Marketing Internships: How Values and Search Strategies Differ Across The Student-Employer Dyad

Abstract

This study identifies the value undergraduate marketing students are placing on various aspects of a marketing internship and compares the relative importance that internship providers place on these same factors. Results were obtained by surveying 140 internship providers and 336 undergraduate marketing majors. Internship providers rated workplace environment, intern supervision, and clear learning objectives to be significantly more important than did the student respondents. Conversely, students rated skill development, increased career opportunities, and overall internship attractiveness significantly higher than the internship providers. Differences in search strategies across the student-employer dyad were also identified. Marketing educators can use this information to help place students in meaningful internships.