Vocational Personality Research Articles

The Relationship between the Self-awared Vocational Personality and the Interests in the Job

The Relationship between the Self-awared Vocational Personality and the Interests in the Job

The Relationship between Holland's Occupational Types and 16PF Global Factor Scores among University Students

The aim of the present study was to assess the relationship between personality, as measured by the five global factors of Cattell's 16PF, and occupational interests, as measured by Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI). Data were obtained from 122 undergraduate students studying various degree programs at a Melbourne university. Partial support was found for the hypothesis that vocational interests correlate with personality measures. The hypothesis that students completing different vocationally orientated degree programs would produce discrete personality profiles received limited support. Distinctly different RIASEC profiles, however, were evident across the four course groups. It was concluded that an understanding of both vocational interest and personality theory would enhance the services provided by career guidance professionals.

Appraising Birth Order in Career Assessment: Linkages to Holland's and Super's Models

Adlerian vocational theory proposes that birth order, or psychological position in the family of origin, significantly influences vocational behavior. If so, appraising birth order position may be useful in a career assessment context to enrich an understanding of an individual's occupational interests, values, and vocational personality style. Two exploratory studies examined this potentiality. In Study 1, analysis of variance results indicated significant differences in vocational personality type, occupational interests, and values among three birth-order groups derived from a medical student sample (N = 159). Significant differences in occupational interests among birth-order groups also emerged in Study 2 which used a college student sample (N = 119). Combined, results of the present research lend support to the Adlerian theoretical assertion that birth order determines vocational personality, occupational interest, and values patterns. Birth order represents a salient and viable variable to consider in career assessment and counseling contexts as well as to examine in future research.

Holland's Theory and Occupational Information

Holland's (1997) RIASEC model is predicated on the assumption that appropriate vocational choices are a function of a successful match between an individual's vocational personality (e.g., Social) and the work environment (e.g., high interpersonal contact). Therefore, the use of the RIASEC model in career guidance requires a method for linking an individual's interests, operationalized as his or her RIASEC profile, to the occupational demands which must also be expressed in RIASEC codes. In this paper, we review the use of Holland's RIASEC model in career delivery systems and demonstrate how individual interests were linked to specific occupations in two large occupational information systems.

John L. Holland's Contributions to Vocational Psychology: A Review and Evaluation

John L. Holland pioneered in assessing the environments of colleges and universities and their influence on students. His research has been central in the development of knowledge about nonacademic accomplishments. His theory of vocational personalities and work environments revolutionized the delivery of vocational assistance worldwide. He made contributions to research on originality and interpersonal competence. And he influenced our field through his influence on other psychologists. Persistence, focus, horizon-scanning, the interpretation of evidence in novel ways, revision of ideas based on evidence, an emphasis on the practical, generosity with colleagues, and intellectual tension are themes that characterize Holland's working style and explain his enormous influence. Much remains to be done to fully explore and extend Holland's theoretical contributions in the areas of development and socialization, personal and environmental change, assessment and influences of environments, and effects of vocational interventions.

The relationship between personality, gender, and tourism behavior

This paper reports on a study that tested empirically the extent to which Holland’s (1985a, Making Vocational Choices: A Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments (2nd ed.), Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.) theory of personality types effectively explains individuals’ visitation of, and likelihood of visiting, tourist attractions. A random sample of 500 adults were interviewed personally at their residences. They completed Holland’s Self-Directed Search, and provided data on their past visitation of specific attractions, their interest in visiting such attractions, and their planned visitation in the future. The study found that there were significant associations between the respondents’ Holland personality types, their gender, and their tourism behavior, for some attractions and some measures of behavior. The implications for tourism marketing are discussed.

Validity of the 1994 Strong Interest Inventory with racial and ethnic groups in the United States.

During the revision of the 1994 Strong Interest Inventory (SII; L. W. Harmon, J. C. Hansen, F. H. Borgen & A. L. Hammer, 1994), information was obtained about the race-ethnicity and careers of over 55,000 employed adults in 50 different occupations. The national norm group, the general reference sample, contains 18,789 individuals who identified their race-ethnicity in the following manner: 378 African Americans; 363 Asian Americans; 17,365 Caucasian Americans; 349 Hispanic Americans/Latinos (Latinas); and 77 Native Americans/American Indians. Concurrent validity across racial-ethnic groups was examined by typing their 50 occupations into the appropriate J. L. Holland (1997) job family. Then the General Occupational Themes, the SII scales corresponding to Holland's (1997) 6 vocational personality types, were examined for their ability to predict Holland (1997) job family in similar ways for the different racial--ethnic groups. Results generally showed comparable validity and interpretive counseling implications in using the SII with these racial-ethnic groups. Some interesting trends and important limitations were also noted.

Gender differences in personality components of computer science students

The problem of disproportional representation of females in computer science curricula was examined in the context of Holland's theory of vocational personality. It was hypothesized that some combination of standardized mathematical aptitude and congruence would significantly predict achievement and persistence in computer science.

Governance of the Vocational Personality in the Origins of Vocational Guidance

Governance of the Vocational Personality in the Origins of Vocational Guidance

General Versus Specific Predictors of Specialty Choice in Psychology: Holland Codes and Theoretical Orientations

A general measure of vocational personality (Holland codes) as presented in the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI; Holland, 1985) is compared to a more specific measure of preferences (theoretical orientations) with respect to differentiating among specialty areas in psychology—specifically, clinical, counseling, and experimental psychology (Coan, 1979). Counseling and clinical doctoral students differ from experimental doctoral students on both theoretical orientations and vocational personality. The counseling and clinical students do not differ on theoretical orientations, but do differ on vocational personality, with counseling students being more socially oriented than clinical students. These findings are surprising in light of literature that suggests specific preferences should be more predictive of specialty interests. Implications for counseling are suggested, including some cautions about using rational, rather than empirical, measures of Holland three-point codes for psychologists.

The Interest-Finder: Evidence of Validity

Developed over a 4-year period by the Department of Defense, the Interest-Finder assesses the RIASEC constructs associated with Holland's (1985a) vocational personality theory. Analyses based on a large national sample of high school students and military recruits (N = 3,608), were conducted to assess Interest-Finder content-, construct-, and criterion-related evidence of validity. Results showed that the Interest-Finder (a) is composed of six factors, with each factor representing one RIASEC domain, (b) has a hexagonal shape, (c) has substantial relationships with the Strong Interest Inventory (SII; Hansen & Campbell, 1985), (d) can predict certain high school courses taken by students, and (e) can predict certain types of career choices made by high school students. The Interest-Finder is an exceptionally promising instrument with very high levels of reliability and validity.

Personality and interests as predictors of educational streaming and achievement

In this study Holland's RIASEC Model of vocational personalities and the Five-Factor Model of personality are used (i) to assess individual differences among study majors and (ii) to predict educational achievement. A sample of 934 last-year students who enrolled in different academic majors filled out Dutch/Flemish adaptations of the NEO-PI-R (Costa and McCrae, 1992) and the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1977; 1979). The results show that both models are useful to describe differences among different majors. Conscientiousness proves to be a general predictor of grades and study career. For the other Big Five dimensions, except for Agreeableness, major and/or gender specific relationships with educational outcomes are observed. Holland's interest dimensions are not related to educational achievement, except for some moderate gender or major specific correlations with the Investigative and the Artistic scales. Suggestions for future research regarding educational streaming and counselling are discussed.

Relationships between Holland's vocational typology, Schein's career anchors and Myers—Briggs' types

The relationships between the variables measured by the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and ipsative scales measuring the concepts in Holland's theory of vocational personalities and Schein's theory of career anchors were investigated by analysing data from 1063 Norwegian adults. Three bipolar factors extracted from the vocational scales were in close agreement with the diagonal dimensions of Holland's hexagon model of the vocational categories. Four factors extracted from the anchor scales were interpreted as bipolar career anchor factors. Regression analysis, using MBTI variables as independent and vocational and career anchor factors as dependent variables, showed that extraversion–introversion predicted the enterprising–investigative factor, sensing–intuition predicted the conventional–artistic factor, and thinking–feeling predicted the realistic–social factor. The Myers–Briggs variables were not distinctly related to the career anchor variables.It is argued that the three‐factor structure of the vocational categories corresponds with Holland's hexagon model of these categories because preferential choice data tend to expand the hexagon to an octahedron.

Review…: Making Vocational Choices: A Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments

Review…: Making Vocational Choices: A Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments

Career‐Related Interests and Values, Perceived Control, and Acculturation of Asian‐American and Caucasian‐American College Students1

The present study compares the career‐related interests and values of Asian‐American and Caucasian‐American college students and explores the relationships among career interests, perceived control, and acculturation. Career‐related interests were defined by Holland's (1959, 1985a) model of vocational personality types and work environments, and career‐related values were defined by Schein's (1987) career anchors. The Career Anchor Inventory (Nordvik, 1991), the Self‐Directed Search (Holland, 1991), and the Spheres of Control Scale (Paulhus & Van Selst, 1990), were completed by 184 Asian‐American and 130 Caucasian‐American undergraduate students. The Asian‐Americans also completed the Suinn‐Lew Asian Self‐Identity Acculturation Scale (Suinn, Rickard‐Figueroa, Lew & Vigil, 1987). In comparison to Caucasian‐American students, Asian‐American students showed higher interest in the Investigative and Conventional vocational categories, but lower interest in the Social category. Asian‐American subjects were lower in perceived control in the Personal and Interpersonal spheres. Among the Asian‐Americans, acculturation was positively correlated with perceived control in the Personal and Interpersonal spheres and with the Enterprising vocational category. Acculturation was negatively correlated with Investigative and Conventional interests.

Evaluation of the Correspondence between Holland′s Vocational Personality Typology and the Five-Factor Model of Personality

We investigated the correspondence between two of the most prominent and heuristic models of personality structure: Holland′s (1985a) vocational personality typology and the five-factor model. Participants were 146 male and 213 female employed adults with well-defined Self-Directed Search (SDS; Holland, 1985b) profiles; they completed the SDS and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (Form S) (NEO-FFI [Form S]; Costa & McCrae, 1992). Results of discriminant analyses revealed that two NEO-FFI (Form S) functions differentiated among Holland groups for samples of each gender. For males, the Big-Five dimensions which discriminated Holland types were Openness and Extraversion; for females, Openness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness constituted the functions which discriminated Holland groups. Results also revealed significant associations of Prediger′s (1982) Data/Ideas and Things/People dimensions with the Big-Five dimensions of Openness and a combination of Extraversion and Agreeableness, respectively. We conclude that Holland′s typology, as measured by the SDS, may correspond with a portion of the five-factor model; the dimensions of Openness and Extraversion seem particularly relevant. Finally, our results provide additional empirical support for the validity of Holland′s trait characterizations of the six vocational personality types.

Dimensions Relating Holland's Vocational Personality Typology and the Five-Factor Model

This study examined the correspondence between two models of personality structure, both of which purport to be comprehensive: Holland's (1992) vocational personality typology and the five-factor model. In this research, 102 female and 91 male college students completed the Self-Directed Search (SDS; Holland, 1985a) and the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI; Costa & McCrae, 1985). Results of canonical analyses revealed two dimensions to which SDS and NEO-PI variable sets were related for both females and males; however, the nature of the dimension pairs differed by gender. For females, significant overlap between SDS and NEO-PI domains was represented by a dimension characterized by a Nonpersonal Orientation at one pole and an Interpersonal Orientation at the other pole, and a Closedness-Openness dimension. For males, overlap between the two domains was explained by Closedness-Openness and Introversion-Extraversion dimensions. Results generally were consistent with theoretical definitions of the Big-Five personality dimensions, as well as the trait characterizations of the six Holland types. Results also revealed associations of Prediger's (1982) Data/Ideas and Things/People with the Closedness-Openness and Nonpersonal-Interpersonal dimensions, respectively.

Application of Holland's theory of vocational personalities and work environments to medical student specialty selection

Application of Holland's theory of vocational personalities and work environments to medical student specialty selection

Application of Holland's Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments to Medical Student Specialty Selection

Application of Holland's Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments to Medical Student Specialty Selection

Congruence and Coherence as Predictors of Congruent Employment Outcomes

Four diagnostic signs derived from Holland's (1985a) theory of vocational personalities and occupational environments were evaluated for their ability to predict personality‐environment congruence in a sample of 87 employed persons with special needs. Participants, 40% of whom were female, had an average age of 35.6 years. The diagnostic signs were employment congruence, aspirational congruence, employment coherence, and aspirational coherence, all measured during an initial assessment. The outcome was personality‐environment congruence in a job held 15 months after the initial assessment. Employment congruence was found to be the best predictor of future personality‐environment congruence. Employment coherence was also predictive of future personality‐environment congruence, and aspirational congruence was correlated with the latter. The clinical and research implications of the findings were discussed.