Professional socialisation (PS) of Malaysian real estate undergraduates

ABSTRACT In a borderless economy underlined by increased regional labour mobility, enhanced Real Estate professionals would benefit the Malaysian real estate industry. Little is known about how undergraduates undergo professionalisation during their university education. New entrants to a profession acquire the necessary values, attitudes, skills and knowledge through the process of professional socialisation (PS). An effective PS assists in human resource management in terms of high retention rate; conversely, an impaired PS negatively affects human resource management in terms of increased disengagement rate. This paper seeks to examine how Malaysian real estate undergraduates were initiated into their profession during their tertiary education. Using questionnaire survey as the main data collection tool, respondents comprising recent graduates from two public universities indicated the effectiveness of role models, reasoning and attitude in developing role orientation, syllabus comprehension and immersion, and soft skills enhancement. Mentorship was identified as the most important PS factor by the respondents whilst internship timing had no bearing on PS.