Internship Satisfaction

Academy of Management Learning & Education, 2009, Vol. 8, No. 4, 527–539.

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Making the Most of an Internship: An Empirical Study of Internship Satisfaction
CAROLINE P. D’ABATE Skidmore College MARK A. YOUNDT Skidmore College and University of Vermont KATHRYN E. WENZEL Caturano and Company Since internships are becoming more widely used as learning tools for students to help fill the gap between classroom learning and the practice of business, it is important to understand what aspects of these experiences make them the most worthwhile. This study assessed satisfaction of interns by looking at three broad factors (i.e., job characteristics, work environment characteristics, and contextual factors), which may contribute to internship satisfaction. Our results indicate that characteristics of the job (specifically, task significance and feedback) and characteristics of the work environment (in particular, learning opportunities, supervisor support, and organizational satisfaction) were the best predictors of internship satisfaction. These findings can assist business schools, faculty, students, and host companies in making a key developmental experience, internships, as satisfying as possible.

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Despite the reality that business departments and schools focus on the professional development of their students, how well we prepare our students for the “real world” of business has been questioned. Over a decade ago, for example, Wren, Buckley, and Michaelsen (1994: 141) noted that even though management education’s “mission is primarily to prepare people to practice their skills in the business world,” we have fallen short in

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He frequently lectures in executive education programs, and his research activities center on the intersections of strategy, intellectual capital, innovation, and competitive advantage. Kathryn Wenzel is a senior associate at Caturano and Company, where she works in the firm’s assurance group and is responsible for providing audit services to both public and private companies. Wenzel holds an MBA and an MSA in accounting from the Graduate School of Professional Accounting, Northeastern University. Copyright of Academy of Management Learning & Education is the property of Academy of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder 's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.