Congruence Scores Research Articles

Test-Retest Reliability and Concurrent Validity of the Expanded Skills Confidence Inventory

This study examined the test-retest reliability and the concurrent validity of the 17-scale Expanded Skills Confidence Inventory in samples of 321 and 175 college students. Retest values over a 3-week interval ranged from .77 to .89, with a median of .85. Using Brown and Gore’s C-index, evidence for the concurrent validity of confidence score patterns relative to college major choice was found. Specifically, the values of C describing the congruence of the three-letter Holland code derived from the 17 confidence scores with the Holland code of college major choice were significantly higher than the theoretical mean and were comparable in size to values found in samples of employed adults. Higher congruence scores were found among students majoring in enterprising and secondarily, investigative areas.

Value Congruence Awareness: Part 1. DNA Testing Sheds Light on Functionalism

This exploratory study examines awareness of the other party's instrumental, terminal, and work values by members of supervisor and employee dyads. Subjective estimates of value congruence, provided by either member of the dyad, correlated with actual value congruence scores determine conscious awareness levels in all cases. Results demonstrate supervisory awareness of employee terminal values, but not work values or instrumental values, even though these latter value types probably possess the greatest relevance to achieving organizational goals. Further, employees possess awareness of supervisor work values but not instrumental or terminal values. These findings challenge traditional assumptions underlying the functionalism position on organizational culture that appears in the literature most frequently read by practicing managers.

Mothers' and Fathers' Perceptions of Their Adolescent Daughters' Shape, Weight, and Body Esteem: Are They Accurate?

This study examined parents' awareness of their daughters' attitudes, beliefs, and feelings about their bodies. Sixty-six daughters aged 12–15 years completed the Stirling Eating Disorder Scale, a body figure rating scale, and made ratings of their shape and weight. They also completed a more comprehensive measure of body satisfaction, the Body Esteem Scale (BES). Mothers and fathers estimated their daughters' shape and weight, and completed the BES with instructions to complete the measure from their daughters' perspective. While there were few differences between mothers' and fathers' reports, parent–daughter congruence scores varied according to methodology and attribute measured. That is, parents' ratings of objective daughter characteristics on single-item rating scales were more congruent with daughters' self-reports than parents' estimates of daughters' feelings about their bodies using a more comprehensive measure. Greater discrepancies between parents' estimates of daughters' body esteem and daughters' self-reported body esteem were associated with greater body dissatisfaction in daughters.

A Person-Centered Approach to P–E Fit Questions Using a Multiple-Trait Model

The current study first longitudinally examines the validity of person–environment (P–E) RIASEC congruence, adopting a job analytic method to assess the environment and using P–E difference scores to compute congruence, to predict a range of intrinsic career outcomes—including job satisfaction, skill development, work involvement, and perceived stress—in a sample of 401 college seniors involved in the labor market. Second, the incremental validity of an alternative conceptualization of the P component (i.e., the Five-Factor Model of personality [FFM]) is examined over and beyond RIASEC congruence scores. Congruence across RIASEC types significantly predicted job satisfaction and skill development, but FFM traits significantly and substantially contributed to the prediction of all intrinsic career outcomes. Finally, a person-centered perspective to P–E questions is introduced, demonstrating that cluster analysis of individuals' FFM scores resulted in two clusters (i.e., internalizers/externalizers and resilients) showing very different positions on the labor market and reporting differing initial career outcomes. It is concluded that RIASEC P–E fit congruence studies should be complemented with FFM assessment to increase predictive validity. Applications of an FFM-based, person-centered approach in I/O and P–E fit research and practice are discussed.

Environmental Congruence, Group Importance, and Well-Being Among Paratroopers

The study examined the relation between variables of environmental congruence (or Person-environment fit; P-E fit) and group importance on the one hand and variables of satisfaction and somatic complaints on the other. Participants were 267 paratroopers who belonged to 35 units (environments). Both the diadic and the census methods were used to assign congruence scores. Findings showed (a) group importance correlated .55 and -.25 (p < .05) with satisfaction and somatic complaints, respectively, while congruence did not show significant correlations; (b) The nonlinear examination of the relationships showed a significant (p < .05) main effect for group importance on satisfaction and for the interaction of group importance and congruence both on satisfaction and on somatic complaints. It is suggested on the basis of these and earlier findings that group importance is a sufficient condition for satisfaction and that congruence interacts with it to enhance satisfaction. The superiority of the diadic method was not statistically confirmed.

Congruence on child rearing in families with early adolescent and middle adolescent children

This study investigates the extent to which parents’ and adolescent’s reports of parental child-rearing behaviour are in agreement with each other. The aim of this study is twofold. The first aim is to verify whether familial congruence (congruence between family members) about child rearing exists. The second aim is to verify whether the level of congruence varies with the stage of the adolescent (early and middle) and gender of parent or child. The sample consists of 788 families with a child between the ages of 9 and 16 years. Congruence scores were computed on diverse aspects of child rearing: material rewarding, expression of affection, conformity, autonomy, ignoring, and punishment. The results show that familial congruence exists, not only between father and mother but also between parents and their children. A second result is that congruence between parents and their children increases from early to middle adolescence indicating that children become more competent interpreting their parents’ behaviour.

The Diadic Measure of Environmental Congruence

In the diadic method of measuring environmental congruence (or P-E Fit), the personality type of each individual in an environment is compared with that of each of the others in the same environment, using Holland's typology. Congruence score is defined as the mean of these comparisons, and the environmental homogeneity as the mean of the relevant congruence scores. In an effort to test the efficacy of this method, a study was conducted on 205 participants in 25 environments. Correlations of .22 and .46 were found between diadic congruence scores and satisfaction in individual and environmental analyses, respectively. These figures are similar to the correlations found between homogeneity and satisfaction (congruence and homogeneity correlated .81). A comprehensive interpretation of the findings, relating to environmental importance as well, is suggested.

Person-Environment Congruence as a Predictor of Customer Service Performance

Within the framework of Holland's theory, we examined the use of person-environment congruence in predicting job performance for a sample of customer service representatives. It was predicted that: (1) Congruence scores based on specific environment classification derived by job analytic methods would correlate more highly with performance than congruence scores based on a more general environmental classification; (2) Congruence and cognitive ability would correlate with different aspects of performance (task v. contextual performance); and (3) Congruence scores would significantly relate to job performance, whereas interest test scores would not. No support for the first hypothesis was found. Instead, there were no significant differences between the environment typing methods, and congruence predicted Quality performance ratings. Partial support was found for the second and third hypotheses. Congruence was significantly correlated with task-related ratings, whereas cognitive ability was not significantly correlated with any performance ratings. In addition, none of the three relevant interest test scores (Conventional, Social, and Enterprising) were significantly correlated with performance. A significant negative correlation was found, however, between performance ratings and Investigative interest scores, suggesting a need for person-environment fit indices to take into account all six interest scores. Overall, this study provides some evidence that person-environment fit, when guided by theory, may be a useful predictor of job performance.

Person-Environment Fit in Small Army Units

This study examined the relationship between person- environment fit, or environmental congruence (Holland, 1985), and satisfaction and supervisors' evaluations. The unique characteristics of the present study include (a) the fact that 24 tank crews of four members each constituted 24 environments, (b) the military conditions, (c) the method for assigning personal environmental congruence scores by comparing the personality type of each crew member with the types of his crew mates, and (d) examination of environmental homogeneity. Findings show positive correlations around .40 (p < .05) between (a) person-environment congruence and (b) environmental homogeneity (the mean of the personal environmental scores), and (a) satisfaction and (b) commanders' personal and crew evaluations. The findings enlighten the potential impact of environmental congruence and of group homogeneity on satisfaction and performance.

Congruence from Many Angles: Relations of Multiple Congruence Indices to Job Satisfaction among Adult Workers

Methods of calculating job-person congruence are many, but only a few incorporate the circumplex assumption of Holland's (1973, 1985a) hexagonal model of vocational types. The present study used three different calculation methods—the C Index (Brown & Gore, 1994), the Kwak-Pulvino mathematical model (Kwak & Pulvino, 1982), and the Hexagon Congruence Index (Swaney & Prediger, 1985)—to calculate congruence within two samples of adult workers. In addition, two methods of obtaining three-letter codes for the work environment were employed and crossed with each congruence index, yielding six possible congruence scores. Intercorrelations among the congruence measures within each sample were examined. Finally, the ability of these measures to predict job satisfaction was evaluated, controlling for variation in organizational mobility.

An Evaluation of Interest Congruence Indices: Distribution Characteristics and Measurement Properties

This article first presents research that compares 10 extant measures of interest congruence, derived from Holland′s (1985a) theory of career choice, for their underlying distribution characteristics and their abilities to discriminate among subtle but important differences in person-environment congruence. Using simulated data, we show that (a) none of the three-letter code measures are sensitive to differences among persons across the entire possible range of congruence scores, and (b) with one exception (Kwak & Pulvino, 1982), they are incapable of making fine distinctions among persons with like, but out of order, three-letter person and environment codes. In a second study, we present a new measure of interest congruence that retains the advantages of the Kwak and Pulvino measure, but is easier to calculate. Results are discussed in terms of how users can choose among measures, and needed areas for future research on the new measure and on congruence measurement in general.

Congruence and Differentiation as Predictors of Workers' Occupational Stability and Job Performance

This study examined the relation between vocational interests and job congruence and (a) stability at work and (b) supervisors' evaluations. Congruence scores were based on a comparison between interest scores, as measured before employment, and occupational field after 1 year. Significant correlations (.19 to .31, n = 774) were found between congruence and job stability (persistence) and between congruence and performance (.09 to .27, for 90 males employed in the Business or Technology occupational fields), but not among 51 employed in the Organization field. Differentiation was found to make a negligible contribution in predicting stability and performance evaluations. The findings are discussed in light of the size of the correlation coefficients, the diversity of the Organization field, the Courses Inventory as a means for measuring vocational interests, and the method of measuring congruence differentiation.

Career Development: A Ten-Year Longitudinal Study in Population Scientists

This research addressed two trends in vocational psychology: (a) an increased emphasis on career development and (b) a renewed interest in the psychology of science. It was conducted in the context of longitudinal research on 2,710 population scientists. Holland type scores were derived for these scientists' undergraduate majors, highest degree fields, and positions in 1980, 1985, and 1989. Productivity measures for the years 1981-90 were compiled for convention presentations, journal publications, service as an editorial consultant and as a Principal Investigator, and citations by other scientists. The same pattern of type scores, IES, was obtained on all five occasions; longitudinal correlations within types were substantial; and Investigative and Congruence scores were significantly associated with persistence and productivity in population science. Individually, these findings are consistent with Holland's theory; in combination, they provide impressive support for it.

Subordinate–manager communication in different sex dyads: Consequences for job satisfaction

The study examined how male and female managers, and their male and female subordinates, perceive the nature of their communication with each other, and the consequences of these perceptions upon the subordinates' levels of job satisfaction. A total of 273 middle managers, and one of their subordinates, completed a structured questionnaire that investigated their communication with each other in terms of frequency and initiation (quantity), levels of recognition and self‐disclosure (quality), and levels of dominance by managers. Across dyads, managers did not differ in their perceptions of their communication with their subordinates, generally believing that they communicated more often and with more recognition than subordinates. Some of the largest differences in perceptions occurred with task‐oriented female managers and their subordinates. Female subordinates who had male or female managers judged fewer opportunities for communication with their managers, and less recognition of their opinions and opportunities for self‐disclosure. Where regression analyses were significant, subordinates with higher levels of job satisfaction reported more communication and a higher quality of communication with their managers. Congruence scores based on subordinates' and managers' reports about their communication with each other were not strong predictors of subordinate job satisfaction.

Residents’ Use of Humanistic Skills and Content of Resident Discussions in a Support Group

In a 1983 position paper, the American Board of Internal Medicine stressed the importance of teaching humanistic skills to residents; however, how to teach or measure these skills is not well defined. In this study, the content of discussion (personal and professional problems) and processing of four humanistic skills (empathy, level of regard, unconditionality, and congruence) by Bowman Gray School of Medicine first year general medicine residents was observed. Fourteen videotapes of support group meetings from 1986 to 1988 were reviewed for humanistic relationship behaviors using the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory and for the types of personal and professional problems discussed using a content inventory. Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory scores for empathy and regard paralleled increases in the number of professional problems raised at midyear, a time of maximum stress for residents. Congruence scores became flat after an initial peak while unconditionality scores remained low. Interventions designed to improve residents' use of humanistic skills could take into account residents' need for support and education, as well as the natural flow of humanistic behaviors within residency programs.

Threat, Power, and Presidential Greatness: Harding to Johnson

To ascertain whether an earlier finding by McCann and Stewin that electoral success of U.S. presidents is positively correlated with the congruence between the president's power motivation and prevailing societal threat is transferrable to historians' estimates of presidential greatness, power scores were obtained from Winter, greatness scores were taken from Maranell, and prevailing threat through each president's administration was derived from the social, economic, and political threat index developed by McCann and Stewin, for each president from Harding to Johnson. Greatness correlated positively with threat and power. Correlations between greatness and congruence scores, based on combinations of standardized power and threat scores, were negative and substantial but nonsignificant. It appears on the basis of this small sample that the McCann and Stewin hypothesis is not transferrable to greatness. The nature of the relationships for this sample is opposite to that found for voters' preferences and is analogous to the finding of Winter concerning congruence of presidents' and society's motives.

THREAT, POWER, AND PRESIDENTIAL GREATNESS: HARDING TO JOHNSON

To ascertain whether an earlier finding by McCann and Stewin that electoral success of U.S. presidents is positively correlated with the congruence between the president's power motivation and prevailing societal threat is transferrable to historians' estimates of presidential greatness, power scores were obtained from Winter, greatness scores were taken from Maranell, and prevailing threat through each president's administration was derived from the social, economic, and political threat index developed by McCann and Stewin, for each president from Harding to Johnson. Greatness correlated positively with threat and power. Correlations between greatness and congruence scores, based on combinations of standardized power and threat scores, were negative and substantial but nonsignificant. It appears on the basis of this small sample that the McCann and Stewin hypothesis is not transferrable to greatness. The nature of the relationships for this sample is opposite to that found for voters' preferences and is analogous to the finding of Winter concerning congruence of presidents' and society's motives.

An Empirical Examination of the Parsimony of Perceptual Congruence Scores

A growing body of research deals with congruence and incongruence between supervisors' and subordinates' perception and subsequent effects on outcome variables for organizations and individuals. Th...

Differences in Person-Environment Congruence between Microenvironments

ABSTRACTIn the Person-Environment (P-E) Congruence model, psychological well-being is proposed to be a function of the degree of fit between the perceived environment and the important needs of the individual; and, that in more restricted environments, the relationship is stronger. The present study examined, cross-sectionally and longitudinally, the Congruence levels and well-being of elderly veterans (N = 165) in four microenvironments within a single instutition. Congruence was assessed using the multidimensional Environmental Perception, Preference and Importance Scale (EPPIS). Well-being was measured using the PGC Moral Scale, the Life Satisfaction Index A and a semantic differential self-concept scale. There were significant microenvironment differences on three of the 15 EPPIS dimensions; the P-E Congruence scores were predictive of well-being; and, the specific dimensions predictive of well-being varied across microenvironments, criterion of well-being and time. The data reinforces the notion that treatment programs must be individualized and that the P-E model, operationalized in the EPPIS, may serve as a viable clinical tool.

Family perceptions of adolescent self-image

This study examined relationships between adolescents' self-image and perceptions of these adolescents held by their parents. It was hypothesized that parents would generally agree with their children's self-perceptions and that greater congruence between parents and their children would be associated with greater positive adolescent self-image. One hundred and six normal families participated in this study in the spring of 1981. Results showed that parents accurately perceive their adolescent children's selfimage. Specific areas of disagreement between parents and adolescents are discussed. Other results showed that mother-father agreement is associated with positive descriptions by the adolescents of their family and a positive attitude toward vocational and educational goals. Mother-child congruence scores were more highly correlated with adolescents' self-image than fatherchild congruence scores. Daughters' self-image was more highly associated with parent-child agreement than was sons' self-image.