Alison Donnelly, Glion Institute of Higher Education, Bulle, Switzerland
DOI:10.2440/018-0001
Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine how the onboarding practices of students‘ internship organisations influence their willingness to seek future employ-ment with the organisation or recommend it as a place to work.
Five years on from the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospitality industry remains plagued by a significant talent shortage. One way to address the talent shortage is through stu-dent internships, which have long played a key role in hospitality education programs (Collins and Pearlmann, 2023). Smith and Green (2021) found that organisations in-vested in internships as a way to build a talent pipeline for future full-time roles. From a student perspective, internships provide them with a direct and realistic view of what it is like to work in a particular organization, which in turn may influence organisatio-nal attractiveness (Sekiguchi et al., 2022). Consequently, creating quality internship experiences is essential to an organisation’s talent acquisition strategy, both directly and indirectly. As interns may be more willing to join the organisation after graduation (Neelam et al., 2018) and/or provide positive word-of-mouth to others seeking em-ployment (Breitsohl and Ruhle, 2016), this is a crucial aspect. As socialisation of new-comers shapes their initial experiences (Neelam et al., 2018), onboarding takes on par-ticular significance (Klein et al., 2015). Studies have shown that onboar-ding impacts factors such as commitment, engagement, and retention (Pico et al., 2024). The research problem of this study is that, despite the well-documented role of onboarding in enhancing organisational outco-mes, little is known about how internship-specific onboarding practices influence interns’ perceptions of organisational attractiveness and their willingness to seek future employment or recommend the organisation to other job seekers.
This study addresses a key literature gap by shifting the focus from gene-ral internship experiences and satisfaction (Mensah et al., 2023) to the specific impact of onboarding on newcomer perceptions of the organisa-tion (Díaz-Muñoz and Andrés-Reina, 2024), and in examining temporary employment relationships, which are crucial yet understudied (Kupczyk and Kubicka, 2018). By applying Klein and Heuser’s (2008) Inform-Welcome-Guide (IWG) on-boarding framework and analysing intern perceptions, this study aims to identify which onboarding practices have the most substantial impact on organisational attrac-tiveness and word-of-mouth recommendations.
This study employs a quantitative research approach to examine the relationship bet-ween internship onboarding practices, interns‘ willingness to seek future employment with the organisation, and their likelihood to recommend the organisation through word-of-mouth. A survey-based design is used to collect standardised responses, enab-ling statistical analysis. Convenience and snowball sampling are employed, where fi-nal-year undergraduate students at several Swiss hospitality schools who have comple-ted a mandatory internship will receive the survey questionnaire. Data will be collec-ted through an electronic survey, incorporating validated scales from existing literature, including Klein et al.’s (2015) Inform-Welcome-Guide (IWG) categories for on-boarding practices, Highhouse et al.’s (2003) organisational attractiveness measure, and Breitsohl and Ruhle’s (2016) employee word-of-mouth scale. The study will utili-se correlational analysis to examine the relationships between onboarding practices, interns‘ willingness to seek future employment with the organisation, and their like-lihood to recommend the organisation to others. This analytical method is chosen for its ability to identify statistical associations between variables, providing insights into which onboarding practices are most strongly linked to interns‘ perceptions and expe-riences. By adopting correlational analysis, this study provides meaningful findings that can inform both academic research and industry practices in hospitality talent ac-quisition.
This research makes an original theoretical contribution by extending onboarding theory to the context of temporary employment relationships, specifically internships. While onboarding research has primarily focused on full-time employees (e.g., Klein et al., 2015), this study explores how short-term onboarding experiences shape long-term organisational perceptions and employer branding in the hospitality sector. It also extends the literature examining relationships between onboarding practices and new-comers’ perceptions of the company itself, a research avenue which has been underex-plored to date (Díaz-Muñoz and Andrés-Reina, 2024). The study also adds to the quan-titative research on onboarding as previous studies have focused more on qualitative research methods (Pinco et al., 2024). By integrating internship onboarding with mea-surement of organisational attractiveness (Highhouse et al., 2003), this study develops a new perspective on how structured onboarding can function as an early-stage em-ployer branding mechanism, influencing interns‘ career decisions and industry reputa-tion. Given the limited resources organisations may have to invest in internship on-boarding, examining the perceptions of students in relation to specific onboarding practices and organizational attractiveness will allow HR representatives to focus their efforts more effectively on practices which contribute to students’ willingness to return after graduation. For higher education establishments, a deeper understanding of stu-dents‘ perceptions of their onboarding process will help strengthen partnerships with industry in designing a well-structured internship program that meets the needs of both students and hospitality establishments.