Leadership communication in internship programs

• Main Authors: Lim, Yuan Ting, Phang, Jong Shing, Yang, Yu Hsuan
• Other Authors: Jeffrey Cameron Kennedy
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Industries and labor
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/51321
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Internships have taken on an increasingly important role in the realm of business. Extending beyond as a source of recruitment for quality hires, companies could benefit from the favorable word-of-mouth generated by interns. Using the Motivating Language Theory, this paper will focus on how Leadership Communication can impact Job Satisfaction of interns and hence the Employee Referral made by the interns to their hosting organizations for employment or internship. Data was collected across a sample of 149 undergraduates in Singapore and findings indicated that Leadership Communication exhibited by supervisors during their internships had a significant effect on the interns’ Job Satisfaction. Then, Job Satisfaction is also found to be positively linked to higher indication of Employee Referral by interns. The findings indicate the importance of Leadership Communication so as to positively impact the experience of internship programs and improve the organizational effectiveness through Employee Referral. It also serves as a reference for future study to explore the relationship between supervisors and interns.