Abstract
PurposeMany employers experiment with virtual working modes for project-based work. Virtual internships are one such mode that is gaining increasing popularity worldwide, particularly e-internships that require remote working with employers. However, little is known about the extent to which e-internships present learning opportunities to such e-interns.Design/methodology/approachThe current study examined mentoring experiences among a cross-sectional sample of 158 e-interns working for different companies. Data were collected using an online survey in two data collection rounds.FindingsThe length of the e-internships did not increase mentoring satisfaction, but the likelihood of e-interns having a mentor was higher the longer the e-internships. Mentoring was offered irrespective of working hours per week. Mentoring increased reported skill development, particularly in relation to their communication skills and their ability to think strategically about problems. In addition, mentored e-interns were more likely to have opportunities to cooperate with and help others. They likewise had opportunities to share information, knowledge and experiences.Research limitations/implicationsThe study recruited interns from various countries. Potentially relevant cultural differences were not explored as part of this study.Practical implicationsThe results demonstrate that the benefits of mentoring observed in relation to traditional internships can be fostered in e-internships. E-internships represent an opportunity for managers and employees, regardless of company size, to become mentors. E-internships thus represent another work-integrated as well as work-applied learning and skill development opportunity that creates additional options for many interns and organisations alike.Originality/valueThe evidence suggests that mentoring is becoming a regularly available feature for virtual and temporary workers such as e-interns, many of which are hired for short-term projects. As remote working has become a standard practice, e-internships are on the rise – and worthy of further study in order to promote best practices.
Highlights
Remote working is becoming increasingly popular in the workplace (BLS, 2016)
Considering that mentoring can provide more information about one’s job choice (e.g. Briscoe, 2019), we propose that mentoring can create a number of additional opportunities for einterns as they get exposed to more information about the role, the organisation, and their clients via their mentors
Hypothesis 1 The first hypothesis suggested that participants completing longer e-internships will report higher satisfaction with mentoring than participants who complete short-term e-internships (H1)
Summary
Remote working is becoming increasingly popular in the workplace (BLS, 2016). Many tools have become readily available in households, which means remote workers no longer need to have advanced technological skills to work from home (BLS, 2017). This has led to working remotely becoming a mainstream phenomenon – a phenomenon that appears to apply to internships. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/ legalcode
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