Abstract
John L. Holland’s theory of vocational choice is one of the most prominent career theories and is used by both researchers and practitioners around the world. The theory states that people should seek work environments that fit their vocational interests in order to be satisfied and successful. Its application in research and practice requires the determination of coefficients, which quantify its core concepts such as person-environment fit. The recently released R package holland aims at providing a holistic collection of the references, descriptions and calculations of the most important coefficients. The current paper presents the package and examines it in terms of its application for research and practice. For this purpose, the functions of the package are applied and discussed. Furthermore, recommendations are made in the case of multiple coefficients for the same theoretical concept and features that future releases should include are discussed. The R package holland is a promising computational environment providing multiple coefficients for Holland’s most important theoretical concepts.
Highlights
Given the initial situation briefly outlined above, the present paper aims at examining the applications the R package holland offers for research and practice based on Holland’s theory
The methods used to characterize people and environments with the RIASEC dimensions have an impact on which coefficients can be determined in order to operationalize the central concepts of Holland’s [1] theory
Please see the O*NET Resource Center for more information: https://www.onetcenter.org/taxonomy.html accessed on 20 November 2021). This is of special interest for countries in which no RIASEC scores but only high-point codes are available with respect to occupations, since the state-of-the-art coefficients that are used for the quantification of Holland’s concepts usually require full RIASEC profile information
Summary
Holland’s theory found its way into practice especially by implementing career consulting tools such as the Self-Directed Search ([SDS]; [5]) that helps people find a work environment that fits their vocational interests. Applying Holland’s theory, whether it is to explain vocational behavior or to help make promising career choices, requires the determination of coefficients that describe individuals and their (potential) work environments. This can be a complex and timeconsuming process, especially for researchers or career counselors that apply Holland’s. Since the same concept (e.g., person-environment fit) can be quantified in numerous different ways, the mere selection of a coefficient that suits the research or counseling goal can be a challenge. With the recently released R package holland [11] we try to deal with this problem by providing a sound basis of core functionalities including the calculation of the most important coefficients in the framework of Holland’s theory
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