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mediating and moderating roles of behavioural biases and institutional factors. These
remain important future research directions that require larger samples, longitudinal
designs, and purpose-designed instruments for measuring present bias, overconfidence,
and institutional quality.
5.3. Vietnam context
Vietnam's position as a rapidly growing emerging economy, with its digital economy
targeted to contribute over 20% of GDP and a commitment to training 100,000 AI
engineers, makes it a particularly relevant context. The framework suggests that effective
reform must address all four layers simultaneously. This includes curricular updates
incorporating digital skills and AI literacy (Layer 1), efforts to develop behavioural
competencies (Layer 2), enhanced career self-efficacy and labour market awareness
(Layer 3), and feedback mechanisms connecting educational inputs to employment
outcomes (Layer 4).
6. Implications for policy and higher education
6.1. Curriculum reform and digital skills integration
Vietnamese universities should move beyond traditional knowledge-transmission
models toward competency-based curricula that integrate domain expertise, digital/AI
skills, and behavioural competencies. Specific recommendations include:
Embedding data-literacy and AI-awareness modules across all business programmes.
Recent research on business education programmes emphasises the need for explicit
digital marketing, social media and productivity tool competencies as core employability
outcomes (Akpojotor, 2024).
Expanding work-integrated learning through structured internship programmes.
Incorporating problem-based and project-based pedagogies that develop teamwork,
communication, and creative thinking alongside technical knowledge.
Partnering with industry to co-design curricula aligned with evolving digital-
economy demands.
6.2. Career guidance and behavioural interventions
The behavioural layer highlights opportunities for nudge-based interventions.
Universities can address present bias by providing early, frequent, and concrete exposure
to career realities through employer panels, alumni mentorship, and labour-market
information systems. Career counselling services can be redesigned to address confidence
biases and provide personalised feedback to help students calibrate self-assessments
against employer expectations. Evidence from the Greater Bay Area shows that individual
career management strongly improves employability and that this effect is mediated by
professional decision-making self-efficacy (Zhou & Jiang, 2025)
6.3. University–industry–government collaboration
Effective employability development requires coordinated action. Industry advisory
boards can ensure curriculum relevance; graduate tracking surveys can close the
information gap; and government incentive programmes can encourage collaboration.
Vietnam's growing innovation ecosystem provides a platform for such coordination, with
targeted programmes such as Google Career Certificates already reaching 40,000
scholarship beneficiaries.
7. Conclusion, limitations, and future research
This study proposes a multi-layered conceptual framework for graduate
employability in the digital economy, integrating human capital theory, signalling theory,
employability models, and behavioural economics. The framework has been

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