Today's intern, tomorrow's practitioner?-The influence of internship programmes on students' career development in the Hospitality Industry

The aim of this paper was to explore how internship programme planning, industry involvement, and student commitment influence student willingness to pursue a career in the hospitality industry after graduation. This study applied Structure Equation Modelling (SEM) and employed a questionnaire to collect data from students at twenty universities to test seven hypotheses proposed in this study. It was found that internship programme planning, industry involvement, and student commitment positively influence overall satisfaction with internship experiences. In addition, internship programme planning and industry involvement have the most profound influence on students' willingness to stay in the hospitality industry after graduation. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.