This study examined how intentions to join one-day internships are shaped by two advertising signals: perceived
innovativeness and early-selection signals. Study 1 explored value dimensions underlying one-day internship choice
and identified a five-factor structure. Manufacturing-oriented students placed greater value on opportunities to
engage with innovative products and services. Study 2 employed a within-subject design in which participants
evaluated four internship advertisements. Difference-based mediation analyses showed that perceived
innovativeness partly accounted for higher participation intentions for several advertisements relative to a baseline
advertisement. However, within-person regression analyses indicated that early-selection signals had a stronger
association with participation intentions than perceived innovativeness overall. Exploratory subgroup analyses
further suggested that this tendency may be more pronounced among manufacturing-oriented students. These
findings indicate that internship advertising should convey not only what is attractive about the internship but also
the selection-related significance of participation.
