Negotiating Perceived Employability as Sensemaking in the Context of Undergraduate Work Integrated Learning

Authors

Sylvia Dempsey, Department of Accounting & Information Systems, Munster Technological University, Cork, IrelandFollow
Carol Linehan, School of Applied Psychology, College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Margaret Healy, Department of Accounting & Finance, Cork University Business School, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0876-2443

Document Type

Article

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Disciplines

Accounting | Business

Publication Details

The British Accounting Review, 101676. © 2025 The Authors.

Abstract

As labour markets shift responsibility for navigating career transitions and employability from organisations to individuals, sensemaking around their own ‘perceived employability’ gains importance. Prior research suggests work integrated learning (WIL) experiences constitute a significant route to perceived employability for potential entrants to the accounting profession. The mechanisms through which this develops are less understood. Understanding of the impact of WIL on perceived employability, shaping individual career trajectories, augments efforts to attract new members to the profession. This study captures how representations of the world of professional accounting work are built, as entrants construct liminal places within that community. Through qualitative analysis of subjective experiences of transitions into, during and out of accounting-based WIL roles, ‘narratives of employability’ are tracked, charting contextualised sensemaking processes as individuals come to understand what an employable accounting graduate might be. Employability is positioned as a multi-dimensional construct involving reciprocal interactions between individuals sensemaking and organisational cues, highlighting how interpretation of key events informs individual agency and shapes career trajectories. Given rapidly changing workplaces and career concepts, this is an important mindset for graduates to develop. With rising concerns about recruitment issues for the profession, listening to potential entrants would seem an important first step.

Recommended Citation

Sylvia Dempsey, Carol Linehan, Margaret Healy, Negotiating perceived employability as sensemaking in the context of undergraduate work integrated learning, The British Accounting Review, 2025, 101676, ISSN 0890-8389, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2025.101676.