Title: Envisaging the impact of academic stress and moderating effect of placement activities on perceived employability and academic performance of engineering students

Authors: Venus; Rohan Sharma

Addresses: I.K. Gujral Punjab Technical University, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Punjab, India ' I.K. Gujral Punjab Technical University, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Punjab, India

Abstract: This study investigates the perceived employability and academic performance of engineering students enrolled for placement services at higher education settings in India. The key question is how the students overcome the burden of placement activities along with the regular academics and how far the academic stress affects their academic performance and particularly their perception of being employable. This study is an empirical study which intends to test a model using PLS SEM approach (SmartPLS 3.0). A survey of engineering students in northern India was done through multistage random sampling and data analysis is done to test the hypotheses. The result of PLS-SEM analysis proposes that engineering students particularly enrolled for placement services, can perform academically well and have high perceptions of being employable due to improved skills despite having academic stress. Predictive relevance of the proposed model further extends the understanding of the role of placement services on perceived employability and academic performance among engineering students. According to the analysis of the current study, academic stress can be a helpful predictor of engineering students' well-being if it is channelled into a positive aspect like perceived employability. This study provides opportunity to explore further the placement related activities.

Keywords: perceived employability; placement activities; higher education institutions; engineering students; academic performance; academic stress.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2024.136927

International Journal of Management in Education, 2024 Vol.18 No.2, pp.111 - 127

Received: 10 Dec 2022
Accepted: 20 Jul 2023
Published online: 29 Feb 2024 *

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