Transformational Leadership and Youth Employability in Ethiopian Tvet: A Meta-Ethnographic Systematic Review of Industry Linkages, Cooperative Training, and Skills Development

Abstract Ethiopia's TVET sector expanded from 80 institutions (2005) to over 1,500 (2024), yet graduate employability remains stagnant, reflecting a persistent policy–implementation paradox. Integrating Transformational Leadership (TL), Institutional, and Human Capital theories, this meta-ethnographic review (PRISMA 2020) synthesizes qualitative evidence on leadership, industry linkages, cooperative training, and entrepreneurship to develop an integrative explanatory framework. Three questions guided the review: how TL influences employability, what conditions shape linkage effectiveness, and how training practices affect outcomes. Six databases and grey literature yielded 28 mixed-methods studies (2005–2025); only qualitative findings were synthesized. Study quality was appraised using CASP and confidence assessed through GRADE-CERQual (moderate-to-high for structural themes; low for entrepreneurship). Noblit and Hare's translation and line-of-argument synthesis generated four themes: (1) vision–practice decoupling; (2) linkage performativity ; (3) hierarchical inertia; and (4) necessity-driven entrepreneurship (emergent, low-confidence). Findings suggest that TL influences employability indirectly through the quality of industry linkages, while institutional constraints condition linkage effectiveness. The proposed TL–ILC framework conceptualizes employability as a context-dependent process in which institutional conditions moderate linkage capacity and linkages function as the primary mechanism connecting leadership and employability outcomes. Evidence is concentrated in Ethiopia's central and northern highlands, with limited representation from four peripheral regions, constraining transferability. Future research should employ longitudinal and comparative ethnographic designs. Implications include strengthened youth employment pathways, poverty reduction, and more equitable regional development through improved TVET governance and industry collaboration.