23(2), 187-194.
Prestwich, R., & Ho-Kim, T. M. (2007). Knowledge, skills and abilities of international business majors: What we teach them versus what companies need them to know. Journal of Teaching in International Business, 19(1), 29-55.
Rajagopal, N., & Rekha, K. N. (2004). Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Organisational Effectiveness (OE) A Study Among the Managerial Staff of Bilt Industrial Packaging Company (BIPCO), Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. Management and Labour Studies, 29(3), 188-204.
Rathi, N., & Rastogi, R. (2009). Assessing the relationship between emotional intelligence, occupational self-efficacy and organizational commitment. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 35(1), 93-102.
Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, cognition and personality, 9(3), 185-211.
Schreuder, D., & Coetzee, M. (2011). Careers An Organisational Perspectice. Juta and Company Ltd.
Seibert, S. E., Crant, J. M., & Kraimer, M. L. (1999). Proactive personality and career success. Journal of applied psychology, 84(3), 416.
SME Annual Report (2011). SME Annual Report 2011/2012. Retrieved February 1,2014,from
http://www.smecorp.gov.my/index.php/en/resources.
SME Annual Report (2014). SME Annual Report 2014/2015. Retrieved February 1,2015,from
http://www.smecorp.gov.my/index.php/en/resources.
Smith, V. (2010). Review article:Enhancing employability: Human, cultural, and social capital in an era of turbulent unpredictability. Human Relations, 63, 279–303.
Sjollema, S. (2007). Naar een nieuw psychologisch contract.[Towards a new psychological contract]. NSvP Journaal, 3(3), 6-7.
Sojka, J. Z., & Deeter-Schmelz, D. R. (2002). Enhancing the emotional intelligence of salespeople. American Journal of Business, 17(1), 43-50.
Talavera, E. R., & Pérez-González, J. C. (2007). Training in Socio-Emotional Skills through On-Site Training. European journal of vocational training, 40(1), 83-102.
Taylor, S. E. (1983). Adjustment to threatening events: A theory of cognitive adaptation. American psychologist, 38(11), 1161-1173.
Thiruchelvi, A., & Supriya, M. V. (2009). Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. Asia Pacific Business Review, 5(2), 109-115.
Tymon, A. (2013). The student perspective on employability. Studies in higher education, 38(6), 841-856.
Unit of analysis. (2006). Research methods: Knowledge Base. Retrieved December 1,2014, from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/unitanal.php.
Vandervoort, D. J. (2006). The importance of emotional intelligence in higher education. Current Psychology, 25(1), 4-7.
Van der Heijden, B. I. J. M., & Bakker, A. A. (2008). Towards a model of employability enhancement. The Leadership Quarterly, under revision.
Van der Heijden, B. I., de Lange, A. H., Demerouti, E., & Van der Heijde, C. M. (2009). Age effects on the employability–career success relationship. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74(2), 156-164.
Waterman Jr, R. H. (1994). Toward a Career-Resilient Workforce. Harvard Business Review, 72(4), 87-95.
Wilton, N. (2011). Do employability skills really matter in the UK graduate labour market? The case of business and management graduates. Work, Employment & Society, 25(1), 85-100.
Yorke, M. (2004). Employability in the undergraduate curriculum: some student perspectives. European journal of education, 39(4), 409-427.Y
Yorke, M., & Knight, P. T. (2004). Embedding employability in the curriculum. Learning and Employability Series, 3.

(Veeriah et al., 2024)
Veeriah, G. K. a/l, Krishna, V. a/l G., & Teck-Heang, L. (2024). Personal Attributes and Emotional Intelligence on Employability among Graduate Employees in SMEs: An Empirical Study in Selangor, Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting Finance and Management Sciences, 14(2), 260–288.

Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)
Published by HRMARS (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seenavc at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode