Mechanism of internship in advancing employability skills: an exploratory study on business graduates in Yemen

Purpose This study aims to explore the mechanism by which internship programs create and improve employability skills among university graduates. The graduate student’s mindset was chosen as a potential factor explaining this mechanism. This study explored how a graduate’s mindset can shape the impact of internship programs on creating and improving employability skills. Design/methodology/approach This study followed a quantitative approach to explore the role of the graduate’s mindset in developing their employability skills. A total of 293 students participated in this study. The data were analyzed using two exploratory techniques: contingency tables and multiple corresponding analyses. Findings Two employability skills showed no relationship with internship training: (1) presenting and applying information skills and (2) ethical and responsible behavior skills. Additionally, two employability skills show no connection with the mindset types: (1) interactive skills and (2) enterprising skills. The set of four employability skills that showed a positive relationship with the internship were found to be affected by the type of mindset in two forms: (1) goal-directed behavior, problem-solving and continuous learning skills were more associated with the growth mindset. And (2) analytical thinking skills were more developed with the fixed mindset. Originality/value This study established a unique position in the literature. It is considered an introduction to a new line of discussion on the role of internships in developing employability skills. This study is the first to discuss the mechanism by which internships create and build employability skills. We start this discussion by investigating the role of graduates’ mindsets as the proposed mechanism. This development is needed because previous literature discussed the impact of internships on employability skills without digging deep into understanding the mechanism behind this impact.