IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/laa/wpaper/48.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

University choice, research quality and graduates' employability: Evidence from Italian national survey data

Author

Listed:
  • Daria Ciriaci

    (European Commission)

  • Alessandro Muscio

    (University of Foggia)

Abstract

Universities have come under increasing pressure to become key drivers of economic development in the age of the knowledge economy. Yet we know very little about the impact of university quality and scientific excellence on the probability of graduates finding jobs. This paper investigates the determinants of Italian graduates’ employability 3-years after graduation, with special reference to university quality measured in terms of research performance and teaching quality. The empirical evidence sheds light on the pivotal role of academic institutions in economic systems, proving that their contribution to employment growth could be substantial. Our analysis supports the promotion of policy initiatives to improve the quality of academic institutions, and the accountability of research results. As we also observe wide regional differences, we argue that university quality emerges as a supply tool for policy makers aiming at boosting young and skilled labour demand in less developed regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Daria Ciriaci & Alessandro Muscio, 2011. "University choice, research quality and graduates' employability: Evidence from Italian national survey data," Working Papers 48, AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium.
    • Handle: RePEc:laa:wpaper:48
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www2.almalaurea.it/universita/pubblicazioni/wp/pdf/wp48.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2011
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:wsr:wpaper:y:2009:i:023 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Pinuccia Calia & Maria Rosaria Ferrante, 2008. "A Multivariate Framework To Explore Firms’ Internationalization Patterns. The Role Of Individual Heterogeneity," Statistica, Department of Statistics, University of Bologna, vol. 68(1), pages 31-55.
    3. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 2009. "The Uppsala internationalization process model revisited: From liability of foreignness to liability of outsidership," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(9), pages 1411-1431, December.
    4. Smith, Richard J & Blundell, Richard W, 1986. "An Exogeneity Test for a Simultaneous Equation Tobit Model with an Application to Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 679-685, May.
    5. Jan Fidrmuc & Jarko Fidrmuc, 2009. "Foreign Languages and Trade," CEDI Discussion Paper Series 09-03, Centre for Economic Development and Institutions(CEDI), Brunel University.
    6. Davide Castellani, 2002. "Export behavior and productivity growth: Evidence from Italian manufacturing firms," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 138(4), pages 605-628, December.
    7. Alessandro Sterlacchini, 2001. "The determinants of export performance: A firm-level study of Italian manufacturing," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 137(3), pages 450-472, September.
    8. Rubén Fernández-Ortiz & Guadalupe Fuentes Lombardo, 2009. "Influence of the capacities of top management on the internationalization of SMEs," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 131-154, March.
    9. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 1977. "The Internationalization Process of the Firm—A Model of Knowledge Development and Increasing Foreign Market Commitments," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 8(1), pages 23-32, March.
    10. Bruce Kogut & Harbir Singh, 1988. "The Effect of National Culture on the Choice of Entry Mode," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 19(3), pages 411-432, September.
    11. Nathalie Chusseau & Michel Dumont & Joël Hellier, 2008. "Explaining Rising Inequality: Skill‐Biased Technical Change And North–South Trade," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 409-457, July.
    12. Gilberto Antonelli & Roberto Antonietti & Giovanni Guidetti, 2010. "Organizational Change, Skill Formation, Human Capital Measurement: Evidence From Italian Manufacturing Firms," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 206-247, April.
    13. Francis Green & Alan Felstead & Duncan Gallie, 2003. "Computers and the changing skill-intensity of jobs," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(14), pages 1561-1576.
    14. Melitz, Jacques, 2008. "Language and foreign trade," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 667-699, May.
    15. Haar, Jerry & Ortiz-Buonafina, Marta, 1995. "The internationalization process and marketing activities : The case of Brazilian export firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 175-181, February.
    16. William K. Hutchinson, 2002. "Does Ease of Communication Increase Trade? Commonality of Language and Bilateral Trade," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 0217, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    17. Gabriel R G Benito & Geir Gripsrud, 1992. "The Expansion of Foreign Direct Investments: Discrete Rational Location Choices or a Cultural Learning Process?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 23(3), pages 461-476, September.
    18. Chiswick, Barry R., 2008. "The Economics of Language: An Introduction and Overview," IZA Discussion Papers 3568, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. William K. Hutchinson, 2002. "Does Ease of Communication Increase Trade? Commonality of Language and Bilateral Trade," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 49(5), pages 544-556, November.
    20. repec:bla:scotjp:v:49:y:2002:i:5:p:544-56 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Claudio Ceccarelli & Stefano De Santis & Francesca Petrarca, 2018. "The work path of Italian graduates using integration among different sources," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 72(4), pages 89-100, October-D.
    2. Norman Rudhumbu & Avinash Tirumalai & Babli Kumari, 2017. "Factors that Influence Undergraduate Students¡¯ Choice of a University: A Case of Botho University in Botswana," International Journal of Learning and Development, Macrothink Institute, vol. 7(2), pages 27-37, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roberto Antonietti & Massimo Loi, 2014. "The demand for foreign languages in Italian manufacturing," Working Papers 57, AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium.
    2. Antonio Di Paolo & Aysit Tansel, 2015. "Returns to Foreign Language Skills in a Developing Country: The Case of Turkey," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(4), pages 407-421, April.
    3. Sui, Sui & Morgan, Horatio M. & Baum, Matthias, 2015. "Internationalization of immigrant-owned SMEs: The role of language," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 804-814.
    4. Aurélien Portuese, 2012. "Law and economics of the European multilingualism," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 279-325, October.
    5. Antonio Di Paolo & Aysit Tansel, 2015. "Returns to Foreign Language Skills in a Developing Country: The Case of Turkey," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(4), pages 407-421, April.
    6. Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten & Libman, Alexander & Yu, Xiaofan, 2014. "Economic integration in China: Politics and culture," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 470-492.
    7. Hong, Sungjin J. & Lee, Seung-Hyun, 2015. "Reducing cultural uncertainty through experience gained in the domestic market," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 428-438.
    8. Deng, Ziliang & Li, Tingting & Liesch, Peter W., 2022. "Performance shortfalls and outward foreign direct investment by MNE subsidiaries: Evidence from China," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(3).
    9. Wu, Jie & Pangarkar, Nitin & Wu, Zefu, 2016. "The moderating effect of technology and marketing know-how in the regional-global diversification link: Evidence from emerging market multinationals," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 1273-1284.
    10. Hutzschenreuter, Thomas & Kleindienst, Ingo & Lange, Sandra, 2014. "Added Psychic Distance Stimuli and MNE Performance," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 38-54.
    11. Surdu, Irina & Mellahi, Kamel, 2016. "Theoretical foundations of equity based foreign market entry decisions: A review of the literature and recommendations for future research," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 1169-1184.
    12. Lien, Donald & Oh, Chang Hoon & Selmier, W. Travis, 2012. "Confucius institute effects on China's trade and FDI: Isn't it delightful when folks afar study Hanyu?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 147-155.
    13. Fuentelsaz, Lucio & Garrido, Elisabet & Maicas, Juan P., 2020. "The effect of informal and formal institutions on foreign market entry selection and performance," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(2).
    14. Nicolas Sauter, 2012. "Talking trade: language barriers in intra-Canadian commerce," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 301-323, February.
    15. Jan Fidrmuc & Jarko Fidrmuc, 2016. "Foreign languages and trade: evidence from a natural experiment," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 31-49, February.
    16. ALHENDI Osama, 2019. "Language Policy And Economics: Does English Language Accelerate The Wheel Of Development In The Economies Or Not? A Review," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(2), pages 366-379, December.
    17. Hamid Boustanifar & Edward J. Zajac & Flladina Zilja, 2022. "Taking chances? The effect of CEO risk propensity on firms’ risky internationalization decisions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(2), pages 302-325, March.
    18. Thomas Hutzschenreuter & Tanja Matt, 2017. "MNE internationalization patterns, the roles of knowledge stocks, and the portfolio of MNE subsidiaries," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(9), pages 1131-1150, December.
    19. Lien, Donald & Lo, Melody, 2017. "Economic impacts of cultural institutes," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 12-21.
    20. Osama Alhendi & József Tóth & Péter Lengyel & Péter Balogh, 2021. "Tolerance, Cultural Diversity and Economic Growth: Evidence from Dynamic Panel Data Analysis," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, February.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:laa:wpaper:48. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.almalaurea.it .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.