Effective Practices

A January 2023 Research Report, “Designing effective internships: A mixed-methods exploration of the sociocultural aspects of intern satisfaction and development” by Hora et al. from the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions examines the effects of internship quality on college students. The study finds the following:   

Factors Contributing to High-Quality Internships: 

The quality and effectiveness of internships are influenced by several key factors: 

• Supervisor Support: Effective supervision, including building trust and offering career-related advice, is crucial. It significantly boosts interns' self-efficacy (belief in their own capabilities) and overall satisfaction with the experience.    

• Challenging Tasks: Internships that offer meaningful assignments requiring interns to take initiative, collaborate, and apply academic knowledge led to greater personal, professional, and civic benefits, along with higher satisfaction. These tasks help students acquire new knowledge and skills and identify their strengths and weaknesses.    

• Social Interaction: Positive interactions with both peer interns and supervisors create a supportive learning environment. Opportunities for receiving and providing feedback are also important for intern performance.   

Effects of Internships on Students: 

The review highlights both positive and negative outcomes associated with internships: 

Positive Effects: 

• Enhanced Employability: Internships significantly increase the probability of securing employment after graduation. Applicants with internship experience have a notably higher chance of being invited for job interviews.    

• Skill Development: Internships are crucial for developing professional skills, including meta-competencies like self-regulation, self-awareness, and self-direction, as well as technical and interpersonal skills. International internships can foster cultural knowledge, language proficiency, and cultural intelligence.    

• Higher Income: Participation in internships is linked to higher income levels after graduation, primarily due to the development of general human capital (skills and knowledge).    

• Career Affirmation: Internships can help affirm students' career interests.    

• Benefits of Virtual/Hybrid Formats: Especially since the pandemic, virtual and hybrid internships have shown success in providing flexible, accessible opportunities, allowing interns to develop skills and confidence.    

Negative Effects and Concerns: 

• Varied Quality: Internship quality can vary significantly based on the tasks assigned, the level of mentorship, and the work environment. Poor experiences can result from inadequate supervision, unchallenging tasks, or hostile environments.    

• Weak Long-Term Wage Impact: While internships help secure initial employment, there's weak evidence suggesting they lead to significantly higher wages in the long term.    

• Potential Risks: Internships can expose students to risks, such as legal, financial, or health and safety risks, highlighting the need for institutions to implement strong supervision and risk management strategies. For example, the report describes how some internships where specialized or dangerous machinery is used, close supervision is more important than in other workplaces. An additional example mentions close supervision of interns at a financial firm in order to prevent risks related to the work, such as making mistakes related to a client’s finances.

• Equity and Access Issues: Significant barriers prevent many students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, first-generation students, and those in certain majors or geographic locations, from accessing internships. Racial and gender dynamics can also negatively affect internship experiences.    

Conclusion: 

While high-quality internships offer substantial benefits for student development and career prospects, ensuring equity, managing risks, and focusing on key quality factors like supervisor support, challenging tasks, and social interaction are essential for maximizing positive outcomes.

A 2014 study, “Converting interns into regular employees: The role of intern–supervisor exchange,” by Philip Rose, Stephen Teo, and Julia Connell, studies the effect of intern-supervisor relationship quality on interns. This study focuses on the quality of the intern-supervisor exchange (using Leader-Member Exchange or LMX theory) and its impact on intern outcomes, especially the transition to full-time employment (conversion). 

Effects of Internship Quality (Intern-Supervisor Exchange): 

• Impact on In-Role Experience: 

• Performance: A higher quality intern-supervisor relationship is strongly and positively related to the intern's in-role performance during the internship.    

• Satisfaction: Higher quality intern-supervisor exchange leads to higher intern satisfaction with the internship experience.    

• Learning Opportunities: Interns in higher-quality relationships with their supervisors perceive greater learning opportunities during the internship.    

Impact on Conversion to Full-Time Employment: 

• Intern's Intention to Convert: The quality of the intern-supervisor exchange did not significantly predict whether the intern intended to seek full-time employment with the host organization after graduation. Similarly, neither internship satisfaction nor learning opportunities significantly predicted the intern's intention to convert. This suggests factors beyond the immediate quality of the internship experience may drive the intern's decision.    

• Supervisor's Intention to Convert: The quality of the intern-supervisor exchange did positively predict the supervisor's intention to offer the intern a full-time position. However, the intern's actual in-role performance did not significantly predict the supervisor's intention in this study.    

• Actual Conversion: Despite the complex influences on intentions, both the intern's intention to convert and the supervisor's intention to convert (measured during the internship) were strong predictors of whether the intern became a full-time employee at the host organization after graduation.    

 Conclusion: 

This resource indicates that while the quality of the intern-supervisor relationship significantly boosts an intern's performance, satisfaction, and learning during the internship, it doesn't necessarily translate into the intern's desire to stay with the company long-term. However, this relationship quality does influence the supervisor's desire to retain the intern, and the stated intentions of both parties are good indicators of actual hiring outcomes post-graduation. 

A 2009 study, “Making the most of an internship: An empirical study of internship satisfaction,” by Caroline D’Abate, Mark Youndt, and Kathryn Wenzel, studies the effect of internship quality in student satisfaction. This study found that internship satisfaction is primarily influenced by specific aspects of the job itself and the broader work environment, rather than contextual factors like pay or commute. 

Quality Factors Affecting Satisfaction: 

• Work Environment Characteristics: This was the most important category predicting satisfaction. Key factors include:    
• Learning Opportunities: Interns reported higher satisfaction when the internship provided significant opportunities to learn things they couldn't learn in the classroom.    

• Supervisor Support: Having a supportive supervisor who acted as a mentor was a significant predictor of satisfaction.    

• Organizational Satisfaction: Liking the host organization as a whole was an extremely strong predictor of internship satisfaction.    
• Job Characteristics: While less impactful than the work environment overall, certain job characteristics were important:    
• Task Significance: Interns were more satisfied when they felt their work was important and had a significant impact on others within the organization.    

• Feedback: Receiving information about their work performance positively influenced satisfaction (though the effect was marginally significant in the final model).    

Factors Not Significantly Affecting Satisfaction (in this study): 

• Contextual Factors: Whether the internship was paid, satisfaction with pay level, the commute, location desirability, or flexible hours did not significantly predict satisfaction. The authors suggest interns might anticipate these factors or tolerate them because the position is temporary.    

• Other Job/Work Environment Factors: Skill variety, task identity (doing a task from start to finish), autonomy, career development opportunities, and coworker support were not significant predictors of satisfaction in the final analysis.

Conclusion on Quality and Satisfaction: 

This resource concludes that high-quality internships leading to greater student satisfaction are those that are fundamentally developmental. They emphasize providing substantial learning opportunities, supportive supervision and mentoring, integration into an organization of the intern’s liking, assigning meaningful tasks, and offering regular feedback. The temporary, learning-focused nature of internships means these developmental aspects appear more critical to satisfaction than factors like autonomy or pay, which might be more important in permanent employment.  

A 2024 literature review , titled “A Literature Review of the Research on College Internships from 2021-2023: Focusing on Equity & Quality During the Pandemic Era” from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions, concludes the quality of an internship, largely determined by factors like supervisor support, the nature of tasks assigned, and social interactions, directly impacts student outcomes and experiences. 

Positive Effects of High-Quality Internships: 

• Enhanced Self-Efficacy and Performance: Strong supervisor support and positive social interactions significantly boost an intern's self-efficacy, which can in turn lead to better performance and more positive evaluations. 

• Greater Skill Development and Satisfaction: Internships offering challenging, meaningful tasks where students can take initiative and apply their knowledge result in higher satisfaction, acquisition of new skills, and a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. 

• Improved Professional Development: Strong social interactions with peers and supervisors foster a supportive environment that enhances learning and professional development. Receiving feedback is also significant in boosting performance. 

• Better Post-Internship Outcomes: Students participating in high-quality internships with challenging tasks report better employment prospects and an enriched college experience. 

Negative Effects of Low-Quality Internships: 

• Frustration and Disengagement: Internships characterized by inadequate supervision, unchallenging or meaningless tasks, or hostile work environments can lead to negative experiences, frustration, and disengagement.    

• Limited Benefits: When quality is low, the potential positive impacts on skills, career prospects, and satisfaction may not be realized. 

Conclusion: 

This literature review emphasizes that a high-quality internship experience, defined by supportive supervision, challenging and engaging tasks, and positive social dynamics, is crucial for students to gain significant personal, professional, and academic benefits. Conversely, low-quality experiences can be ineffective or adverse. 

The July 2020 Research Brief #11 From the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions, “The Internship Scorecard: A new framework for evaluating college internships on the basis of purpose, quality and equitable access” concludes that there is no single way to determine what constitutes a high-quality internship.    

Instead, several factors can contribute to the quality of an internship: 

• Intentional learning design and alignment: High-quality internships are structured around clear learning objectives that align with students’ academic and career goals. This includes defined activities, a set schedule, and practical application of classroom knowledge. 

• Supportive supervision and mentorship: Effective internships provide consistent guidance through experienced supervisors who offer mentorship, feedback, and professional development to support intern growth. 

• Meaningful tasks and activities: Interns should be assigned tasks that have educational and professional value. For example, an intern is given responsibilities that contribute to the organization's mission, rather than just administrative work.    

• Opportunities for growth: The internship should provide opportunities for interns to develop professional skills and gradually take on more responsibilities. For example, an intern begins by observing and shadowing, then taking on low-risk tasks, and gradually takes on more complex and autonomous tasks, and eventually leads a project.    

• Equitable access: Institutions and internship providers should strive to make internships available to all students, regardless of demographics or connections. Students such as those who are working, low-income, first-generation, or students of color experience additional barriers in the pursuit of an internship. Promising tactics to address this include compensation, transportation access (e.g. transportation subsidies, proximity to public transportation, free parking), and broad postings (open networks rather than just internal). 

Conclusion: 

“The Internship Scorecard” showcases that there is no universal formula for a high-quality internship, but rather a combination of key elements that shape a meaningful experience. These factors include intentional learning design, strong supervision, and opportunities for skill development. Additionally, ensuring equitable access is essential to expanding internship participation and impact across all student populations.