Evaluation of Selected Internship Factors on Mastery of Soft Skills among Interns: Evidence from Nakuru County Government, Kenya

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate selected internship factors on mastery of soft skills among interns in the County Government of Nakuru. The specific objectives of the study are to analyse the effect of assessment criteria, competency of internship supervisors, person role fitness and institutional support on soft skills mastery among interns in Nakuru County Government. The studywas anchored on experiential learning theory and Dreyfus model. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The population of the study was the 1300 interns stationed in the Nakuru County Government during the month of August from which a sample of 102 interns was obtained using stratified random sampling technique and a structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. A pilot study was conducted in Baringo County, Mogotio Sub-county to ascertain the validity and reliability of the research instrument. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data to obtain both descriptive and inferential statistics. The main descriptive statistics obtain were frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation. Inferential statistics employed were Pearson’s product moment correlation which helped to compute the direction and strength of the linear associations. Simple and multiple regression analysis were used to test the association between the variables. The study found out that assessment criteria significantly (β=0.772, Sig. <0.05) affected soft skills mastery among interns in Nakuru County Government. The study also found out that Institutional Support significantly (β=0.811, Sig. <0.05) affected soft skills mastery among interns in Nakuru County Government. This study further found out that person role fitness significantly (β=1.139, Sig. <0.05) affected soft skills mastery in Nakuru County Government. However, the study found outthat there is no statistically significant (<0.05) effect of competence of the internship supervisors on soft skills mastery among the interns in Nakuru County Government. Thus, it was concluded that assessment criteria, person role fitness and institutional support were significant factors of internship which affect soft skills mastery among interns in the County. The study recommends that college institutions should work in collaboration with the organizations or industries where the students are sent for their internship programs to ensure that there is a good assessment criteria put in place, that the interns are well placed as per their professions (person role fitness) and ensure institutional support in order to enhance soft skills mastery among the interns as evidenced from Nakuru County Government, Kenya.