International mobility and early self-employment of recent Spanish graduates

International mobility (IM) of university students is increasing. However, scholars have yet to pay much attention to studying the career outcomes associated with participation in IM programs and the mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study examines the association between international mobility participation and early self-employment among university graduates, testing the mediating role of entrepreneurial skills and the moderating role of gender. The study sample consisted of 149 recent university graduates. The results showed that participation in IM programs was positively related to self-employment and skills for entrepreneurship. However, contrary to our hypothesis, the latter variable did not mediate the relationship between involvement in IM programs and self-employment. Moreover, gender did not play a moderator role, so the examined relationship did not differ between women and men. We discussed the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.