實習經驗與日後接受雇用意圖之關聯性 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學企業管理研究所. 立. 碩士論文政治大. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. 實習經驗與日後接受雇用意圖之關聯性 Internship Experience and its Relationship with Job Acceptance Intention. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. 指導教授：林月雲博士研究生: 林思儀 Gregory Lim . 中華民國一零五年六月. v.

(2) Abstract Internships are commonly used by firms for training and recruiting talents. Yet, research overlooks which factors are influential in job acceptance for interns. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of influencing factors such as task goal clarity, autonomy, mentorship and learning to job acceptance of interns after an internship program. A total of 150 copies of questionnaires were distributed online among university and graduate school students in Taiwan. 120 questionnaires were returned. The statistical methods used in this study were reliability test, descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis.. 政治大. Based from the results shown, it was found that task goal clarity and mentorships influences. 立. the learning of interns. Furthermore, autonomy affects the relationship of task goal clarity and. ‧ 國. 學. learning. The relationship of task goal clarity and learning is expected to be stronger when autonomy is high and weaker when it is low. Lastly, learning influences the willingness of job. ‧. acceptance. The recommendations from the conclusions are proposed as references for relevant. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. y. organizations and future studies. i n U. v. Keywords: task goal clarity, mentorship, autonomy, learning, job acceptance, internships. . Ch. engchi. i .

(3) Table of Contents. Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... i List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... iv Chapter 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Background and Overview ..................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the Study .............................................................................................................. 4 Significance of the Study ........................................................................................................ 5 Research Process..................................................................................................................... 6 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 7 Chapter 2. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 8 Overview ................................................................................................................................. 8 Historical Perspective ............................................................................................................ 8 Required and Elective Internships ....................................................................................... 11 Full-time vs. Part-time Internships ....................................................................................... 13 Advantages of Internships .................................................................................................... 14 Internship and Job Opportunities ......................................................................................... 17 Internship and Finding Employment ................................................................................... 19 Task Goal Clarity, Learning and Job Acceptance ............................................................... 21 Autonomy and Learning ...................................................................................................... 24 Mentorship and Learning ...................................................................................................... 26. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Nat. y. sit. n. al. er. io. Chapter 3. Research Design & Methodology ......................................................................... 31 Research Hypotheses ........................................................................................................... 31 Research Design and Tool ................................................................................................... 35 Statistical Methods ............................................................................................................... 40 Sample and Population ........................................................................................................ 41 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 42. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Chapter 4. Results and Discussion .......................................................................................... 43 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 43 Descriptive Analysis ............................................................................................................ 43 Correlation Analysis ............................................................................................................ 46 Regression Analysis ............................................................................................................. 46 Chapter 5. Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 49 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 49 Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 50 Limitation of the Study ........................................................................................................ 51 Suggestions .......................................................................................................................... 51 References ............................................................................................................................... 54 Appendix ................................................................................................................................. 58 . . ii .

(4) List of Tables. Table 1 Yes123 Students’ Benefits and Common Complaints About Internships .................. 21 Table 2 Questions and References for the Variables ............................................................... 37 Table 3 Interns’ Employers Share of Industries ..................................................................... 40 Table 4 The Demographics of the Respondents and Internship Features ................................ 44 Table 5 Respondents’ Job Acceptance Intention ..................................................................... 44 Table 6 The Result of Correlation Analysis of the Dimension ............................................... 46 Table 7 Summary of Hierarchical Regression for Variables Predicting Learning ................. 47 Table 8 Summary of Hierarchical Regression for Variables Predicting Job Acceptance ....... 48 Table 9 Complete Findings of the Research Hypotheses ........................................................ 49 . 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. . Ch. engchi. iii . i n U. v.

(5) List of Figures. Figure 1 Research Process ......................................................................................................... 6 Figure 2 University/Department, Student, and Employer Roles in Internship Programs ........ 10 Figure 3 Hypothesized Relationships ...................................................................................... 29 . 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. . Ch. engchi. iv . i n U. v.

(6) Chapter 1. Introduction Background and Overview In recent years, business internships have been on a massive rise and becoming extremely valuable for students to gain real work experience. These internship experiences are seen by companies as a differentiator among students. It has been proven that internships have been one of the most important experiences for a college graduate who wants to secure a job after graduation (Coco, 2000). Thus, internships have become a must or a requirement for most students.. 政治大. The number of students pursuing internships has grown dramatically. In 1980, only. 立. 3% of students pursue internships in the U.S. In the year 2000, it has shown a dramatic change,. ‧ 國. 學. with three out of four students complete internships before graduation (Coco, 2000). However, currently in Taiwan there are no statistics describing the number of students. ‧. pursuing internships. But with the rise of companies offering more internship opportunities. Nat. al. er. io. students pursuing internships in Taiwan is also growing.. sit. y. and universities making internships as a required course, it’s safe to say the number of. n. v i n C htraining for professional An internship is an on-the-job e n g c h i U careers . They are short-term 1. work arrangements that companies use to nourish and select future employees (Baron & Kreps, 1999). Internships provide students a chance to improve business skills, gain working knowledge and real work experience for a profession while in school. Internships also provide many benefits to students and employers (Gault, Redington, & Schlager, 2000; Schambach & Dirks, 2002). Interns may be students who are taking undergraduate degrees or graduate school degrees. The types of internships vary in different industries and settings. The type of internship this study aims to understand is business internships. Industries such as consumer . 1 .

(7) goods, finance sectors such as banks, tech and advertising are common in providing business internships to university and graduate students. Most of the business internships in Taiwan are only aim for students who are in their penultimate year. A typical internship can last between 2 months to 4 months4, or even longer depending on the business needs of a company. Most internships are held in the winter and summer vacations for students to work full-time without the distraction of homework and exams. The majority of organizations offer internship opportunities throughout the academic year and not only in the summer and winter. (Maynard, 1999). Also, some internships are for credit and not-for-credit. Credit internships are when universities require students to have an internship as a mandatory course as. 治政大are pursued mainly by students mentioned in the previous paragraphs. While not-for-credits 立 hoping to gain work experience in the industry. Research has indicated that approximately. ‧ 國. 學. 90% of colleges offer for credit internships in the U.S. (Divine, Linrude, Miller & Wilson,. ‧. 2007). For example, in Taiwan, the MBA program of National Chengchi University (NCCU). y. sit. io. n. al. er. experience.. Nat. sets for credit internships as a mandatory course for students without 2 years of work. i n U. v. Internship programs are designed to provide mutual benefits to students and. Ch. engchi. employers (Piskurich, 1997). Benefits of internships for students include quicker job offers, better career opportunity, higher salaries, faster promotion rates, job satisfaction, ease of transition from college to work, better communication skills, working, and applying the knowledge gained from the classroom (Clark, 2003; Gault, Leach, & Duey, 2010; Gault et al., 2000; Hymon- Parker & Smith, 1998; Weible, 2010). For employers, it could serve as a way to screen and employ potential candidates. Internships are an arrangement employers find to be a useful recruiting tool (National Association of Colleges and Employers [NACE], 2006).. . 2 .

(8) With regards to internships being a recruitment tool, the 2014 National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Job Outlook Report 2014 stated that 60% of new hires had internship experience and the NACE 2015 Internship & Co-op Survey reported that 51.7% of the of their class of 2015 hires came from their own internship programs. That is, after an internship, a student has a 50% chance of getting a full-time job offer in the same company. Since a job offer is a 2-way agreement involving an employer and a graduate. Both parties have the right to accept or decline the job offer. Students can also utilize internships as their own trial period to check out a potential. 政治大. employer or even their compatibility within a potential function. Simply put, internships are. 立. a great way for students to sample a company without committing for life, a try before you. ‧ 國. 學. buy arrangement as you may call it (Heller, 1997). On the other hand, Internships allow a company to evaluate a prospective employee nearly risk-free. Work ethic, attitude, and. ‧. technical competence are more easily assessed during a semester or summer internship than. Nat. sit. y. during a one-hour interview of a perspective employee. For this reason, many companies. er. io. hire their most competent interns for full-time positions after graduation. (Coco, 2000). al. n. v i n Ctohcompetent studentsUafter their internships. According Job offers are only provided engchi. to a study of 11,000 college students conducted by Intern Bridge in 2012, 36% of paid. interns received job offers after the internship program. ( That is, only 3 out of 10 students would get a job offer or accept a job offer within the same company. This clearly shows that only a minority of students would eventually work for the same company after the internship program. Thus, this study hopes to understand more of this situation and aims to find the factors involving a student accepting a job offer after internship.. . 3 .

(9) Purpose of the study Internships are very valuable and requires a huge investment for both the employer and the intern. While employers spend time and money to test the capability and train the intern. The intern on the other hand spends a substantial amount of time in helping the company fulfill some business needs. Therefore, a well-designed internship would benefit both parties by understanding what factors could lead to job acceptance intention by interns. This study hopes to understand the following issues below: 1. The relationship of intern’s learning during the internship with job acceptance intention.. 立. 政治大. 2. The relationship of task goal clarity, mentorship and autonomy towards learning.. ‧ 國. 學. 3. Can mentorship by managers affect the intern’s job acceptance intention?. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. . Ch. engchi. 4 . i n U. v.

(10) Significance of the Study If task goal clarity, mentorship or learning is a predictor for job acceptance intention, this study could benefit companies and advice them on how to create a well-design internship in terms of the 3 variables mentioned above. Not only does this benefit employers, it also benefits students in helping them choose which internship is the suitable one for them. If the present research shows a positive relationship between mentorship and job acceptance intention, this study will provide increased evidence for requiring mentorship programs for interns. Furthermore, mentors could go on workshops on how to be a better mentor for interns.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. . Ch. engchi. 5 . i n U. v.

(11) Research Process. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. Figure 1 Research Process. . 6 . v.

(12) Summary Benefits of internships on students and employers have been well documented. Employers may be able to find potential talent while students could find a suitable job for them after graduation. However, with majority of interns not receiving and accepting job offers by previous employers to be their first choice of employment, employers should create well-design internships to better lead internships to job offers and acceptance intention. The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of task goal clarity, mentorship, autonomy and learning to job acceptance intention. If the study shows a positive relationship between. 政治大 that could lead to job acceptance intention by interns. 立. the variables to job acceptance intention, this study could be helpful for designing internships. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. . Ch. engchi. 7 . i n U. v.

(13) Chapter 2. Literature Review Overview Chapter 1 described the rise of internships not only in Taiwan but also globally, the types and benefits of internships, stated the problem and the purpose of the study, introduce the significance of the study, the theoretical framework and outlined the limitations of this study. This literature will discuss in greater detail the benefits and limitations of internships, major theories, task goal clarity, mentorship, autonomy, learning and job retention. Historical Perspective. 治政大back to as early at 600 BCE with The history of on-the-job learning and training goes 立. the Romans Greeks, Chinese, and Vedic communities providing employment of interns to. ‧ 國. 學. learn a skill or craft as an entry into areas that need skills such as sword making (Sides &. ‧. Mrvica, 2007). During the Middle Ages, serfs and indentured people were able to enjoy their. sit. y. Nat. freedom and live off life through apprenticeships in crafts and trade professions, which. io. er. helped expand a growing middle class. These internships or apprenticeships taught the student the skills required to develop a product, goods or perform a service and educated the. al. n. v i n C h and be profitable student on how to manage the business e n g c h i U in society. In the settling of the. United States, apprenticeships and internships were a staple for learning crafts, skills and. trades, helping business to expand, and educating people to be more skilled to be useful the society. As the United States became a more powerful country and the industrial revolution took place, internships and apprenticeships fell out of favor for everyone. Due to their focus on manual labor and not on learning in apprenticeships or internship, it was thought that internships or apprenticeships have become old-fashioned and not useful in a society where manual labor is the key to wealth (Walker, 2011) . 8 .

(14) Internships in the 20th century Since the early 20th century, there has been a rise on internships. Students experiences classroom learning with application in the workplace to enhance and increase learning. The University of Cincinnati started the modern internship program in 1906 in the College of Engineering. It became a requirement course for Engineering students in 1929 (University of Cincinnati, 2011; Weible, 2010). The University of Cincinnati was a pioneer to offer business internship programs in 1919 (University of Cincinnati, 2011). Now, approximately 90% of colleges and universities offer for-credit internships or work-related experience (Divine et. 政治大 purpose of internships is to provide a smooth transition from school to a real job, and 立 al., 2007), and over 94% of business schools have internship programs (Weible, 2010). The. ‧ 國. 學. internships could serve as a bridge between college and the real world of work. Students, educational institutions, and businesses believe that internships complement the student's. ‧. academic work (Farinelli & Mann, 1994).. y. Nat. io. sit. There are 3 key participants in making an internship a beneficial experience and effect. n. al. er. for all who are involved. They are departments, students and employers with respect to. Ch. i n U. v. making internships valuable for everyone. Figure 2 illustrates the roles of these 3 parties in. engchi. an internship program. First, the department usually comes up with an internship program and designs processes and mechanics that are needed to maintain and improve the program. They also manage the crises once there is conflict among the parties. Students, on the other hand, need to consider what type of internship program is suitable for them and their long term goals and objectives, such as evaluating and identifying an area of interest or expertise. While employers handle the responsibility of providing internship opportunities to students that would also benefit them in the chance of hiring a potential employee after the program. And finally, employers provide experience and learning to the students.. . 9 .

(15) 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 2 University/Department, Student, and Employer Roles in Internship Programs Source: R. Divine, R. Miller, J.H. Wilson, J Linrud, 2008. ‧. sit. y. Nat. In 1980, only 1 in 36 students (2.7%) completed internships. However, in just 20 years time,. io. er. this number has increased. In 2000, 3 out of 4 (75%) of students completed internships (Coco, 2000). Furthermore, internships could serve as a differentiator among fresh graduates, a. al. n. v i n C hamong others. Students symbol of maturity and competence e n g c h i U who have had important and. meaningful tasks with outstanding companies are at a huge advantage (Volpi, 1998). Despite the widespread use of internships in business programs, there is limited research and literature on the effects of internships (Narayanan, Olk, & Fukami, 2010; Weible, 2010). Narayanan et al. (2010) designed a conceptual model for identifying and understanding the factors of internship effectiveness (p. 65). Gault et al. (2010) examined the effect of business internships on job marketability from the employer’s perspective.. . 10 .

(16) Required and Elective Internships With abundant body of literature supporting the effectiveness of internships to students (Cook, Parker and Pettijohn 2000; Knouse, Tanner and Harris 1999; Schambach and Dirks 2002), it is surprising that not a lot of business schools or departments require their students to have one. One of the reasons that might explain this fact is that required internships, compared to elective internships could incur higher cost for a department. For an elective internship,. 治政大 things such as doing more don’t plan to have an internship could just focus on other 立 it’s up to the student, if he or she would participate in one. On the other hand, students who. coursework, joining more extra-curricular activities and etc.. ‧ 國. 學. For a required internship, the department should play a role to make sure that the. ‧. internships are allowed to merit college credit and provide some supervision or guidance. y. Nat. sit. before, during and after the internship. Thus, it requires more commitment from the. n. al. er. io. department to allocate resources and time to provide an adequate support for the students. i n U. v. during the internship program. (R. Divine, R. Miller, J.H. Wilson, J Linrud, 2008). Ch. engchi. Furthermore, it pushes departments to handle greater role and responsibility to ensure that all the students have appropriate internship programs. It would also mean that long-term effort should be given by departments to establish strong relationships with employers and assist interns in improving their job search. This means the department must direct substantial effort toward activities that will build better relationships with employers and improve their students’ job search and interviewing skills. Though mandatory internship programs require huge burden on a department, the literature clearly explains that students benefit a lot from having an internship program. . 11 .

(17) These benefits include improvements in career direction (Perez 2001; Beard and Morton 1999), job preparedness (Perez 2001), marketability (Swift and Kent 1999; Maynard 1999; Hymon-Parker and Smith 1998), job expectations (Knouse, Tanner and Harris 1999), interpersonal skills (Beard and Morton 1999), leadership (Cook, Parker and Pettijohn 2000), and understanding of the business applications of classroom learning (Hymon-Parker and Smith 1998). Given the value of these results, it is clear that an internship is in the best interest of the student. By implementing an internship requirement, a department can make sure that all of its students benefit from such programs.. 政治大. Required internships are more fit for universities that are not focused about PR. 立. purposes and more focused about ensuring that all of the students, including the ones who. ‧ 國. 學. only perform averagely or below averagely, will experience the advantages of an internship program. If an internship is not mandatory, it is likely that many students will choose not to. ‧. pursue, specifically students below average grades or those lacking skills such as. y. Nat. er. io. sit. interpersonal skills (Divine et al 2007).. al. Finally, the decision on whether a department should have an elective or required. n. v i n C h of the department’s internship revolves around the objective e n g c h i U internship program. For some. departments, the main objective of having an internship program is to build external relationships with firms. Furthermore, it could be a reputation building, where they could send their top students to employers. Thus, universities could limit access to only the best students to represent the school in a very positive note. Elective internships could be more suitable for departments that seek internships to be a tool for reputation building, since it allows greater selectivity surrounding internship placement (Divine et al 2007).. . 12 .

(18) Full-time vs. part-time internships Full time internships normally require interns to work regular hours like full-time employees. They work for forty hours each week and may not have the time to take other classes in school. On the other hand, part-time internships allow students to engage in work for fewer hours in a week and provide students the advantage of going to school and take some classes. Employers prefer full-time internships because interns can have regular working hours like a full-time employee. Additional benefits of full-time internships are that supervisors would be able to fully observe all aspects of an intern’s performance in a regular. 政治大. work schedule. It could allow students to fully focus their whole attention to the needs of the. 立. job, since they won’t be needing to attend any of their classes in university.. ‧ 國. 學. Full-time internships also help students remove time conflicts between work and. ‧. school which can push students to juggle both academic requirements and work requirements.. sit. y. Nat. Finally, full-time internships can expand the area in which students can take internships (e.g.. io. al. n. vicinity of their campuses. (Divine et al 2007).. Ch. engchi. er. different cities), because students won’t be limited to interning only at places within the. i n U. v. The main disadvantage of full-time internships is the difficulty for students to plan their schedule especially in the academic part. As a result, some students may not graduate on time or even extend longer just because of the internship. One possibility to reduce this extension is to require full-time internships as a general rule but allow part-time internships to take classes only if the employer gives a consent and agrees to this setting. (Divine et al 2007).. . 13 .

(19) Advantages of Internships College graduates who have had internship experience enjoy many advantages that non-interns do not. Students who are part of internship programs benefit by increased marketability for employment (Divine et al., 2007; Swift & Kent, 1999) and higher salaries (Coco, 2000; Gault et al., 2000). Typically, 30% of each year's graduating seniors have job offers before graduation, but if the student completed an internship program the percentage increases to 58% (Coco, 2000; Gault et al., 2000). Internships can be very impressive on a student's resume, and it can be a differentiator and acts as a deciding factor in getting a job. 政治大 weeks sooner and starting salaries that were 10% higher than students who did not have 立. offer (Ramos, 1997). Students who took internships reported receiving job offers about 10. ‧ 國. 學. internship experiences (Gault et al., 2000). With benefits like better employment after graduation and higher salaries, more and more students are aggressively finding internships.. ‧. Students who have had internships have been proven to be better prepared for a career. y. Nat. io. sit. after graduation. Also, internships improved critical thinking (Gault et al., 2000; Maskooki,. n. al. er. Rama, & Raghunandan, 1998), relating what they learned in school to real-job settings. Ch. i n U. v. (D’Abate et al., 2009; Divine et al., 2007; Hymon-Parker & Smith, 1998; Maskooki et al.,. engchi. 1998; Weible, 2010), and bridging the gap between job expectations developed in the classroom and the reality of career employment (Gault et al, 2010). Interns demonstrate enhanced time management skills, communication skills, and self-discipline (Wesley & Bickle, 2005) and higher job satisfaction (Divine et al., 2007; Gault et al., 2000). Students can also utilize internships as a probationary period to make sure a potential employer fits their needs or even their compatibility within a potential career. Simply put, internships are a great way for students to sample a company without committing for life (Heller, 1997). For college students still exploring on possible career paths, internships are a. . 14 .

(20) great way to discover new findings.. Coco (2000) stated that internships provide the following benefits for students: • Better understanding and knowledge of the similarities and differences in classroom and real world • Deeper industry knowledge • Reduced shock when entering the real world after graduation; • Possibility of faster advancement than non-interns.. 政治大 to evaluate a prospective employee nearly risk-free. Companies can evaluate the intern’s 立. Also, internships can pose a lot of benefits for companies. Internships allow a company. ‧ 國. 學. work ethic, attitude, and technical skills easily during a semester or summer internship program than during a one-hour interview of a perspective employee. Thus, many companies. ‧. hire their most competent interns for full-time positions after graduation.. y. Nat. sit. From high-level managers to entry-level employees, almost everybody in industry agrees. n. al. er. io. that internships are definitely the key to the corporate ladder (Stein, 1996). Thus, more and. i n U. v. more companies globally especially in Taiwan looking to their own interns to find full-time employees.. Ch. engchi. Divine et al. (2007) also stated that one of the advantages that internships can provide is a source of qualified low-cost motivated workers. Like mentioned above, internships also provide chances for employers to evaluate potential long-term employees without long-term commitments. Internship experience provides employers with better hiring decisions and evaluation when hiring for a full-time, permanent position. (Coco, 2000; Gault et al., 2000; Weible, 2010). When the employer hires an intern for a full-time permanent position, there is reduced turnover because the student has adjusted to the company environment, culture. . 15 .

(21) and experiences less shock or uneasiness in the work environment (Maskooki et al., 1998). Employers could also benefit from hiring interns for peak seasons or short-term period for reduced labor costs than hiring a full-time employee. To most host companies, the internship's program value and cost is often higher than to their interns. While most interns are paid a basic salary, which is usually far less than what it would cost a company to employ a fulltime employee (Maynard, 1997). Internships provide the following benefits for the company: • inexpensive sources of competent assistance without paying fringe benefits; • access to highly motivated and productive employees;. 治政 the opportunity to evaluate and cultivate potential 大full time employees (Morrow, 立 1995).. • the release of full-time employees from routine tasks; and. 學. ‧ 國. • . Furthermore, internship experiences could help strengthen the relationships of. ‧. universities and firms, while helping in recruiting the best students for internships and fulltime positions (Coco, 2000). Companies would be able to assess which interns from which. y. Nat. er. io. sit. universities are more suitable to their company, industry and work environment. Even specifically, companies may assess on which programs or majors are more suitable to them.. al. n. v i n Internships help ensure the quality C of the university's curriculum in a real-world environment hengchi U. and provide the university with potential jobs for their students after graduation. Other advantages such as monetary support, guest lecturers, and company visitations could also result from successful internships relationships. Also, the benefits of internships for universities include increased recruiting and better reputation when compared to programs that do not offer mandatory internships (Weible, 2010). As students realized the advantages and benefits of an internship, they aim to enter universities or programs that require or provide internships. Colleges strengthen their business connections by providing qualified interns; the relationship can lead to increased. . 16 .

(22) support to the school (Divine et al., 2007), translating into new scholarships, equipment donations, and grant funding (Fit & Heverly, 1992; Thiel & Hartley, 1997; Weible, 2010). This is also present in a university in Taiwan. National Chengchi University provides qualified MBA students to Xinyi Realty for internships and full-time positions, that have also translated to scholarships and donations. The relationship the university builds with the companies and firms allows the university access to businesses where their future graduates may be hired. This privilege allows faculty members to more accurately provide career expectations to the students in the classroom and. 政治大. better prepare students for their employment after graduation (Gault et al., 2010).. 立. Internship and Job Opportunities. ‧ 國. 學. The Human Capital Theory (Schultz, 1961; Mincer, 1962; Becker, 1964) suggests. ‧. that through education and training such as internships could enhance professional skills. It. Nat. sit. y. doesn’t only improve the hard skills and mental knowledge of these interns but also an. n. al. er. io. opportunity to practice the skills needed for future work. It also increases the human capital,. i n U. v. which is the measure of the economic value of an employee’s skillset. Interns would be much. Ch. engchi. more ready to enter the job market (Groves et al. 1977; Hite and Belizzi 1986) and would experience a greater job satisfaction (Bales 1979). Business undergraduates with internship experience reported better readiness in job acquisition skills and received their first job offers more quickly than non-interns. Interns also stated earning higher salaries and experiencing higher levels of overall job satisfaction than their non-intern counterparts. Hite and Bellizzi (1986) discovered that students with internship experiences could ensure what type of job and company would they like after graduation. Also, internship trains students to be more responsible while still in school and helps them understand more about. . 17 .

(23) what they want in their career (Eyler, 1992). Internships also help enhance self-efficacy and societal effect of interns (Bernstein, 1976). Students understand what the benefits of internships are in terms of future job employment. And utilizes this opportunity to understand the job market while at the same time enhances their competitiveness (Groves et al. 1977). Upon entering the workforce, a lot of fresh graduates have to experience newcomer socialization. If students could gain internship experience beforehand and understand more about the industry and the life of working in an organization, this could speech up the newcomer socialization process. Thus, increasing work productivity and job satisfaction (Saks & Ashforth, 1997).. 立. 政治大. Internships could offer interns a chance to get to know an industry and an organization. ‧ 國. 學. more even before officially entering the workforce. It could help them understand more about. ‧. the characteristics and features of the industry, the market and definitely the organizational. sit. y. Nat. culture, structure and functions. The understanding of the things mentioned above could help. io. function would they fit in more (Coco, 2000 Heller, 1997).. n. al. Ch. engchi. er. them better plan what kind of career they’d like to have in the future and which type of work. i n U. v. A study was conducted among tax professional interns to discuss about their work productivity after the internship programs. Work productivity in this study refers to how fast an employee gets promoted to the next position. The result of this study was that internship experience had a positive effect to future work productivity (Siegel, Blackwood & Landy, 2010). Also another study was done among accountants, employees with internship experience performed better compared to employees without internship experiences before (Knechel & Snowball, 1987).. . 18 .

(24) Internship and Finding Employment According to a study in U.S., 30% of each year's graduating seniors have job offers before graduation, but if the student completed an internship program the percentage increases to 58% (Coco, 2000; Gault et al., 2000). Also in 2010, Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) conducted a study among MBA students. 23% of graduating MBA students have job offers before graduation but if the student completed an internship program the percentage increases to 41%. Over 75% of employers mentioned that they prefer students with internship experiences or students with past related experience (National. 政治大. Association of colleges and Employers, 2009). Also, a study in 2009 by GMAC stated that. 立. close to 81% of employers are willing to provide job opportunities for high-performing MBA. ‧ 國. 學. interns after graduation.. ‧. In Taiwan, due to insufficient studies done about internships. This study referred to. sit. y. Nat. data released by local job websites such as Yes123 and 104 job bank. According to 104 bank,. io. er. fresh graduates usually have a hard time in finding work. They mentioned that on average, a job opening in 104 could get at least 20 applicants. While publicly listed organizations could. al. n. v i n get at least 50 applicants. However,Cgraduates internship experiences could find a job 3 h e n gwith chi U weeks faster than students without internship experiences. Employers see internships as a. way to cover for lack of formal work experience. Thus, fresh graduates with internship experience can have the advantage to find work easier. In 2009, Yes123 conducted a study among Taiwanese students with internship experiences. Yes 123 stated that 35% of university students in Taiwan were eager to find an internship, 20% of them were because it was a mandatory course. Furthermore, an average salary of an intern is about NT$ 9955.. . 19 .

(25) In 2009, Another study was conducted by Yes 123 among employers about internship programs. Among 521 employers. 68.3% don’t offer internship opportunities. Half of them had never had an internship program before. For employers who offer internship programs, 81.9% is paid and 4.6% of paid internships actually have the same salary with full-time employees. However, 18.1% of internships are not paid. The reason was due to employers believe that “Students are here for the experience and this is more important than the salary itself. “ In a survey conducted by Yes123, in 2009, 47.1% of students would like to find an. 政治大. internship program. However only 15.4% of these students were able to successfully find. 立. one, 63.3% of the students are even willing to accept a non-paid internship. They believe that. ‧ 國. 學. internships could offer them valuable experiences such as honing their professional skills. While the remaining 36.7% believe that internships should be paid. They believe that “Once. Nat. sit. y. ‧. you’ve exert some effort, it’s just right to get paid.”. io. er. Regardless of all the issues mentioned above, Students in Taiwan believe that having internship experiences could help them learn more and make their resume look better for. al. n. v i n C hdifficulties exist such future employment. However, some e n g c h i U as schools don’t monitor the internships of students. The detailed findings could be find in table 1 below.. . 20 .

(26) Table 1 Yes123 Students’ Benefits and Common Complaints about internships Benefits that students. 1. Learn on the job experience : 78.9%. value the most about. 2. The work is related to students’ major: 43.3%. internships. 3. Value of internships in the resume: 39.8% 4. Colleagues are influential and helpful: 30.2% 5. A sure job after graduation: 28.9%. Students common. 1. Schools don’t monitor students’ internships: 12.4%. complaints about. 2. Students don’t understand the company and the job. 立. internships. 政治大. description beforehand: 10.7%. ‧ 國. 學. 3. Received low pay: 18.7%. 4. Didn’t learn anything due to the job role: 7.0%. ‧. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. Task Goal Clarity, Learning and Job Acceptance Intention. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Interns are normally handed a task or a project to complete for the course of the internship. These internships are normally on a short-term basis such as summer internships. Their job is to lead the project and come up with business solutions that could create a positive business impact. On the other hand, some interns are assigned to a function where it supports the daily business aspects. These interns are usually hired for a longer period relatively to summer internships. Similarly though, both kinds of internships have a task or a goal in hand. These roles are handed by line managers and according to business results. Role theory is the perspective for understanding how people learn new jobs, tasks and responsibilities (Bauer, Bodner, Erdogan, Truxillo, & Tucker, 2007; Saks & Ashforth, 1997). . 21 .

(27) Roles are expectations linked to a position in a firm. These positions come with a set of roles such as sales supervisors and their role to lead the company’s sales representatives for wider distribution or interns with a role to lead a project for the company. Vaguely defined roles cause stress to employees especially interns (Jackson & Schuler, 1985; Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964). Stress could reduce the intern’s capability to absorb new information and respond to task requirements and demands (Kanfer & Ackerman, 1989). Role theory further distinguishes task goals from task activities (Kahn et al., 1964, p. 94). Task goals refer to the work to be completed (Locke & Latham, 1990, 2002), while. 政治大. activities are the specific task strategies used to accomplish these goals. For example,. 立. conducting a marketing study for e-commerce for a summer internship is a task goal.. ‧ 國. 學. Interviewing consumers, analyzing data, and creating summary findings and tables are the task strategies associated with that goal. Though task goals and activities are rarely studied. ‧. as separate role dimensions (King & King, 1990; Sawyer, 1992), it is important for MBA. Nat. sit. y. interns who have only a short period of time to learn and show their skills and performance.. al. n. learning.. er. io. Here we focus on task goal clarity as a specific factor in structuring a new role to facilitate. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Task goal clarity in this research is the degree to which the intern understands his or her task’s expected output also in what terms of standards these outputs will be evaluated. When task goals are well-defined, communicated and understood, the intern’s attention and effort are better focused on relevant activities and develop the skills the goal requires. For example, an intern may have to figure out who conduct a focus group research needed for a brand’s market research when the task goal is to complete a study of consumer’s behavior. This study focuses on task learning: that is, positive learning and change in task-related skills (Anderson, 2000).. . 22 .

(28) Task learning is a facet of the broader learning domain in which individuals build knowledge regarding themselves, their environment, and others through experience and reflection (Bandura, 1986). When task goals are vague or unclear, uncertainty and stress are inclined to affect the interns’ ability to learn by making it difficult to identify, acquire, and perform proper activities to accomplish the task (Jackson & Schuler, 1985; Saks & Ashforth, 1997). Task goal clarity provides task structures and organizing frameworks that help interns choose, enhance, and execute activities that constitute learning (Seidel, Rimmele, & Prenzel, 2005). Goal clarity can provide learning to interns through the task design itself, as in the case of well-specified work output that facilitates learning by doing (Eraut, 2007), or. 治政大 identify appropriate activities through support from mentors or line managers that helps 立 (Lankau & Scandura, 2002). In general, beginners or novices like interns learn better when. ‧ 國. 學. they are given task structures that guide problem-solving activities (Reiser, 2005). Task goal. ‧. clarity is the task structure on which this study focuses.. Nat. sit. y. Job acceptance intention in this research refers to the intern’s perception in his or her. n. al. er. io. chances of accepting a full-time job offer with the internship employer. Interns who learn. i n U. v. more from their internship programs are expected to be highly motivated to accept a job offer. Ch. engchi. from their employer in contrast to those who learn less (Beenen & Mrousseau, 2010). This is particularly likely in the case of gaining task knowledge, where expanding one’s skills on the job can show an indicator for compelling future and generate commitment to the organization (Hornung, Rousseau, & Glaser, 2009; Rousseau, Hornung, & Kim, 2009). In comparison, other structures of learning can either positively or negatively impact one’s drive to accept a job offer, depending on the knowledge gained (Gundry & Rousseau, 1994; Holton, 1996). Job acceptance intentions are known to predict actual job acceptance intention and indicate how attractive an employer is to a job candidate (see, e.g., Cable & Judge, 1996).. . 23 .

(29) Organizations that provide interns with more task learning opportunities are more likely to have a better employer brand for several reasons. First, developing skills meets individual needs for personal competence and autonomy. Employers providing this opportunity, therefore, are more desirable places to work (Sheldon, Turban, Brown, Barrick, & Judge, 2003). Second, learning opportunities during internship programs show the potential for similar opportunities in future full-time positions after the internships. Interns are motivated to stay with a company where learning opportunities are anticipated (Ng, Butts, Vandenberg, DeJoy, & Wilson, 2006). Third, learning improves prospects for advancing in one’s career with a particular employer (Fugate, Kinicki, & Ashforth, 2004; Hall, 2002;. 治政 Rollag, Parise, & Cross, 2005). Thus, companies who offer大 task learning opportunities should 立 be more attractive to interns. To summarize, task goal clarity is expected to help interns gain. ‧ 國. 學. more learning experiences. If interns focused their efforts on task goal activities, it could help. ‧. them learn and expand their professional skillset. Learning is thus expected to strengthen. al. er. io. Autonomy and Learning. sit. y. Nat. interns’ job acceptance intentions.. n. v i n Autonomy is the freedom that interns have to complete assigned task goals (Hackman Ch engchi U. & Oldham, 1980). Autonomy is an important dimension of effective job design (Hackman & Oldham, 1975, 1980) and psychological empowerment (Spreitzer, 1996). Autonomy can. facilitate learning by strengthening individual commitment to task goals (Locke & Schweiger, 1979), improving motivation and task persistence (Sheldon et al., 2003), and offering opportunities to handle new task and responsibilities (Parker, 1998). Studies that combine specific assigned goals with worker participation (a kind of autonomy) report a positive relationship with worker productivity gains, which correlate with and possibly indicate learning (Campbell & Gingrich, 1986; Miller & Monge, 1986). A previous research shared. . 24 .

(30) the hypothesis that high autonomy will strengthen the positive effect of task goal clarity on learning. That is, goal commitment, goal internalization and persistence, and handling on new responsibilities (Locke & Schweiger, 1979; Parker, 1998; Sheldon et al., 2003). Low autonomy, otherwise, should destroy these effects, thus lowering the positive effect of task goal clarity on learning. Unclear and vague task goals combined with high autonomy or freedom can lead to ambiguity in both task goals and the activities needed to completing goals (Kahn et al., 1964; King & King, 1990; Rizzo, House, & Lirtz- man, 1970). Low goal clarity means that clear goals aren’t present (Seidel et al., 2005). Under these circumstances, low autonomy reduces some ambiguity. it provides alternative support for learning as. 治政大may not fully understand their structured activities. Although interns in these circumstances 立. task goals, interns can still experience a lot of learning by performing activities with low. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. autonomy.. Employees who are familiar with their task and goals usually tend to have high task. Nat. sit. y. goal clarity. In contrast, interns are likely to experience a different set of task goal clarity.. n. al. er. io. Their roles will differ with unfamiliar task and responsibilities to be completed in a short. i n U. v. amount of time. For example, interns who have high autonomy in their responsibilities may. Ch. engchi. not experience a lot of learning if they don’t fully understand their task goals. Task and goals with high autonomy can risk interns in losing their attention from learning and toward finding ways to get a job done. This autonomy can push interns who lack the right strategies to be less effective at searching for such strategies (Kanfer & Ackerman, 1989). High autonomy may cause interns to develop a set of new task plans of different quality, standards and appropriateness (Locke & Latham, 1990), which affects efficiency and learning as they complete these internship tasks and goals (Drach-Zahavy & Erez, 2002). On the other hand, lower autonomy could offer interns with more complete scaffolding (Seidel. . 25 .

(31) et al., 2005). It may help interns focus more and put more effort on stated activities and procedures, thus allowing them to learn while effectively completing the tasks and responsibilities. To sum it up, prior studies has suggested higher autonomy should strengthen the relationship between goal clarity and learning. In internships where they are mostly shortterm, however, it is possible that higher autonomy may push attention and effort away from learning and toward figuring out how to complete the tasks and responsibilities. Mentorship and Learning. 政治大 Mentorship in this research 立 refers to the effect of the line manager or reporting. ‧ 國. 學. manager to the intern during the duration of the internship. Mentoring may be defined as ‘‘a deliberate pairing of a more skilled or experienced person with a lesser skilled or experienced. ‧. one, with the agreed-upon goal of having the lesser skilled person grow and develop specific. sit. y. Nat. competencies’’ (Murray, 1991, p. xiv). Mentors’ responsibilities include helping the students. n. al. er. io. learn and complete their tasks and responsibilities. Thus, mentors should be very familiar. v. with the designated tasks and responsibilities given to the intern. “Mentorship programs. Ch. engchi. i n U. require proper understanding, planning, implementation and evaluation” (Best Practices: Mentoring, 2008). Basically, Mentors share wisdom about the norms, values, and mores that are only bound to the organization (Gibson & Cordova, 1999), offer guidance, counseling, support, and protection to mentees (Kram, 1985), and provide constructive feedback and information to help the mentee complete his or her goals (Douglas, 1997). Mentoring also focuses on skill and competence development by offering challenging roles and assignments that help attain the mentees internship goals (Kram, 1985). Mentors could bring positive effect to interns and this is necessary for counseling while at the same time pushes mentees to reach greater potential and greater achievement (Kram, 1985). Acting as role models,. . 26 .

(32) mentors guide the social learning and competence development of their mentees (Feldman, 1988). Similarly, mentors can give specific and challenging career goals for mentees and build the self-efficacy of mentees (Kram, 1985), both key elements of goal setting processes (Locke & Latham, 1990). Mentors could be a make or break for the mentee. It could provide great learning opportunities to the mentees but also might provide a bad learning experience. According to studies by Kram (1985) and Ragins (1997), mentoring relationships provides mentees with benefits such as higher levels of overall compensation, promotions and career advancement,. 政治大. enhanced career mobility, and career satisfaction. However, mentor–mentee relationships. 立. may not be an advantage because mentees may not learn critical career advancement. ‧ 國. 學. techniques for pursuing and achieving goals from their mentors (Mumford, 1995; Scandura, 1998) or may receive limited career advancement opportunities (Ragins, Cotton, & Miller,. ‧. 2000).. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Different learning goal orientations might be a potential reason for unsuccessful mentoring relationship. ‘‘When a task is approached from a learning goal orientation,. al. n. v i n individuals strive to understand something their level of competence in a C h new or to increase engchi U given activity’’ (Button, Mathieu, & Zajac, 1996, p. 26). Learning goal orientation is a relatively stable characteristic that mentors and mentees bring with them into their relationship (Button et al., 1996; Dweck, 1986). Dweck and her colleagues (e.g., Bempechat, London, & Dweck, 1991; Dweck, 1986; Dweck & Leggett, 1988) emphasized that learning goals pursued by individuals motivate behavior and influence the interpretation and reaction to outcomes. Thus, if the learning goal orientations of the mentor and the mentee are different, the result would not be ideal for both parties. Learning-goal-oriented mentors and mentees are likely to put more attention on effort. . 27 .

(33) and innate motivation, as a way of using ability, and increasing expectations of achievements. In fact, such intellectually stimulating and innately motivating behavior displayed by mentors has been linked to mentoring functions received by mentees (Sosik & Godshalk, 2000). Thus, while mentoring has been associated with mentee socialization into organizations, mentoring may also be referred to as a learning and competence development goal-driven process. (Kram, 1985), The study of mentor–mentee relationships may be fully nurtured through a mutual acknowledgement of the learning goal orientation related to each party in the relationship. The setting, pursuit and learning of goals for personal and professional development is a critical factor in the passing on of new learning in mentor-mentee relationships (Kram, 1985).. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. In regards to mentorship and learning goal theory, Godshalk and Sosik (2002) stated two things that mentors help mentee in - first is focused on career aspiration and satisfaction. ‧. while the second one is career development. Mentor and mentee learning goal orientation has. Nat. sit. y. a positive relationship with mentoring functions received by mentees. Mentoring functions. n. al. er. io. also help mentees have higher managerial aspirations and career satisfaction. Second, the. i n U. v. degree of mentoring dyad similarity on learning goal orientation was associated with. Ch. engchi. mentoring functions received and career outcomes. Specifically, when mentors and mentees had high and similar levels of learning goal capability, mentees reported the highest levels of guidance and support from mentors and higher levels of career development. Ragins (1997) supported this theory as well by acknowledging homogeneity of the dyad members, which states that the higher the similarity of characteristics between the mentor and the mentee, the greater the chances for better psychosocial support, career development, and role modeling. Mentees could see a role model in their mentors and aspiring to be like them. More so, if their characteristics are alike. They could see the. . 28 .

(34) possibility of them becoming like their mentors after a few years in their career. Thus, mentorship plays a huge role in the learning of interns in this matter. This study was organized around the theoretical framework that task goal clarity, mentorship and autonomy could affect learning thus affect job acceptance intention. Figure 3 below displays the framework developed and tested in this study.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. io. sit. y. Nat. er. Figure 3 Hypothesized Relationships. al. n. v i n C h is the extent to which Task goal clarity in this context e n g c h i U the intern understands its task. and goal during the internship. He or she is expected to come out with results that will be. evaluated by managers in the company. When task goals are well defined and well understood, the interns are better to focus their effort and attention to the right task in hand. They would also be able to develop the skills the task requires. (Beenen & Mrousseau, 2010) Mentorship in this study refers to the guidance effect of the line manager to the intern during the internship. Mentors are meant to guide the mentees during the process. They offer feedback, counseling and understand the performance reviews to fully assist the intern in. . 29 .

(35) achieving its potential during the internship. Successful mentoring programs require proper understanding, planning, implementation and evaluation. (Best Practices: Mentoring, 2008) Autonomy is the freedom or discretion MBA interns have to carry out assigned task goals (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). It could also be referred to the flexibility an intern might have in completing his task. Autonomy Learning refers to the skills learned or improved during the internship. Internship tasks need a certain amount of skills such as analytical skills, communication skills to be able to complete the task or goal in hand.. 政治大 Job acceptance intention 立refers to the intention of the interns to accept employment ‧. ‧ 國. 學. after the internship.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. . Ch. engchi. 30 . i n U. v.

(36) Chapter 3. Research Design & Methodology Research Hypothesis The purpose of this study is understand the relationship between task goal clarity, mentorship, autonomy, learning to job acceptance intention for interns. The methodology used was a deductive form of logic wherein theories and hypotheses are tested in a causeand-effect order. Concepts, variables, and hypotheses were chosen before the study began and remained fixed throughout the study. This study proposed 6 hypotheses.. 政治大. Task Goal Clarity and Learning. 立. When task goals are well-define, communicated and understood, the intern’s attention. ‧ 國. 學. and effort are better focused on relevant activities and learning the skills the goal requires.. ‧. Beenen and Mrousseau (2010) state that to enable learning, the intern’s task goals should be. sit. y. Nat. well specified and communicated. If goals are clearly understood by interns, they would be. io. er. inclined to gather information on how to complete the project or task and the set of deliverables needed. The effort that they exert tends to become the learning that they receive. al. n. v i n C h roles cause stress in the ned. Furthermore, vaguely defined e n g c h i U to employees especially interns (Jackson & Schuler, 1985; Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964). Stress could. reduce the intern’s capability to absorb new information and respond to task requirements and demands (Kanfer & Ackerman, 1989). Therefore: Hypothesis #1: Task goal clarity is positively related to the intern’s learning. Mentorship and Learning Mentors are an important source for an intern’s learning. They serve as a channel for . 31 .

(37) the company to instill knowledge, culture and information to new employees such as interns. Basically, Mentors share wisdom about the norms, values, and mores that are only bound to the organization (Gibson & Cordova, 1999), offer guidance, counseling, support, and protection to mentees (Kram, 1985), and provide constructive feedback and information to help the mentee complete his or her goals (Douglas, 1997). mentoring focuses on skill and competence development by offering challenging roles and assignments that help attain the mentees internship goals (Kram, 1985). These challenging roles could be the intern’s projects that could significantly affect the Mentors could bring positive effect to interns and this is necessary for counseling while at the same time pushes mentees to reach greater potential. 治政大 a vital role in the learning of and greater achievement (Kram, 1985). Thus, mentors play 立 interns.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Therefore:. Hypotheses #2: Mentorship is positively related to the intern’s learning.. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. Task Goal Clarity, Mentorship and Learning. Ch. i n U. v. In regards to mentorship and learning goal theory, (Godshalk & Sosik, 2002) stated. engchi. that mentor and intern learning goal orientation has a positive relationship with mentoring functions such as learning received by mentees. Mentors are the one responsible to communicate the task design and goal deliverables to the interns. If the mentors could communicate it clearly, then interns could fully understand the requirements and deliverables needed for the project. In turn, they could fully focus on these deliverables and learn the skillset needed to complete it. Mentors set and communicate these tasks which could affect the clarity and in turn affect the learning of the intern. Therefore:. . 32 .

(38) Hypotheses #3: Mentorship mediates the relationship between task goal clarity and learning. Autonomy, Task Goal Clarity and Learning Autonomy is the freedom given to the intern in completing the task and goal during the internship. The freedom given could affect learning due to the fact that the boundaries set for the interns is what either pushes them to understand more or limits them to a certain amount. Autonomy can facilitate learning by strengthening individual commitment to task goals (Locke & Schweiger, 1979), improving motivation and task persistence (Sheldon et al.,. 政治大. 2003), and offering opportunities to handle new task and responsibilities (Parker, 1998). The. 立. autonomy given by the mentor sets as the boundary to make interns fully explore their. ‧ 國. 學. capabilities in finishing their task and goals during the internship program. The magnitude. ‧. of autonomy should be adjusted to the understanding of the goals and task by the intern, since task goal clarity is the clearness of what tasks are needed to do then it could also affect the. sit. n. al. er. io Therefore:. y. Nat. learning of the intern.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Hypotheses #4: Autonomy moderates the relationship of task goal clarity and learning. Learning and Job Acceptance Intention Interns who learn more from their internship programs are expected to be highly motivated to accept a job offer from their employer in contrast to those who learn less (Beenen & Mrousseau, 2010). Learning opportunities during internship programs show the potential for similar opportunities in future full-time positions after the internships. Interns are motivated to stay with a company where learning opportunities are anticipated (Ng, Butts, . 33 .

(39) Vandenberg, DeJoy, & Wilson, 2006). Furthermore, the main motive for students to have an internship is to see what the real corporate world is like, to learn what are the dos and don’ts and most importantly learn the right skillset needed for the job, the industry and the company. These internship programs could serve as the first job of the interns and be the first source of real-job learning for them. If they learn more, they’ll see the value of working in the same company. Thus, companies who offer substantial learning opportunities would be more attractive for interns to accept a job offer. Therefore:. 政治大. Hypotheses #5: Learning is positively related to job acceptance Intention. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Task Goal Clarity, Learning & Job Acceptance Intention. ‧. Task goal clarity is expected to help interns gain more learning experiences by fully understanding the task and goals. If interns focused their efforts on clear task goal activities. y. Nat. io. sit. such as coming up with a new product launch marketing project or a sales distribution. n. al. er. network expansion project, interns could fully devote themselves into completing and. Ch. i n U. v. excelling in these projects while at the same time help them learn and expand their. engchi. professional skillset. When interns learn, they’re more motivated to accept a job offer since they see a bright future for them in the same company. Learning is thus expected to strengthen interns’ job acceptance intentions. Therefore: Hypotheses #6: Learning mediates the relationship between task goal and job acceptance intention.. . 34 .

(40) Research Design & Tool This study sought to determine if learning had any significant impact to job acceptance intention. Furthermore, factors such as task goal clarity, mentorship and autonomy are also determined if there is any significant impact to job acceptance intention. This study used questionnaire as its main research tool. The questionnaire contained three parts. The first part inquires about internship information of the interns. The second part was divided into five sections namely, task goal clarity, mentorship, autonomy, learning and job acceptance intention. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed to students who have had. 政治大. internship experiences. This quantitative research study used descriptive and correlations for. 立. the analysis of the degree of the relationship between the mentioned factors above to job. ‧ 國. 學. acceptance intention.. ‧. Variable Definitions and Measurements of Variables. Nat. sit. y. The variables of the study are divided into 5 big constructs namely task goal clarity,. al. n. are shown below:. er. io. mentorship, autonomy, learning and job acceptance intention. The definitions of the variables. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Task Goal Clarity Definition: Task goal clarity in this research is the degree to which the intern understands his or her task’s expected output also in what terms of standards these outputs will be evaluated. When task goals are vague or unclear, uncertainty and stress are inclined to affect the interns’ ability to learn by making it difficult to identify, acquire, and perform proper activities to accomplish the task (Jackson & Schuler, 1985; Saks & Ashforth, 1997).. . 35 .

(41) Questions & Measurement: The questions and measurement for task goal clarity were adopted from the questionnaires developed by Beenen and Mroussea (2010) under task goal clarity. Respondents rate the items based on the degree of clarity of the tasks and goal given to them using a five-point Likert scale (1=” strongly disagree”; 5 = “strongly agree”). Sample items include: “I received a clear explanation of what I needed to accomplish in my internship.” The scale’s alpha reliability for task goal clarity in this study is 0.835. The questions used to measure task goal clarity and its references are shown in Table 2 Mentorship. 治政大pairing of a more skilled or Definition: Mentoring is defined as ‘‘a deliberate 立. experienced person with a lesser skilled or experienced one, with the agreed-upon goal of. ‧ 國. 學. having the lesser skilled person grow and develop specific competencies’’ based on Murray. ‧. (1991, p. xiv). Mentors’ responsibilities include helping the students learn and complete their. sit. y. Nat. tasks and responsibilities. Thus, mentors should be very familiar with the designated tasks. io. n. al. er. and responsibilities given to the intern.. i n U. v. Questions & Measurement: The questions and measurement for mentorship were. Ch. engchi. adopted from the literatures reviewed in this study. Respondents rate the items based on the impact of their mentors to them using a five-point Likert scale (1=” strongly disagree”;5 = “strongly agree”). Sample items include: “My mentor offered feedback to help me improve and attain my goal in the internship.” The scale’s alpha reliability for mentorship in this study is 0.874. The questions used to measure mentorship and its references are shown in Table 2 Autonomy Definition: Autonomy is the freedom that interns have to complete assigned task goals (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). Autonomy can facilitate learning by strengthening . 36 .

(42) individual commitment to task goals (Locke & Schweiger, 1979), improving motivation and task persistence (Sheldon et al., 2003), and offering opportunities to handle new task and responsibilities (Parker, 1998). Questions & Measurement: The questions and measurement for autonomy were adopted from the questionnaires developed by Beenen and Mroussea (2010) under autonomy. Respondents rate the items based on the degree of autonomy when completing tasks and goal given to them using a five-point Likert scale (1=” strongly disagree”; 5 = “strongly agree”). Sample items include: “I have limited flexibility in how I do my task in the internship.” The. 政治大. scale’s alpha reliability for autonomy in this study is 0.728. The questions used to measure. 立. Learning. 學. ‧ 國. autonomy and its references are shown in Table 2. ‧. Definition: Learning in this study refers to the improved skills and knowledge. Nat. sit. y. developed by interns during the internship. Companies who offer task learning opportunities. er. io. should be more attractive to interns.. al. n. v i n C hThe questions andUmeasurement Measurement: engchi. Questions &. for learning were. adopted from the questionnaires developed by Beenen and Mroussea (2010) under learning. Respondents rate the items based on the amount of learning they’ve absorb or improved during the internship using a five-point Likert scale (1=” strongly disagree”;5 = “strongly agree”). Sample items include: “I developed my analytical skills.” The scale’s alpha reliability for learning in this study is 0.789. The questions used to measure learning and its references are shown in Table 2 Job Acceptance Intention. . 37 .

(43) Definition: Job acceptance intention in this research refers to the intern’s perception in his or her chances of accepting a full-time job offer with the internship employer. Interns who learn more from their internship programs are expected to be highly motivated to accept a job offer from their employer in contrast to those who learn less (Beenen & Mrousseau, 2010). Questions & Measurement: The questions and measurement for job acceptance intention were adopted from the literature reviewed in this research (Beenen & Mrousseau, 2010, Cable & Judge, 1996). Respondents rate the items based on the willingness of. 政治大. accepting the job offer given to them by the employer using a five-point Likert scale (1=”. 立. strongly disagree”;5 = “strongly agree”). Sample items include: “After completing my. ‧ 國. 學. internship, I would want to work for the company I interned for.” The scale’s alpha reliability for job acceptance intention in this study is 0.901. The questions used to measure job. ‧. acceptance intention and its references are shown in Table 2. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Table 2. n. Questions and References for the Variables Variables. C hQuestions engchi. i n U. v. 1. I fully understood what my internship role was. Task Goal 2. I fully understood which functions (e.g. finance department, Clarity marketing department and etc.) to support in my internship. 3. I fully understood what my daily task and routines were. 4. I was given clear objectives of what I needed to accomplish in my internship 5. I was given clear descriptions of work deliverables I needed to complete in my internship 6. I received a clear explanation of what I needed to accomplish in my internship. 7. I knew what the criteria would be for my performance evaluation. Mentorship 1. My mentor or line manager shared with me the values, norms and the culture of the company.. . 38 . Reference Beenen & Mrousseau, 2010. Gibson & Cordova, 1999.