Perceived quality of internships and employability perceptions: the mediating role of career-entry worries
ISSN: 0040-0912
Article publication date: 12 February 2021
Issue publication date: 17 May 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This study illuminates the assumption that internships facilitate labor market entry and answers the question of why internships have a positive effect on students' self-perceived employability. It is assumed that internships enable more positive employability perceptions by reducing career-entry worries – the worries of not finding a suitable job or not being able to obtain a satisfactory career.
Design/methodology/approach
A two-wave study among graduate students currently in an internship investigated these relationships. Data on career-entry worries, perceived employability and an evaluation of the internship were collected from 80 students (mean age: 24.6 years, 68% female) from various fields of study aiming at both bachelor's and master's degrees.
Findings
The results showed that positively evaluated internships contributed to graduates' self-perceived employability by means of reduced career-entry worries over an eight-week period.
Originality/value
By considering graduates' career-entry worries – the perceived uncertainty about finding an “appropriate” career in the future – the authors introduce a new concept to the career literature and show that these worries are significant in terms of self-assessed employability.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Data availability statement. There is no publicly available data set associated with the paper.Disclosure statement. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest or any (financial) benefits associated with the paper.Second and third author contributed equally to this paper.
Citation
Ebner, K., Soucek, R. and Selenko, E. (2021), "Perceived quality of internships and employability perceptions: the mediating role of career-entry worries", Education + Training, Vol. 63 No. 4, pp. 579-596. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-02-2020-0037
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited