ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 1

Full Paper Submission: CPRSouth8 / CPRafrica 2013 – “Innovation &

Entrepreneurship in ICT: Changing Asia / Africa”

5-7 September 2013, Mysore, India

Paper Title: ICT Applications for Employability Enhancement: An Asian Case

Study

Yvonne Loh1

Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information,

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

1 JULY 2013

1 Corresponding Author - Yvonne Loh, email: yvon0013@e.ntu.edu.sg

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 2

Abstract

This research paper investigates the uses of information and communication

technologies (ICTs) in empowering low-educated or low-skilled adults,

sociologically defined as ‘marginalised adults’ (Roger & Fricke, 2005). As

computers and the Internet are becoming essential for getting jobs, seeking

professional information, and engaging in entrepreneurship activities (UN-

APCICT/ESCAP, 2011), adults who do not possess adequate ICT skills in

developed economies will increasingly be side-lined into an undesirable

situation of structural unemployment. In applying the Technology Acceptance

Model (TAM) as a theoretical framework, this paper focused on personal

factors related to perceived ease of use, intrinsic and extrinsic

motivational factors towards technology adoption and training. A pilot

study was conducted in March 2010, with a group of 50 unemployed citizens.

The ICT skills training programme intended to impart entry-level computer

skills to these out-of-work citizens, in the hope of enhancing their

employability and job placement success. The research design consisted of

quantitative surveys with all 50 participants, qualitative interviews as

well as field observations of the candidates during their job interviews.

The study centered on the fundamental research question – will ICT training

enable these unemployed job seekers to find jobs using their newly-acquired

skills? The findings suggest that while ICT training may not directly

influence these adults’ success at job interviews, it did however increase

the individuals’ self-efficacy when they went for job interviews, securing

positive placement outcomes. As a researcher as well as an ICT4D

practitioner, the author hopes to provide a map of available evidence,

identify research gaps and challenges and suggest future programmes for

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 3

policy support for ICT skills training for employment and employability in

Asia.

Keywords: access, citizen, economy, government, knowledge, policy.

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 4

ICT Applications for Employability Enhancement: An Asian Case Study

The fast-changing and uncertain labour markets in this current world

economy necessitate a re-think of traditional ICT for Development (ICT4D)

strategies, particularly its historical application to developing economies

only (Vernon, 2011). While scholars like Gillwald (2012) argue that ICTs

need to be enhanced “to contribute to economic growth and job creation”

(p.1), McQuaid and Lindsay (2005) specified that marginalised adults should

be prepared for lifelong employability through ICT skills training. As

computers and the Internet are becoming essential for getting jobs, seeking

professional information; and engaging in entrepreneurship activities (UN-

APCICT/ESCAP, 2011), adults who do not possess adequate ICT skills in

developed economies will increasingly be side-lined into an undesirable

situation of structural unemployment. This paper seeks to examine how ICTs

can facilitate and enhance the employability of job seekers in an urban

South-East Asia labour market like Singapore.

Literature Review

Structural unemployment globally and in Asia

In the International Labour Office (ILO)’s Global Employment Trends

report, the number of jobless worldwide reached 197 million, at 5.9 per

cent unemployment rate, in 2012 (ILO, 2013b). In particular, labour market

threats had been shown to have a direct cause and effect to unemployment

since the 1950s, as the globalisation of the world economy, coupled with

technological change that is biased in favour of skilled labour, has

resulted in a deterioration in the economic position of the unskilled in

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries,

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 5

with the consequence of the less skilled being unemployed (Juhn, Murphy, &

Topel, 1991). McGerr (2005) predicted that the skilled and unskilled

workers of the future will live with constant threat of unemployment due to

the cycles of capitalism that will produce regular economic upheavals. As

such, Wagner et al. (2005) posit that the fast-changing labour market has

made enhancing job skills development for such marginalised members of the

society more crucial than ever.

Employment and employability in the Singapore context

In 2012, the unemployment rate in the South-East Asia and Pacific

region was estimated to be 4.5% (ILO, 2013a), In contrast to its highest

unemployment rate of 9.2% in 1966 (Chiang, 1998), the Singapore

unemployment rate has remained low at around 2.0% for overall and 3.0% for

citizens (MOM, 2013). Despite that, the policy makers in Singapore are

concerned with the estimated 60,000 residents who were unemployed, some of

whom were 22,700 adults who were retrenched in the economic downturn of

2009 (MOM, 2013).

With just a small population of about 4 million people (comprising

about 77% Chinese, 14% Malay, 8% Indians and 1% others) on an island of 658

square kilometres without any natural resources, Singapore faces the

challenge of losing its global competitive edge even with such a low

unemployment rate (Kumar, 2004). The policy makers in Singapore believe

that a better-trained workforce would enhance the employability of workers

at the individual level and thus reduce unemployment at the aggregate level

(Ho & Tan, 2008) and various employability projects administered by not-

for-profit organisations such as the Employment and Employability Institute

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 6

(e2i) and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) are funded by

the government to enhance the employability of the unemployed residents and

assist in job placements for these marginalised adults (e2i, 2011; WDA,

2012).

Singapore is rather peculiar in this aspect –more than 30 per cent of

its work force have less than primary school education and are limited in

their English language proficiency (Seah, 2001), yet as at 2011, its mobile

phone penetration rate is higher than most OECD countries at 149.6% (IDA,

2012). It seems that possessing a mobile phone is not enough for

employability as 750,000 Singaporeans, comprising of low income earners,

senior citizens and the disabled (Pant, 2008), still do not possess the

relevant skills to work with higher levels of technology, unlike the

younger and more highly educated workers who do not face such difficulties

(Ho & Tan, 2008). This is particularly so because ICT usage is high across

all occupations and in most industries in Singapore (Sung, Loke, Ramos, &

Ng, 2011).

Digital divide in an urban population

Traditional digital divide research suggests that as pre-existing

inequalities deter marginalised groups from access to computers and the

Internet. This divide does not only apply to the subjects’ limited

physical access to the internet, but also pertains to his or her skills and

knowledge on how to use ICT applications (Wagner et al., 2005).

Marginalised adults are defined by Roger and Fricke (2005) as a segment of

society, who for reasons of socio-economic status, geographic location or

minority status, are disadvantaged in their access to learning

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 7

institutions. These disadvantaged groups tend to be on the socio-economic

and cultural-linguistic periphery of a national population, having

characteristics like little or no education nor job skills and likely to be

illiterate or low-literate (Wagner et al., 2005). According to Chen and

Wellman (2004), people and social groups on the wrong side of the digital

divide can be excluded from the knowledge economy, as pre-existing

inequalities deter people from accessing computers and the Internet.

ICT Skills for Employability

The basis for employability focuses on the individual, so argued by

Fugate, Kinicki, and Ashforth (2004) because the term ‘employability’ is

really a composite of person-centered constructs needed to deal effectively

with the changes to jobs and livelihood in today’s economy, while West and

Garrido (2008) further expanded on the definition of employability as the

‘ability to secure a job; the ability to keep an existing job or to improve

that position in quality or income; the ability to use elements of the

training programmes as platforms to gain job experience as well as to

contribute to the overall productivity of business government and social

labour’ (p. 29).

Atasoy (2012)’s study found that workers who gained ICT skills at work

are more likely to be re-employed whereas ICT skills acquired off-the-job

had little use for out-of-work adults, suggesting that policy makers and

ICT4D programme managers should consider interventions in ICT skills

training for marginalised workers when the latter are still employed,

instead of creating programmes only when they are out of job. On the other

hand, Lindsay (2005)’s study showed that there was a direct correlation in

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 8

having access to the internet and improving the chances of finding a job

while McQuaid and Lindsay (2005) suggested that the ability to use ICTs is

increasingly deemed a key portable skill for employment opportunities. In

the context of Singapore, Sung et al. (2011) observed that within

Singapore’s labour environment, the use of ICTs at work has become well

established and forms part of the skills set of many job roles.

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [Refer to Figure 1] was

developed by Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw (1989) to measure attitudinal

responses towards technology acceptance through its ease of use, and

usefulness. The model, based on strong behavioural elements, also assumes

that when the individual forms an intention to act, he or she will be free

to do so without limitation (Davis et al., 1989). Bagozzi (2007) further

replicated the original study to provide empirical evidence on the

relationships that exist between usefulness, ease of use and system use.

Rao (2007) extended the TAM model to examine various additional factors,

such as the individual’s prior experience in handling innovations and the

users’ past practices to its resulting significant effects on user’s

extrinsic and intrinsic motivations (Refer to Figure 2). He went further

and hypothesised that the attitude toward adoption was influenced by a) the

perceived ease of adoption, b) apprehensiveness of the potential user, c)

the perceived utilities of the new technology; and d) enjoyment of usage

(p.3).

Although scholars like McQuaid and Lindsay (2005), Garrido, Sullivan,

Gordon, and Coward (2009) and Atasoy (2012) provided useful investigations

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 9

into adult learning of ICT skills for employability, their inquiries

however, lacked specificity on the outcomes of these interventions,

especially formative feedback on policies and programme processes that will

help strengthen future initiatives. Policy and practice in adult ICT skills

learning, said Brown, Tan, and Ye (2011), requires more evidence-informed

research to face the challenges of twenty-first century labour markets and

increasing economic uncertainty. Specifically, Tufekci (2012) observed that

organisers who conceived ICT training programmes had very little

understanding of the expectations of the unemployed job seekers, in light

of their actual, real-life results and he suggested that the evaluation of

these employability programmes should be limited to not only the outcomes

but also linked directly to the underlying theory to incorporate

alternative conceptualizations of the process of ICT learning.

TAM Model for ICT Training for Employability

From the literature review, there appears to be a circular

relationship between the impact of unemployment and ICTs for livelihood

strategies - uncertainties in the urban economy pushes unemployment levels

up and adversely causes the low-skilled to become more structurally

unemployed due to the digital divide caused by the advent in technology.

Duernecker (2008), for example, hypothesised that the high rates of

unemployment in major European countries are associated with the sluggish

adoption of new technologies. In Asia, the same may be happening - the

region had gone through a number of economic upheavals (Narine, 2002).

Similar to Europe, the companies in Asia, except for Japan, tended to

update their production technology rather sluggishly (Ferdows, 2006). As

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 10

workers operated a certain technology for a long time, they accumulated

substantial amounts of specific skills on that technology but when these

skills are not fully transferable across jobs, the displaced worker loses

parts or all of his or her skills upon a lay-off (Duernecker, 2008).

Ljungqvist and Sargent (1998) refer to this loss as ‘turbulence’ – an

increased probability of instantaneous skills lost after a lay-off.

In applying Rao’s extended TAM as a theoretical framework, this

research focused on personal factors related to perceived ease of use,

intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors towards technology adoption.

In this same vein, this paper attempts to extract relevant indicators to

assess the factors influencing the unemployed job seeker’s attitude towards

the ICT training programmes (Refer to Figure 3).

Research hypotheses

From the literature gleaned so far, it also appears that providing

marginalised jobs-displaced adults with the necessary basic ICT skills and

tools as part of its infrastructure development, will improve the

employability of these unemployed workers, resulting in an increase in

employment rate. Kubicek (1985) posited that advances in technology in

urban cities have resulted in the elimination of a large number of jobs

requiring medium level skills and that the majority of employees were

reallocated to low skilled jobs, while a relative small number of new and

higher skilled planning and monitoring type jobs were created (p.76).

Tufekci (2012) suggested that the high levels of poverty in developed

cities can be ameliorated by closing the digital divide and providing

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 11

information technology access and skills training to these unemployed job

seekers . With this in mind, the following hypotheses will be tested:

H1: The level of ICT skills attained by the unemployed worker would be

positively associated with the worker’s future job placement outcomes.

H2: The perceived usefulness of the ICT skills attained by the

unemployed worker would be positively associated with the worker’s

future job placement outcomes.

To test the above hypotheses, this study compared the job placement

outcome of a group of unemployed workers, in a not-for-profit organisation

in Singapore, who had undergone ICT skills training prior to their job

placement exercises.

Method

As for the research methodology adopted in this paper, both

quantitative and qualitative research methods were used to investigate a

group of 50 unemployed workers from a not-for-profit organisation in

Singapore called the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i). To

provide reliability, the research investigates and triangulates Rao (2007)

extended TAM theoretical concept with qualitative interviews and post

training programme quantitative surveys of the participants.

Place

The research assessed the job placement outcomes of unemployed job

seekers attending highly-subsidised, intensive job training provided at the

e2i in March 2010. The not-for-profit organisation, e2i was launched on 1

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 12

February 2008, and since then has helped more than 19,200 displaced

Singaporeans find new jobs (e2i, 2011). In March 2010, e2i piloted an ICT

training programme, which recruited participants from its internal database

of registered job seekers, as well as from a variety of external sources

including the internet, newspaper and news stories in the local media. The

ICT classes were held for 3 days, Monday through Friday from 9am to 6pm.

Participation was heavily subsidised so that unemployed trainees need only

to pay 10% of the course fees as the remaining 90% of the course fees were

funded by government grants given to e2i to administer. The curriculum

concentrated on ICT skills for entry-level office jobs, teaching Microsoft

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet and email.

Procedure

The researcher observed the group of 50 unemployed workers as they

went through the process of coming to e2i for job placement assistance and

industry preview sessions. Subsequently, they were provided career

counselling services to assess their suitability for participation in the

ICT training programme. Finally, they were recommended to attend a job

fair specifically organised for them, where they met potential employers to

be interviewed for ICT-related jobs (Refer to Figure 4 for overall process

flow).

Participants

Of the 50 unemployed workers, 72% were previously doing administrative

jobs (refer to Figure 5) and possessed lower educational qualifications -

mostly equivalent to the Cambridge high school “Ordinary” or “Advanced”

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 13

levels (refer to Figure 6). Their ages ranged between 40 – 70 years old,

with only 8 out of the 50 unemployed trainees [e.g. 16% of the cohort]

below 40 years of age (refer to Figure 7). 86% of the trainees were

female, and the ethnicity of the class is reflective of Singapore’s

population of (75.6% Chinese, 10.6% Malay, 10.9% Indian, 2.90% others), as

referenced to the 2010 population census data released by the Singapore

Department of Statistics 2011 (MTI, 2011).

Measures

The participants were given questionnaires to fill out, asking about

their expectations of the training and their goals of participating in the

ICT training programme. The questionnaire employed Likert scale as well as

binary scale questioning methods (Refer to Appendix 1). The survey was

administered at the end of the training before they went for the job

interviews.

Effectiveness of ICT skills training

A 3-point scale (1=poor, 2 = average, 3 = good) was used to indicate

the level of skills improvement the participants had obtained after

undergoing the ICT training. Another statement was given to the

participants to indicate whether the ICT training had contributed to their

employability. The results of the ICT examination taken by the

participants, after training, were collected and analysed.

Demographic variables

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 14

The study probed whether participants enhanced their employability in

terms of securing new jobs as a result of the skills they have learned

during their participation in e2i. The questionnaire also explored if the

participants were exposed to this programme based on the ease of ICT usage

that the trainees already possessed, such as having access to the internet

and having a mobile phone, which suggests they could be easily informed of

such training and job opportunities. The study also looked into other

unexpected or unintended consequences of attending the training programme.

Job placement results

The job placement results were measured from the interview outcomes of

the participants at the job fair held at e2i in March 2010. The

interviewing employers participating in the job fair were asked to indicate

which trainees they had short-listed for the job. As each trainee had the

chance to meet as many prospective employers as possible in the job fair,

an individual who had positive interview outcomes with two employers would

be deemed to have a better job placement results than another who was

accepted by only one employer, or none at all.

Results

Given the mixture of research methods used, the results of the study

are presented first in relation to the ICT skills employability

enhancement, then the participants’ ICT skills adoption through the TAM

framework.

Employability enhancement through ICT Skills training

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 15

Correlation coefficients were computed among the three independent

variables of the participants’ perception of their ICT skills before and

after the training, their ICT examination results after training, against

the dependent variable of the participants’ job placement outcome. The

statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software and are presented

in Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1. Descriptive StatisticsMean Std.

DeviationN

Self-report: ICT skills level B4 training

2.2800 .90441 50

Self-report: ICT skills level after training

1.7400 1.15723 50

Self-report: traininghelped employability 1.3200 .91339 50

ICT Exam Results 1.2200 1.18304 50Job interview outcome 1.1200 .91785 50

Table 2. CorrelationsSelf-report:

ICTskillslevel B4training

Self-report:ICT

skillslevelafter

training

Self-report:traininghelped

employability

ICT ExamResults

Jobinterviewoutcome

Self-report: ICTskills level B4 training

Pearson Correlation 1 -.066 -.135 .246 .082

Sig. (2-tailed) .651 .349 .084 .573

N 50 50 50 50 50

Self-report: ICTskills level after training

Pearson Correlation -.066 1 .756** .177 .606**

Sig. (2-tailed) .651 .000 .219 .000

N 50 50 50 50 50

Self-report: training helped employability

Pearson Correlation -.135 .756** 1 .028 .440**

Sig. (2-tailed) .349 .000 .847 .001

N 50 50 50 50 50ICT Exam Results Pearson

Correlation .246 .177 .028 1 -.138

Sig. (2-tailed)

.084 .219 .847 .341

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 16

N 50 50 50 50 50

Job interview outcome

Pearson Correlation .082 .606** .440** -.138 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .573 .000 .001 .341

N 50 50 50 50 50**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

The first hypothesis predicted that a positive job interview outcome

would result from the actual skills learnt from the ICT training, as

represented by the participants’ ICT exam results. The results of the

correlational analyses presented in Table 2 show that there was no

correlation between the participants’ ICT exam results and job placement

outcome. As such, the first hypothesis did not receive empirical support.

The second hypothesis predicted that the participants’ perception of

the ICT skills training attained will contribute to their job placement

outcome. The results of the correlational analyses presented in Table 2

show that there was a strong positive correlation between the participants’

perceptions of their ICT skills after training and job interview outcomes

(r = .606, n = 50, p< .0005) and perception of employability being enhanced

towards the job interview outcomes (r = .440, n = 50, p< .0005). Therefore,

the second hypothesis is supported.

Correlation coefficients were also computed among participants’

accessibility to internet use at home and mobile phones, against their post

training outcomes (Refer to Tables 3 and 4). The results of the

correlational analyses presented in Table 4 show that the participants’

accessibility to home internet and mobile phone ownership were

statistically significant to their self-reported ICT skills level achieved

and increased employability, with slightly stronger positive correlation

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 17

for mobile phone ownership and perceived skills level post-training (r

= .892, n = 50, p< .0005) than home internet accessibility and skills level

after training (r = .858, n = 50, p< .0005). The results suggest that

prior experience with technology appear to be positively related to the

individuals’ perceived ICT skills achievement.

Overall, the SPSS results suggest that participants who had ICT

accessibility in the form of home internet and ownership of mobile phones,

perceived greater improvement to their ICT skills, regardless of their ICT

exam scores, and they are also more likely to have positive job interview

outcomes at the job fair.

ICT skills adoption through the TAM framework

The quantitative results provided partial validity of the personal

factors under the TAM model, that ICT trainees who had prior experiences

with technology in the form of home internet and possessing a mobile phone,

perceived better ICT skills improvement. The qualitative results offered

deeper insights of the workers’ varied expectations and attitude towards

ICT usage and skills training. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 7

out of the 50 trainees, randomly selected during the job fair. Of the many

acumens gained from this qualitative investigation, a few key insights

which appear to corroborate to the various factors affecting ICT skills

adoption, as outlined in the extended TAM (Figure 3), are discussed below.

Perceived usefulness - extrinsic motivations in ICT skills adoption

It appears that the professional need of learning ICT is one of the

key determinants for them to take up the course, as one participant, Ms.

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 18

Chng, aged 58, put it, “I figured that learning Microsoft office would be a

good opportunity, my teenage daughter laughed at me because I don’t know

how to use Microsoft office. I am not sure what job is suitable for me”.

Many participants like Ms. Chng believe that, by going through ICT training,

they would be able to secure more stable and better paying jobs even though

they were not clear about the career specifics. In reference to the

extended TAM model, the extrinsic motivations to ICT knowledge was powerful

enough for trainees like Ms. Chng to believe that learning ICT training is a

positive thing, regardless of whether it leads to a job outcome.

Perceived usefulness - intrinsic motivations in ICT skills adoption

Some of the participants were hoping to upgrade from their previous

low-level administration jobs to higher value-add clerical and office jobs.

As these workers had been unemployed, some for as long as 40 months, the

participants felt that the ICT skills training would help them to escape

the precarious nature of their previous employment, as Mr Khan, aged 55,

shared, “something in another industry other than banking, where I won’t

get retrenched again and again”. Trainees like Mr Khan are optimistic that

their employability could be enhanced by a “career change to administration

or clerical jobs.” In applying the TAM framework, it appears that

participants’ intrinsic motivations to ICT use compelled workers like Mr

Khan to strongly associate ICT literacy to future professional needs.

Perceived ease of use and apprehensiveness of the user

Despite 81% of the respondents having home internet access, some

trainees were still hesitant in utilising their new found knowledge in ICT

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 19

skills. When asked about her interview outcome, Ms Low, aged 48, said,

“this employer seemed positive about hiring me, but he asked me to apply

online for the job. I am not sure because I prefer to send in a paper

application instead.” As demonstrated in the extended TAM framework, the

perceived ease of use as well as the user’s apprehensiveness towards the

technology is also an important variable in the unemployed job seeker’s

attitudes towards ICT adoption.

Findings and Discussion

The correlation tests supported the research hypothesis – participants

who perceived greater improvements to their ICT skills, regardless of their

official ICT training scores, were likely to have positive job interview

outcomes. In addition, prior technology usage like home internet and

mobile phone use, are also positively associated with the participants’

perceived increase in ICT skills learnt. The qualitative interviews

complemented the statistics by revealing deeper insights of the unemployed

workers’ attitude towards ICT skills adoption with the TAM framework as a

guide.

Self-efficacy for employability enhancement

The correlation results suggest that the training effectiveness is

determined not only by the training content but also by the trainees’ self-

efficacy (Christoph, Schoenfeld Jr, & Tansky, 1998). This finding is

consistent with Ratan et al. (2009)’s research which found that workers’

confidence, self-esteem and career opportunities improved together with

their basic digital literacy. Bandura (1986) defined self-efficacy as the

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 20

individual’s assessment of his or her ability to arrange and perform

actions necessary to achieve outcomes related to the action while a similar

study by Gist (1989) proposes that increases in performance are associated

with increase in self-efficacy. From the qualitative interviews, the

trainees seemed to be indifferent to the actual ICT skills level attained,

i.e. their ICT exam results, but their perception of the skills achieved

helped them project greater confidence during the job interviews, thereby

securing them positive job placement outcomes.

Furthering the self-efficacy argument, Tufekci (2005) posited that

when the participants possess entry-level ICT skills training, it is simply

a part of cultural capital and is no more crucial to job content than other

indicators that employers have used for discrimination such as age, gender

and race in the past and certainly continue to distinguish the participants

to some degree. Perhaps the ICT skills contribute to defining the cultural

make-up of these participants, and are not by themselves enough to override

other discriminated cultural traits such as ethnicity, mother-tongue

language skills, social class and immigration background. Even though the

ICT training intervention, i.e. ICT exam results, in this study did not

meet the original programme objectives, i.e. job placements, the results

proposes potentially effective ICT for employability intervention for

marginalised adults. The following segment discusses the programme’s

comparative limitations and applications for future research.

Applications and Future Research

As Galperin (2004) had alluded to - it is not enough to just study the

institutional fabric that determines the creation of certain ICT policies.

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 21

As a researcher as well as an ICT4D practitioner, the author hope to

provide a map of available evidence, identify research gaps and challenges,

and suggest future programmes for policy support for ICT skills training

for employment and employability in Asia. On a general level, this study

highlights the importance of understanding of the sociological theories

behind policy initiatives. It demonstrates that policy makers and

practitioners involved in direct social services, such as e2i, may be

unaware of alternative sociological theories and rival hypothesis on a

given social problem even if these alternative theories, are commonplace

issues in academic realms.

Target demographic of participants

The sample of the study is by no means representative of the

marginalised working adults in Singapore. For instance, this group of

unemployed workers were screened and selected to attend the ICT training

and it has demographic characteristics that may be different from those of

the target population, e.g. 42 out of the 50 participants were above 40

years old (Refer to Figure 7). Verifying the results of this pilot study

through a larger-scale sample size will help to build on the potential of

ICT skills training towards employability.

Time-series or developmental research design

This research was conducted over a short period of 1 month with the

dependent variable of job placements measured at only one job fair. A

series of post training follow-ups will allow the researcher to observe any

other outcomes that may not be gleaned immediately after training. Future

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 22

ICT training programmes should develop methods of tracking the workers’ job

placement results in terms of mid-to long-term actual outcomes.

Increasing self-confidence together with ICT skills

Future programmes could adopt a more targeted, realistic approach to

increase the employability barriers of this group of unemployed workers,

for example, coordinating supplementary training, like increasing the self-

confidence of the participant. As in the case of the trainee, Ms Low, who

was hesitant to apply for jobs online, perhaps upcoming projects could

explore the plausibility of interventions for mind-set change, so that

there would be accompanying transition in the trainees’ mental models and

self-assurance towards job search, thereby establishing a positive feedback

loop.

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 23

References

Atasoy, H. (2012). ICT Skills and Employment Opportunities. Retrieved June, 2012, from https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/hatasoy2/www/HilalAtasoy/RESEARCH_files/Atasoy_Individual_ICTs.pdf

Bagozzi, R. P. (2007). The Legacy of the Technology Acceptance Model and a Proposal for a Paradigm Shift. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 8(4), 244-254.

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Eaglewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Brown, A., Tan, J., & Ye, R. (2011). What counts as evidence in evidence-informed policy and practice in vocational education and training? Paper presented at the Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB) Regional Workshop, Seoul, Korea. http://www.ial.edu.sg/files/documents/302/Brown_Tan_Ye_BIBB_KRIVET_Oct_2011.pdf

Chen, W., & Wellman, B. (2004). Charting and Bridging Digital Divides: Comparing Socioeconomic, Gender, Life Stage, and Rural-Urban InternetAccess and Use in Eight Countries. In W. Dutton, B. Kahin, R. O'Callaghan & A. Wyckoff (Eds.), Transforming Enterprise (pp. 23). Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Chiang, M. (1998). From economic debacle to economic miracle: The history and development of technical education in Singapore: Times Editions.

Christoph, R. T., Schoenfeld Jr, G. A., & Tansky, J. W. (1998). Overcoming Barriers to Training Utilizing Technology: The Influence of Self-Efficacy Factors on Multimedia-Based Training Receptiveness. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 9(1), 25-38.

Davis, F. D., Bagozzi, R. P., & Warshaw, P. R. (1989). User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models. Management Science, 35(8), 982-1003.

Duernecker, G. (2008). Technology Adoption, Turbulance and the Dynamics of Unemployment. European University Institute, ECO 2008/10.

e2i. (2011). Chairman Statement For Work Completed in FY2011/2012. Retrieved 11 April, 2013, from http://www.e2i.com.sg/about-us/chairman-statement-for-2012

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 24

Ferdows, K. (2006). POM Forum: Transfer of Changing Production Know‐How. Production and Operations Management, 15(1), 1-9.

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. doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2003.10.005

Galperin, H. (2004). Beyond Interests, Ideas, and Technology: An Institutional Approach to Communication and Information Policy. The Information Society, 20, 159-168.

Garrido, M., Sullivan, J., Gordon, A., & Coward, C. (2009). Researching the links between ICT skills and Employability: An Analytical Framework Working Paper. Center for Information & Society (CIS) - University of Washington Retrieved from https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/16310/TASCHA_ICT-Employability-Framework_2009.pdf.txt?sequence=2

Gillwald, A. (2012). Review of the Department of Communication’s Colloquiumon an Integrated National ICT policy. Retrieved 6 February, 2013, from http://www.researchictafrica.net/docs/ICT_colloquium_SA.pdf

Gist, M. E. (1989). The influence of training method on self-efficacy and idea generation among managers. Personnel Psychology, 42(4), 787-805.

Ho, K. W., & Tan, R. (2008). Nonmonotonic relationship between human capital and unemployment: an exploratory study with empirical evidence on Singapore. Applied Economics Letters, 15(15), 1177-1185.

IDA. (2012, 15 June 2012). Mobile Phone Penetration, 1997-2010, Annual. Publications > Telecommunications. Retrieved 1 July, 2012, from http://www.ida.gov.sg/Publications/20070822130650.aspx#telecom1

ILO. (2013a, 22 January 2013). Global Employment Trends 2013: Facts and figures for South-East Asia & the Pacific. Global Reports. Retrieved 11April, 2013, from http://www.ilo.org/global/research/global-reports/global-employment-trends/2013/WCMS_202317/lang--en/index.htm

ILO. (2013b). Global Employment Trends 2013: Global unemployment rising again but with significant differences across regions (E. T. unit, Trans.). In I. L. Organization (Ed.), Global Employment Trends (pp. 140).Genève, Switzerland ILO Employment Sector.

Juhn, C., Murphy, K. M., & Topel, R. H. (1991). Why has the Natural Rate ofUnemployment Increased over Time? Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1991(2), 75-142.

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 25

Kubicek, H. (1985). Information Technology and Skills: Problems in Researchand Politics Computerization and Work (pp. 71-93): Springer.

Kumar, P. (2004). Lifelong learning in Singapore: where are we now? International Journal of Lifelong Education, 23(6), 559-568.

Lindsay, C. (2005). Employability, Services for Unemployed Job Seekers and the Digital Divide. Urban Studies, 42(2), 325-339.

Ljungqvist, L., & Sargent, T. J. (1998). The European unemployment dilemma.Journal of Political Economy, 106(3), 514.

McGerr, M. (2005). A Fierce Discontent: The Rise And Fall Of The Progressive Movement In America, 1870-1920. New York: Oxford University Press, 7 Jul.

McQuaid, R. W., & Lindsay, C. (2005). The Concept of Employability. Urban Studies, 42(2), 197-219.

MOM. (2013). Labour Market 2012. In M. R. a. S. Department (Ed.), Labour Market Report. Singapore: Ministry of Manpower.

MTI. (2011). Census of population 2010 statistical release 2: Households and housing. Retrieved 14 April, 2013, from http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/popn/C2010sr2/cop2010sr2.pdf

Narine, S. (2002). ASEAN in the aftermath: the consequences of the East Asian economic crisis. Global Governance, 8(2), 179-194.

Pant, A. (2008). Digital Divide in Singapore - Beyond Ubiquitous Internet Access. Retrieved 1 July, 2012, from http://www.icdri.org/DD/dd_singapore.htm

Rao, A. (2007). Technology acceptance model for complex technologies in a period of rapid catching-up. citeseerx. Retrieved 14 April, 2013, from www.citeseerx.ist.peu.edu

Ratan, A. L., Satpathy, S., Zia, L., Toyama, K., Blagsvedt, S., Pawar, U. S., & Subramaniam, T. (2009, 17-19 April 2009). Kelsa+: Digital literacy for low-income office workers. Paper presented at the Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD), 2009 InternationalConference on.

Roger, K. S., & Fricke, Y. (2005). Learning and Skills Development Through Technology Outcomes and Best Practices (pp. 1-26). Quebec: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 26

Seah, C. N. (2001, 30 June 2012). Digital Divide: The Gap Widens [Singaporemay well become a high tech country in 15 years. But for the near future, life will be darn difficult for older, lower-educated workers. ]. Retrieved from http://www.littlespeck.com/content/economy/CTrendsEconomy-010212.html

Sung, J., Loke, F., Ramos, C., & Ng, M. (2011). You and Your Work: Skills Utilisation in Singapore. Singapore: Centre for Skills, Performance and Productivity Research, IAL.

Tufekci, Z. (2005, 26 May 2005). Digital Divide and Social Mobility: How Much Hope and How Much Hype? Paper presented at the Conference Papers -- International Communication Association, New York, NY.

Tufekci, Z. (2012). Past and future divides: Social mobility, inequality, and the digital divide in Austin during the Tech Boom. In J. Straubhaar, J. Spence, Z. Tufekci & R. G. Lentz (Eds.), Inequity in the Technopolis: Race, Class, Gender, and the Digital Divide in Austin (pp. 85-108): University of Texas Press.

UN-APCICT/ESCAP. (2011). Primer 1: An Introduction to ICT for Development. United Nations. from http://unapcict.org/ecohub/primer-1-an-introduction-to-ict-for-development

Vernon, P. (2011, 25 June 2012). Should Development Goals Apply to Developed Countries Too? [Phil Vernon's blog]. Retrieved from http://philvernon.net/

Wagner, D. A., Day, B., James, T., Kozma, R. B., Miller, J., & Unwin, T. (2005). Monitoring and Evaluation of ICT in Education Projects: A Handbook for Developing Countries. In M. Trucano (Ed.). Washington, DC: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank.

WDA. (2012). Workfare Training Support (WTS) Scheme. WDA Programmes & Initiatives. Retrieved 11 April, 2013, from http://www.wda.gov.sg/content/wdawebsite/programmes_and_initiatives/L701C-WTS.html

West, M., & Garrido, M. (2008). Bridging the e-Skills Gap in Central and Eastern Europe: The Growth of e-Skills and Employability Initiatives in the Newly Expanded European Union. In R. Ambikar, R. Gomez, C. Rothschild & J. Sullivan (Eds.), Center for Information and Society Working Papers Series (pp. 1-70). Seattle, USA: Center for Information & SocietyICT and Development Program, University of Washington.

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 1

Appendix 1

Post-training programme questionnaire given to ICT trainees

QuestionsDo you have access to the

Internet at home? Yes No

If not, where do you go toaccess the internet?

Internet Cafe Community Clubs / Centres Friends & relatives Others:

_____________________________This ICT trainingprogramme:

enhances my employability did not enhance my employability

I heard about thisprogramme:

Through the newspaper From SMS From my friends From the internet Others:

_____________________________Please rate the following

statements Poor Average Good

I would rate my computer skills now as:

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 2

Tables

Table 3. Descriptive StatisticsMean Std.

DeviationN

Internet accessibility at home 1.3400 .87155 50

Internet accessibility elsewhere

.6600 1.39401 50

Own a mobile phone 1.4400 .88433 50ICT Exam Results 1.2200 1.18304 50Self-report: ICT skills level B4 training

2.2800 .90441 50

Self-report: traininghelped employability 1.3200 .91339 50

Self-report: ICT skills level after training

1.7400 1.15723 50

Table 4. CorrelationsInternetaccessibility athome

Internetaccessibi

lityelsewhere

Own amobilephone

ICTExamResult

s

Self-report: ICTskillslevelB4

training

Self-report:traininghelped

employability

Self-report: ICTskillslevelaftertraining

Internet accessibility at home

Pearson Correlation

1 -.054 .941** .163 -.020 .835** .858**

Sig. (2-tailed) .709 .000 .257 .892 .000 .000

N 50 50 50 50 50 50 50

Internet accessibility elsewhere

Pearson Correlation

-.054 1 .173 -.115 -.036 .183 .197

Sig. (2-tailed) .709 .228 .428 .803 .202 .170

N 50 50 50 50 50 50 50

Own a mobile phone

Pearson Correlation

.941** .173 1 .120 -.004 .858** .892**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .228 .406 .978 .000 .000

N 50 50 50 50 50 50 50

ICT Exam Results

Pearson Correlation

.163 -.115 .120 1 .246 .028 .177

Sig. (2-tailed) .257 .428 .406 .084 .847 .219

N 50 50 50 50 50 50 50

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 3

Self-report: ICTskills level B4 training

Pearson Correlation

-.020 -.036 -.004 .246 1 -.135 -.066

Sig. (2-tailed) .892 .803 .978 .084 .349 .651

N 50 50 50 50 50 50 50Self-report: training helped employability

Pearson Correlation

.835** .183 .858** .028 -.135 1 .756**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .202 .000 .847 .349 .000

N 50 50 50 50 50 50 50

Self-report: ICTskills level aftertraining

Pearson Correlation

.858** .197 .892** .177 -.066 .756** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .170 .000 .219 .651 .000

N 50 50 50 50 50 50 50**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 4

Figure Captions

Figure 1. The original Technology Acceptance Model (Davis et al, 1989)

Figure 2: The extended TAM Model (Rao, 2007)

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 5

Figure 3: A proposed TAM framework in relation to ICT Skills for

Employability

Figure 4: Job placement process in e2i

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 6

Figure 5: Previous job experience of the ICT trainees

Figure 6: Education qualification of the ICT trainees

ICT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT 7

Figure 7: Age range of the ICT trainees