Developing soft skills for management through virtual internships

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this research is to statistically contrast the initial level of students’ soft skills against the subsequent level after having completed a virtual internship. These online internships took place during the period of social distancing by COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology: The methodology consisted of a pre-experimental pretest/post-test design with a single treatment group. Findings: achievement orientation, planning and organization, stress management, decision-making, problem-solving and emotional intelligence skills increased significantly after completing the online internship. Practical Implications: the findings lend themselves useful to guide higher education institutions in updating their curricula to meet the demands of the labour market in terms of soft skills in the so-called new post-pandemic reality. Originality/value: We provide evidence that virtual internships can have positive returns in terms of soft skills training. Previous studies were limited to recommending that internships be implemented on face-to-face mode.

Keywords

• covid-19
• soft skills
• management skills
• online education
• pre-experiment
• post-pandemic
• internship