Expectations and Perceptions of the Internship Program: A Case Study of Tourism Retail and Marketing Students in Macao

ABSTRACT Previous studies show that minimizing the gap between students’ expectations and perceptions of internships is essential to attract students to enter the same industry upon graduation, but research on the concerns in retail tourism internships is lacking. The current study employed mixed methods to address this gap. Qualitative in-depth interviews with 26 senior year Tourism Retail and Marketing Management students in Macao were conducted to examine their expectations and perceptions of internships, identify mismatches between these and explore consequences of perceived mismatches. Then quantitative surveys were carried out to collect opinions from a larger sample. Results show that the majority of respondents perceived gaps between their expectations and perceptions of their internship. Broken promises, negative company atmosphere and lack of supervision were the major mismatches. The majority of the interns either intended to remain in the retail industry or were undecided about their career intentions. Based on the findings, practical suggestions are given to major stakeholders to improve retail tourism internship programs.