Enhancing Employability Competencies through Project-Based Learning in a Disciplinary Cluster of Digital Cultural and Creative Majors Based on PLS SEM and IPMA

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of project-based learning (PBL) on student employability within the domain of digital cultural and creative disciplines in higher vocational education. Drawing upon data collected from 169 students across six PBL modules, the study assesses three fundamental dimensions of PBL - Inquiry Learning (IL), Reflective Learning (RL), and Teamwork (TE) - and their effects on four critical employability domains: General Ability for Work (GA), Professional Ability (PA), Attitude at Work (AA), and Career Planning and Confidence (CP). Utilizing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Importance-Performance Map Analysis (IPMA), the results indicate that TE exerts a substantial and consistent influence across all four employability dimensions, whereas RL only affects CP, and IL demonstrates no statistically significant impact. The IPMA findings further confirm that both TE and RL are identified as high-importance, high-performance components. This study offers empirical validation for embedding TE and RL practices within PBL-integrated curricula to strengthen employability outcomes in educational programs oriented toward the creative industries. © 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

Keywords

Author Keywords

Project-Based Learning Student employability Digital Cultural and Creative Disciplinary Cluster

Index Keywords

E-learning Employment Curricula Apprentices Education computing Students Project based learning Creatives Digital cultural and creative Disciplinary cluster Higher vocational educations Inquiry learning Map analysis Performance maps Reflective learning Student employability Least squares approximations

Author Affiliations

Jinan Preschool Education College, Jinan, China

Funding & Acknowledgements

Grant: 25-jyjjskt-80

This work were supported by a teaching reform project of Jinan Preschool Education College in 2024 \"Construction and Practice of a Digital Cultural and Creative Disciplinary Cluster under the 'Dual-System, Four-Chain Integration, and Four-Level Progression' Framework in the Context of China's New Double-High Initiative\", and the 2025 Jinan Municipal Humanities and Social Sciences Special Project on Educators' Spirit, \"Synergistic Development Pathways for the Digital Transformation of Vocational College Teachers under the Dual-Leadership and Triple-Integration of Educators' Spirit and Craftsman Spirit\" (Grant no: 25-jyjjskt-80), and the 2025 Humanities and Social Science Project of the Shandong Federation of Social Sciences, \"Digital and Intelligent Transformation Pathways for Vocational Education Evaluation in the Context of High-Quality Development in Shandong Province.\"

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Enhancing Employability Competencies through Project-Based Learning in a Disciplinary Cluster of Digital Cultural and Creative Majors Based on PLS SEM and IPMA

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