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The use of internships to foster employablity, enterprise and entrepreneurship in the IT sector

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Date
01/11/2014
Author
Galloway, Laura
Marks, Abigail
Chillas, Shiona Allison
Keywords
Entrepreneurship
Employability
IT
Internships
Enterprise
HD28 Management. Industrial Management
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Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report a study of the role of internships for IT students and for the IT sector. The contribution of internships for career-readiness, and for the development of existing IT organisations and the creation of new ones is explored. Design/methodology/approach Surveys of interns and managers from host firms were conduced, followed by in-depth interviews with six interns and five organisations. Findings Internships are useful for increasing enterprise and employability skills and commercial awareness for IT students. IT organisations also benefit in that internships are used to recruit fresh talent. Findings regarding entrepreneurship were disappointing, with little reportage of ambitions to create new firms, nor awareness of the high likelihood of self-employed contractual work in the sector. Research limitations/implications Implications for research include that self-employment and business ownership are not always “successful” entrepreneurial outcomes born of agency. This requires further study. Practical implications Development of opportunities for experiential, real-world learning for IT students is implied, as is increased educational focus on employability and enterprise skills to best advantage students for the realities of employment in IT. There is a strong suggestion that much more needs to be done in terms of encouraging entrepreneurship. Originality/value The paper reports the potentials of internships to interns and to organisations, and through combining these perspectives, provides comment on the utility of internships for the IT sector as a competitive, opportunity-rich global industry.
Citation
Galloway , L , Marks , A & Chillas , S A 2014 , ' The use of internships to foster employablity, enterprise and entrepreneurship in the IT sector ' , Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development , vol. 21 , no. 4 , pp. 653-667 . https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-09-2014-0150
Publication
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-09-2014-0150
ISSN
1462-6004
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/5937

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