The role of social capital in the employability of university graduates in Zambia: a case of university of Zambia graduates (2000 - 2015).
type: CreativeWork
description: The research presented in this thesis was designed to investigate the role of social capital in the employability of University Graduates in Zambia: A Case of University of Zambia Graduates. The study focused on the period between the years 2000 and 2015. The rationale for targeting this period was based on the following reasons. First, according to official statistics, formal employment in Zambia had declined to just about 10% of the labour force in 2001 from approximately 75% in 1975, due to two major factors, namely the economic decline the country experienced between 1975 and 1991, and the economic reforms of the new Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) Government between 1991 and 2001. Secondly, the liberalisation of higher education in Zambia, particularly university education, in the early 2000s, and the subsequent establishment of new public and private universities in the country to operate alongside the oldest universities in the country, namely the University of Zambia (UNZA) and the Copperbelt University (CBU). The thesis contends that the role that social capital plays in the employability of University of Zambia Graduates needed to be examined following the decline in formal employment coupled with the opening up of higher education in the country. Social capital was operationalised as social connections that can be used in search of jobs in the labour market. Employability was operationalised as special and individualised skills, abilities and attitudes which job seekers must possess to enable them obtain jobs in Zambia (that is the ability to get a job in the labour market). This research used a sequential mixed method research design to empirically examine the research problem. The study was carried out in the City of Lusaka. Accordingly, this approach incorporated both quantitative and qualitative methods in the sampling, collection and analysis of data. The study population included University of Zambia Graduates, male and female, who had gradu…
abstract: The research presented in this thesis was designed to investigate the role of social capital in the employability of University Graduates in Zambia: A Case of University of Zambia Graduates. The study focused on the period between the years 2000 and 2015. The rationale for targeting this period was based on the following reasons. First, according to official statistics, formal employment in Zambia had declined to just about 10% of the labour force in 2001 from approximately 75% in 1975, due to two major factors, namely the economic decline the country experienced between 1975 and 1991, and the economic reforms of the new Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) Government between 1991 and 2001. Secondly, the liberalisation of higher education in Zambia, particularly university education, in the early 2000s, and the subsequent establishment of new public and private universities in the country to operate alongside the oldest universities in the country, namely the University of Zambia (UNZA) and the Copperbelt University (CBU). The thesis contends that the role that social capital plays in the employability of University of Zambia Graduates needed to be examined following the decline in formal employment coupled with the opening up of higher education in the country. Social capital was operationalised as social connections that can be used in search of jobs in the labour market. Employability was operationalised as special and individualised skills, abilities and attitudes which job seekers must possess to enable them obtain jobs in Zambia (that is the ability to get a job in the labour market). This research used a sequential mixed method research design to empirically examine the research problem. The study was carried out in the City of Lusaka. Accordingly, this approach incorporated both quantitative and qualitative methods in the sampling, collection and analysis of data. The study population included University of Zambia Graduates, male and female, who had gradu…
author: Machacha, Eliphas C.
language: en
keywords: Social capital--Employability of university graduates., Full employment policies--Zambia., Social capital--Employment., Youth--Employment--Zambia--Lusaka.
date published: 2020
date modified: 2026-07-27T22:06:47Z
provider: University of Zimbabwe
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Zambia