Purpose: This research aims to elucidate the complex relationships among internship learning performance, problem-solving efficacy, and their determinants by simultaneously examining a key variable that may moderate these relationships. Design/methodology/approach: This study carried out its empirical examination by surveying graduate students at a prestigious university in Taiwan. The investigation selected two programs from the College of Management and another two from the College of Engineering within the university through a random sampling approach. The selection of research participants from the domains of management and engineering is well-suited to this study’s objectives, given the pronounced prevalence of internships in these fields. Of the 280 questionnaires, 234 usable questionnaires were finally collected for a response rate of 83.57%. Findings: The findings of this study show that learning goal orientation and communication skill learning both represent critical motivations that directly dominate the growth of problem-solving efficacy to ultimately boost learning performance. At the same time, the positive moderation of learning climate suggests the learning climate as an accelerator for learning autonomy that boosts interns’ problem-solving efficacy more strongly. Originality/value: This study presents an expansion of the social learning theory’s conventional focus on general self-efficacy beliefs by delving into the realm of internships as a unique research context to explore problem-solving efficacy as a distinct facet of self-efficacy. Within this context, the study integrates the mediating role of problem-solving efficacy into the learning dynamics of internships, where interns engage in both learning goal orientation and communication skill learning. By concentrating on the internship setting within the workplace, this study effectively bridges the domains of management education and vocational psychology, extending insights beyond the classroom to comprehensively grasp the impact of learning goal orientation and communication skill learning. © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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