Is the future of internships online? An examination of stakeholder attitudes towards online internships

PurposeThe world of work is becoming digital, a process accelerated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic and resultant remote working guidelines. Online internships have become more popular in this context, and yet there remains a lack of research investigating how these internships are perceived across stakeholders. The purpose of this paper was to begin to address this research gap by exploring academic, student and employer perceptions of online internships with a focus on employability.Design/methodology/approachThe research explored 156 stakeholders (53 students, 50 academics and, 53 employer/professionals) perceptions via a mixed-methods online study encompassing quantitative responses to internship vignettes, alongside open-ended questions designed to explore stakeholder attitudes in more depth.FindingsStakeholder groups reported similar attitudes towards online internships. Overall, online internships were viewed as valid, flexible, work experience, linked to skill development and likely to enhance student employability. However, concerns were raised regarding communication protocols and development, intern isolation and a lack of organisational immersion.Practical implicationsBased on the research, the authors make three recommendations to continue to enhance and develop the online internship experience: ensure multiple methods of regular communication between student and organisation, attempt virtual immersion in the organisation and assign each intern additional support beyond their immediate supervisor.Originality/valueBased on a holistic and novel analysis of key stakeholders' viewpoints, this paper provides much needed insights and evidence on how to design and quality assure effective online internship practice.

Employers’ Perceptions in Hiring Decisions Pertaining to People with Disability

This study aims to analyse hotels employers’ perceptions in hiring decisions on people with disability (PWD). A total of 35 samples out of 72 employers among the 4 and 5-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur were selected based on the census sampling method. It is found that employer perceptions to hire PWDs are influenced by gender, type of disability, work performance concerns, and co-worker and guest concerns. Interestingly, employers are discovered to have more positive perceptions towards female PWDs. They are also interested to hire PWDs who meet the requirements of the job regardless of their disability. Keywords: Employers’ perceptions; hiring decisions; people with disability; hotel industry eISSN 2514-7528 © 2021 The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA CE-Bs by E-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians / Africans / Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/jabs.v6i19.388

Employers’ Perceptions in Hiring Decisions Pertaining to People with Disability

This study aimed to analyze hotels employers’ perceptions in hiring decisions on people with disability (PWD). A total of 35 samples out of 72 employers among the 4 and 5-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur were selected based on the census sampling method. It is found that employer perceptions to hire PWDs are influenced by gender, type of disability, work performance concerns, and co-worker and guest concerns. Interestingly, employers are discovered to have more positive perceptions towards female PWDs. They are also interested to hire PWDs who meet the requirements of the job regardless of their disability. Keywords: Employers’ perceptions; hiring decisions; people with disability; hotel industry. eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6i17.2810

Employer perspectives on workforce integration of self-initiated expatriates in Canada

PurposeThis study explores employer perspectives regarding barriers to and responsibility for the workforce integration of skilled immigrants. Specifically, this study assesses employer perceptions of how influential various barriers are to the integration of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) in the workplace, uncovers employer perceptions of SIEs competence levels, identifies employer perceptions regarding multiple stakeholders’ levels of responsibility for SIEs integration and explores impactful means to overcome these barriers.Design/methodology/approachGiven Canada’s dependence on SIEs for labour force growth, an online survey was conducted with hiring managers of 99 firms in a mid-sized city in Ontario, Canada.FindingsThe results demonstrate that employers shift the onus of responsibility for SIEs integration to other stakeholders (namely, the immigrant or government agencies), require documentation to evaluate human capital attainment of SIEs and may be systemically discriminating against SIEs.Research limitations/implicationsThe results indicate a need for documented evidence to validate foreign education and skills previously acquired by SIEs. They advance research by providing a comparative assessment of barriers from the employer’s point of view.Practical implicationsThe findings support the notion that employers should strategically partner with specialized private or government agencies to help with efforts to attract and evaluate SIEs.Originality/valueGiven that employers are key decision-makers regarding employment outcomes, this study investigates the underexplored role and perspective of employers in integrating SIEs. Additionally, this study provides both a holistic and a relative assessment of the barriers to and responsibility for SIEs integration, exploring the impact of each factor on employer decision-making.

The Motherhood Penalty in Context: Assessing Discrimination in a Polarized Labor Market

Prior research provides important insights into employer discrimination against mothers but has focused exclusively on college-educated mothers in professional and managerial occupations. As a result, we lack evidence about whether less-educated mothers navigating the low-wage labor market experience similar disadvantages and whether the mechanisms underlying discrimination vary across contexts. These gaps are important because more- and less-educated mothers increasingly possess distinct resources and face unique demands both at home and at work, which may impact employer perceptions of conflicts between motherhood and job performance. This study reports results from an original field experiment in which 2,210 fictitious applications were submitted to low-wage service and professional/managerial job openings across six U.S. cities, experimentally manipulating signals of motherhood status. Findings provide causal evidence that employers in both contexts discriminate against mothers relative to equally qualified childless women. However, within labor market segments, distinct job demands listed in job advertisements are associated with stronger discrimination: time pressure, collaboration, and travel in professional/managerial jobs and schedule instability in low-wage service jobs. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the mechanisms underlying mothers' disadvantages in an increasingly polarized labor market.