Internship Factors and Career Path Clarity: The Role of Organizational Context and Career Decidedness
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11594/Keywords:
Career path clarity, Internship experience, Job Satis, Organizational Well-being, titative Descriptive-Correlational Design, Regression Analysis, Work Environment and Workplace Well-beingAbstract
This study was conducted to examine the relationship between variables related to internship and clarity of career path among university students who completed On-the-Job Training (OJT). Data were collected using a quantitative descriptive-correlational design for 149 participants in six constructs: internship experience, work environment, personal impact, company size and structure, career decidedness, and career clarity. We used descriptive statistics, Spearman’s correlation and multiple regression analyses. The findings revealed that internship experience, work environment and personal impact were all significantly associated with career clarity, with personal impact having the strongest association. However, only company size and structure and career decidedness were significant predictors in the regression model. The results underscore the importance of organizational context and the clarity of prior career in affecting students’ career development. The findings indicate that well-structured internship opportunities, positive work environments and effective matching between students and host organizations can lead to better career clarity and employability outcomes. Future research may address limitations by employing longitudinal designs and broader institutional contexts.
Downloads
References
Ali, A. A., Gardner, P., & Edmondson, B. (2022). Developmental relationships matter:
Examining the joint role of supervisor support and mentor status on intern out-comes. International Journal of Work Integrated Learning, 23(3), 335–346. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1363630.pdf
American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct (2002, amended effec-tive June 1, 2010, and January 1, 2017). https://www.apa.org/ethics/code
Bak, H. (2020). Supervisor feedback and inno-vative work behavior: The mediating roles of trust in supervisor and affective commitment. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 559160. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.559160
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. W.H. Freeman. https://archive.org/details/selfefficacyexer00band
Banker, D., & Borchardt, J. (2025). Students’ perspectives on an internship experience. Journal of Research in Innovative Teach-ing & Learning. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIT-07-2024-0198
Bargmann, C., Thiele, L., & Kauffeld, S. (2022). Motivation matters: Predicting students’ career decidedness and intention to drop out after the first year in higher educa-tion. Higher Education, 83, 845–861. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00707-6
Brijmohan, Y. (2024). Influence of the Work Environment on Workplace Learning of Undergraduate Engineering Interns (Un-published doctoral dissertation). Univer-sity of Nebraska–Lincoln. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissunl/130/
Chue, S., Säljö, R., Pang, P., & Lee, Y.-J. (2024). Organizational socialization strategies of interns transitioning to telecommuting work in uncertain times. Journal of Workplace Learning, 36(5), 301–318. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-12-2023-0190
D’Abate, C. P., Youndt, M. A., & Wenzel, K. E. (2009). Making the most of an internship: An empirical study of internship satisfac-tion. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8(4), 527–539. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27759190
Deng, H., Wu, W., Zhang, Y., Yu, Z., Xu, H., & Wu, W. (2022). Exploring the differential effects of career and psychosocial men-toring on newcomer socialization. Fron-tiers in Psychology, 13, 975064. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.975064
Feng, Y., Zhang, Z., Zeng, X., & Liu, Y. (2023). The influence of internship satisfaction and the psychological contract on the ca-reer identity behavior of fresh graduates. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1294799. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1294799
Galbraith, D., & Mondal, S. (2019). The poten-tial power of internships and the impact on career preparation. AABRI Education Journal. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1263677.pdf
Gutiérrez Pulido, H., & Orozco Rodríguez, C. (2025). The contribution of professional internships to the academic development of engineering and science students: A case study. Frontiers in Education, 10, 1563361. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1563361
Hong, J. C., Zhang, H. L., Ye, J. H., & Ye, J. N. (2021). The effects of academic self efficacy on vocational students’ be-havioral engagement at school and at firm internships: A model of engage-ment value of achievement motivation. Education Sciences, 11(8), 387. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11080387
Hora, M. T., Zhang, J., Chen, Z., Fischer, J. J., & Wolfgram, M. (2023). Designing effective internships: A mixed-methods explora-tion of sociocultural aspects of intern sat-isfaction and development. Center for Re-search on College-Workforce Transitions.
https://ccwt.wisc.edu/publications/designing-effective-internships/
Hoyt, B., & McCown, E. (2023). The New In-ternship Model: Examining Skill Transfer, Project-Based Learning, and Remote In-ternships Post-COVID 19. AURCO Journal. https://aurco.org/journals/AURCO_Journal_2023/Hoyt_New_Internship_AURCO_2023.pdf
Jackson, D. (2016). Re-conceptualising gradu-ate employability: The importance of pre-professional identity. Higher Education Research & Development, 35(5), 925–939. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2016.1139551
Kapareliotis, I., Voutsina, K., & Patsiotis, A. (2019). Internship and employability pro-spects: Assessing student’s work readi-ness. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 9(4), 538–549. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-08-2018-0086
Karakiraz, A., Üstündağ, A., Karataş, A., & Özdemir, Y. (2021). From realizable dreams to sustainable facts: An empirical study on the role of internships in stu-dents’ career plans in a Turkish business school. SAGE Open, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244021997417
Kaur, I. (2025, April 29). The Internship Ad-vantage–Why Early Exposure Shapes Fu-ture Careers. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/internship-advantage-why-early-exposure-shapes-future-kaur-qc6mf
Kong, Y. (2021). The role of experiential learn-ing on students’ motivation and class-room engagement. Frontiers in Psycholo-gy, 12, 771272. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.771272
Maaravi, Y., Heller, B., Hochman, G., & Kan-at Maymon, Y. (2021). Internship not hardship: What makes interns in startup companies satisfied? Journal of Experien-tial Education, 44(3), 257–276. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053825920966351
Maes, O., Van Nieuwenhoven, C., & Colognesi, S. (2022). The feedback given by univer-sity supervisors to student teachers dur-ing their co-assessment meetings. Fron-tiers in Education, 7, 848547. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.848547
Pianda, D., Hilmiana, H., Widianto, S., & Sar-tika, D. (2024). The impact of internship experience on the employability of voca-tional students: A bibliometric and sys-tematic review. Cogent Business & Man-agement, 11(1), 2386465. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2386465
Tomlinson, M. (2017). Forms of graduate capi-tal and their relationship to graduate em-ployability. Education + Training, 59(4), 338–352. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-05-2016-0090
Wang, C. J. (2021). Should I stay or should I go? Linking career decision making self efficacy to intention to stay in the hospitality industry based on internship experience. Sustainability, 13(19), 10571. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910571
Whitaker, B. G., Dahling, J. J., & Levy, P. (2007). The Development of a Feedback Envi-ronment and Role Clarity Model of Job Performance. Journal of Management, 33(4), 570–591. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206306297581
Yang, Y., Secchi, D., & Homberg, F. (2022). Or-ganizational structure and organizational learning: The moderating role of organi-zational defensive routines. Journal of General Management, 47(4), 259–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/03063070211038922
Yu, X., Luo, N., Liu, X., Li, H., Li, L., & Mei, Y. (2021). Effect of proactive personality on career decidedness: The mediating role of career exploration and the moderating role of anticipated regret. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.763224
Zhang, Z., Yu, X., Liu, X., et al. (2022). Do I de-cide my career? Linking career stress, ca-reer exploration, and future work self to career planning or indecision. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.997984
Zhou, D., Peng, Z., & Zhou, H. (2023). The in-fluence of career decision making self efficacy on employability of higher vocational students: Mediated by emo-tional intelligence. Frontiers in Education, 8, 1274430. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1274430
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2026 John Kirby Z. Añonuevo Añonuevo, Shaira Shayne L. Ybañez, Jariene Fibelle Mae T. Alonzo, Kylens D. Bajade, Noriella P. Gereña, Jannah Carmelle B. Cabal, Lalaine O. Narsico, Peter G. Narsico

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See the Effect of Open Access).














