Doctoral Dissertation Research: Intern Experiences and Pathways to Labor Market Entry

Ohio State University, The, Columbus OH

Investigators

Abstract

SES-1602772 Steven Lopez Corey Pech Ohio State University Internships have become a ubiquitous component of job training. Gaining an understanding of when interns are exploited, and when they are valued, is essential to understanding labor market entry. Previous studies of internships focus on industry case studies. This dissertation is the first comparative study of majors and internship sites to address the question -- under what conditions are internships precarious work and under what conditions are they a stepping stone to a career? Answering this question has application to both the social sciences and national discourse about the economy, speaking to issues salient to policymakers, corporations, and a concerned citizenry. This project will help individuals and institutions make better decisions about utilizing internships. This study makes use of a longitudinal interview research design with two waves of interviews. Wave one involves interviewing college seniors in four majors about their internships. These are Business/Operations and Logistics; Industrial Engineering; English; and Communications. Wave two follows up one year later. This design links internship to college major and labor market entry. This study makes contributions to the sociology of work, economic sociology, and the sociology of education. Precarity and insecurity of work is a much-discussed topic in the sociology of work. This study will examine how interns are used by employers and the effects of their labor process on interns' experiences and outcomes. In theory less precarity should increase chances in the labor market, but economic sociology suggests other factors might be more important than the content of the internship. This study will add to knowledge on how non-labor process factor, such social networks or sociability with coworkers, affect internship experiences and outcomes. This study can also make contributions to the sociology of education. Competing theories on labor market entry such as whether majors build human capital or act as a screening device will be adjudicated by this research.