CREATIVE SELF-EFFICACY AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYABILITY: CASE OF LATVIA

The labour market of the 21 st century demands not only occupation-specific skills but also employability skills, attributes, experiences, and dispositions. Theoretical knowledge of the prospective employees is not a quality indicator any more. Contemporary employers expect that university graduates have not only teamwork, problem-solving, communication, decision-making skills, but also personal initiatives, self-confidence, emotional intelligence, willingness to learn, creativity, ability to create innovative ideas and many more. Latvia is currently facing a shortage of creative workforce which is able to present and manage the innovative ideas. The goal of this study is to examine the university students’ awareness about the importance of the creativity and innovations in the prospective employability. The study covered 238 respondents from 4 higher education institutions that in Latvia offer the BA study programmes in pedagogy, economics, design, public relations and psychology. It turned out that 49 % of the students deny their ability to create new ideas which can prevent them from developing a successful career in future. The research concluded that in organising the study process in higher education institutions, attention should be paid not only to the acquisition of professional knowledge and skills, but also to the development of the personal aspects, for example, creative self-efficiency of future specialists. Global labour market requires a paradigm shift in the content of the study programmes and teaching methods of higher education institutions of Latvia. Recommendations for future research are also proposed.