<![CDATA[This study investigates the influence of soft skills and hard skills on the work readiness of Hospitality Vocational High School students in Malang Raya, with self-efficacy examined as a mediating construct within the industrial internship setting at THE 1O1 Hotel Malang OJ. The research is motivated by the persistent gap between the competencies expected by the hospitality industry and the actual readiness demonstrated by students during field practice. A quantitative research design employing Structural Equation Model Partial Least Squares (SEM PLS) was utilized to analysis the direct and indirect effects among the studied variables. The empirical results demonstrate that both soft skills and hard skills significantly enhance students’ self-efficacy, and hard skills exert a direct positive effect on work readiness. Self-efficacy also exhibits a substantial positive influence on work readiness and functions as a mediating mechanism linking soft skills and hard skills to work readiness. These findings align with Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (1997) and the Social Cognitive Career Theory articulated by Lent et al. (2020), which underscore the pivotal role of self-efficacy in translating individual competencies into effective performance outcomes. Overall, the study reinforces that improving students’ work readiness requires not only strengthening technical and non-technical competencies but also systematically developing their psychological readiness through authentic industry experience and structured competency-based learning.]]>
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