Entrepreneurship and employability: a configurational fuzzy Delphi–fsQCA study with longitudinal evidence in emerging economies

Purpose This study addresses the limitations of variable-centred employability research by advancing a configurational perspective on employability development within career development scholarship. It proposes the Configurational Employability Development Model (CEDM), explaining how Student Entrepreneurship Experience, psychological, social, and institutional career resources interact to shape employability development across heterogeneous emerging-economy contexts. Design/methodology/approach A two-phase research design was employed. Phase I used the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) with a 24-member international expert panel to establish theoretically grounded calibration anchors. Phase II applied fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to a three-wave longitudinal panel of 347 university students (analytic sample: N = 310) from Vietnam, Uzbekistan, and Nigeria to identify sufficient configurations associated with employability development and examine causal asymmetry. Findings Four equifinal pathways to high employability development were identified (solution consistency = 0.87; coverage = 0.79). Psychological Capital emerged as a near-necessary career resource (consistency = 0.93), whereas Student Entrepreneurship Experience functioned as a core but individually insufficient condition whose contribution depended on complementary institutional and social resources. The findings also demonstrate causal asymmetry and reveal variation in the prominence of institutional resources across the measured period. Research limitations/implications Although limited to three emerging economies and a relatively short longitudinal period, the study provides theoretical and practical insights for career development research, higher education policy, and context-sensitive graduate employability strategies. Originality/value It extends employability research by demonstrating configuration-specific institutional substitutability, resource complementarity, and multiple career-development pathways beyond linear, variable-centred explanations. It extends employability research by demonstrating institutional substitutability, resource complementarity, and multiple career-development pathways beyond linear, variable-centred explanations.