Bridging Campus and Corporate: A Study of AI Readiness Among Job-Market-Ready Talents in Kerala

Abstract

As scaling AI becomes deeply intertwined with the modern business sector, checking if young fresh talents are competent to work with such technology has become very important and still very timely. This research explores the AI preparedness of young fresh talent who are just started their job or in search and who are preparing to hit the job market from institutes in Kerala, concentrating on their acceptance and capability to change in the situations where the AI Tools will be integral part of work force in future. The current research is founded on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and explores the significance of Perceived Ease of Use (PEU) and Perceived Usefulness (PU) in young fresh talents formation of opinions about AI.
The researcher adopts a quantitative approach; with descriptive and exploratory lens. The researcher collected data from a randomly selected stratified sample of 708 fresh Talents (refer to young or emerging workforce). These Talents currently come from various academic streams, Economic background and regions (village, municipality, and corporation areas) within Kerala. The researcher adapted tool from the original TAM instrument developed by Fred D. Davis, with his permission customised to research context. Statistical methods like Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) have proved the model reliability, explanatory power (R² > 0.80) and TAM factors are significant.
Results further disseminates that the moderator; Economic status has edge over other Profession, Gender, location, and job status over impact. These implications emphasize the pressing need for higher educational institutions to introduce AI-based curricula and also design targeted interventions. This study offers practical ideas to help educators, policymakers, and institutional leaders come up with ways to digitally upskill and prepare the workforce in Kerala.