MORE THAN JUST COFFEE & COPYING: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF INTERNS’ FRUSTRATION

Abstract

Located within the fields of motivation and coping, this report examines the phenomenon of internship frustration to explore its major causes and consequences. The qualitative study relies on 181 internship reports and 10 in-depth interviews. The subjects are students of the department of Politics and Administration at the University of Konstanz (Germany). A combined analysis reveals that major triggers of internship frustration are insufficient supervision and unchallenging, repetitive tasks as well as an adverse organizational culture. Subsequent consequences of interns’ frustration are resignation and intention to turnover, but also increased levels of learnings. In contrast to employee frustration, it is shown that interns’ reactions to frustration are more likely to be carried out mentally. Therefore, acts of violence and aggression are a rare phenomenon, due to incipiently lower levels of self-consciousness of the intern in the working world. Furthermore, implications for employers, HR departments, universities and students are outlined, accompanied by theoretical insights concerning stage models of internships and ideas for future research.