More Than Just Interns

This article was published in Hospitality Net.

It outlines a study that examined students’ psychological needs in internships. A mixed-method approach was used to collect qualitative and quantitative data from 12 interviewees and 82 respondents respectively.

This study incorporated the self-determination theory that emphasizes the importance of fulfilling psychological needs. The theory highlights three individual and basic psychological needs of autonomy, competency and relatedness.

The research outcome shows that all three psychological needs are important to students. However, while the needs are fulfilled frequently enough in internships, there are areas that the industry organizations can enhance to better retain talents for the industry.