Spence於1973年提出訊號傳遞理論，他認為，在勞動市場呈現訊息不對稱時，雇主大多數無法事先衡量員工的生產能力，並且假設個體的生產力與訊號成本呈負相關，則此時雇主可利用學歷這個訊號辨別員工生產力的高低；Feltovich, Harbaugh and To於2002年提出「反訊號」理論，通常高能力者會釋出訊息來和較低能力者區分，但有時高能力者可能會選擇不釋出訊號，或是「反訊號」的行為來與中等能力者作區隔。
本研究藉由問卷調查，以13所公、私立大學財金系、資管系及電機系為例，依101年大學指定考試成績將學校層級區分為前段學校、中段學校、後段學校，藉由調查學生參與企業實習的行為，探討學歷與參與企業實習之間是否存在「反訊號」關係。若學校聲望愈高(低)，是否其在校學生愈不會(愈會)重視企業實習之參與在畢業後，求職及就業時的重要性？並且哪些因素會影響受訪學生對企業實習的投入？
實證結果顯示，無論是前段、中段或後段學校的受訪學生，對於參與企業實習之意願皆非常高，但前段學校學生實際上較不傾向參與企業實習，中、後段學校學生在實際參與企業實習的行為上呈現正向顯著，這顯示學生在「有意願」與「實際執行」之間存在「知易行難」的行為表現。就企業實習這項訊息，前段學校學生確實出現「反訊號」之行為，另外，財金系、電機系的後段學校學生，較會實際去參與企業實習，他們以取得學歷以外的訊號作為彌補的工具；資管系則是中段學校學生較積極參與企業實習，中等能力者會努力釋出正確的訊號與低等能力者作區分。

Educational signaling theory was proposed by Michael Spence in 1973, he believed that when the labor market exists asymmetric information, most employers can not pre-measure employee productivity. And the assumption is that the costs of individual productivity are negatively correlated with educational signaling. Then the employer may use diploma to distinguish productivity level. Feltovich, Harbaugh and To (2002) proposed a "countersignal" theory which asserted that high ability person will signal to differentiate themselves from lower ability people, but sometimes high ability person might choose not to release the signal, or "countersignal".
In this research, we investigated the students of Financial Department, Information Management Department and Electrical Engineering Department of 13 universities in Taiwan to know the student’s willingness and actual behaviors of participating internship. We separate these universities into three tiers to explore whether there exists "countersignal" phenomenon in the first tier-university students. And what factors will affect the students to participate in internships?
The empirical results show that the willingness to participate in internships are very high. The first tier university students actually do not participate in internships, so countersignal phenomenon can be confirmed among the first tier university students.On the contrary, the second and the third tier university students have much stronger actual behaviors in participating in internships.

一、中文部分
1. 周思穎，「餐旅業建教合作生實習滿意度與未來從事餐旅業意願之探討」，國立中央大學，碩士在職專班論文，民國95年。
2. 莊明珠與郭德賓，「餐旅技職院校學生校外實習對職涯規劃影響之研究：以國立高雄餐旅學院餐飲管理科系為例」，花蓮教育大學學報，第9期，民國95年。
3. 鄭筱瑜，「企業實習與就業力及自我效能關聯性之探討─以參與『大專畢業生實習方案』的雇主與實習生為對象」，國立嘉義大學，碩士論文，民國99年。
二、英文部分
1. Albrecht, J. W., & Van Ours, J. C. (2006).“Using Employer Hiring Behavior to Test the Educational Signaling Hypothesis.”The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 108(3), 361-372.
2. Becker, G. S. (1962).“Investment in human capital: A theoretical analysis.”The journal of political economy, 9-49.
3. Blackwell, A., Bowes, L., Harvey, L., Hesketh, A. J., & Knight, P. T. (2000).“Transforming work experience in higher education.”British Educational research journal, 27(3), 269-285.
4. Chatterji, M., Seaman, P. T., & Singell Jr, L. D. (2003).“A test of the signalling hypothesis.”Oxford Economic Papers, 55(2), 191-215.
5. Feltovich, N., Harbaugh, R., & To, T. (2002).“Too cool for school? Signalling and countersignalling.”RAND journal of economics, 630-649.
6. Spence, M. (1973).“Job market signaling.”The quarterly journal of Economics, 355-374.
7. Sugiyama, A. (2006). Efficient Short-Term Education on Signal Processing in Internship. Paper presented at the Digital Signal Processing Workshop, 12th-Signal Processing Education Workshop, 4th.
8. Thilakerathne, P., & Madurapperuma, M.“An examination of accounting internship on subsequent academic performance.”
9. Veblen, T. (2007). The theory of the leisure class: Oxford University Press.