Self-Efficacy and Internship Experience as Predictors of Work Readiness among Vocational High School Graduates

Abstract

Vocational high schools play an important role in preparing graduates to enter the workforce. However, vocational high school graduates continue to experience relatively high unemployment rates in Indonesia. This study aims to examine the effect of self-efficacy and internship experience on the work readiness of graduates of SMK Negeri 2 Tuban. This study employed a quantitative causal approach. The population consisted of 65 graduates of SMK Negeri 2 Tuban in 2025 who had not yet worked, with 63 usable respondents obtained through a saturated sampling technique. Primary data were collected using a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS. The results indicate that self-efficacy has a positive and significant effect on work readiness, with a path coefficient of 0.468, a T-statistic of 4.151, and a P-value of 0.000. Internship experience also has a positive and significant effect on work readiness, with a path coefficient of 0.465, a T-statistic of 3.891, and a P-value of 0.000. The R-square value of 0.743 indicates that self-efficacy and internship experience jointly explain 74.3% of the variance in work readiness, while the remaining 25.7% is explained by other factors outside the research model. These findings indicate that strengthening graduates’ confidence in their abilities and improving the quality of internship experiences can contribute to higher work readiness among vocational high school graduates.