The main objective of this research is to investigate adolescents' perceptions concerning professional interests and preferences. Nowadays, a major problem of the teenager is the choice of career path to follow. Vocational identity is an important aspect of individual identity that adolescents explore and are asked, in high school mainly, to…

A public accountant becomes one of the graduate profiles of the undergraduate accounting students at Maranatha Christian University. To decide on a career as a public accountant, ideally, the students have to possess the investigative or conventional personality as the primary code of Holland, besides carrier prospect. If they do not have one of…

The IT industry struggles to attract qualified talent despite an exceptional outlook in terms of both job availability and compensation. Similarly, post-secondary academic institutions report difficulties recruiting students for IT majors. One potential reason for this is that current career counseling practices do not adequately convey relevant…

Context: Following the social cognitive career theory of Lent, Brown, and Hackett (1994), the current study examines the effect of role models' professions and practical internship experiences on the choice of professional environment independent of professional interests. Embedded in the Swiss context with its strong vocational training system,…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop a model of motives and career choice based on learning styles in order to apply the model in teaching business. Although the relationship between learning and McClelland's (1961) three motives (achievement, affiliation, and power) as confirmed that motives are "learned," little research…

American students accustomed to standardization in secondary education have experience with fulfilling the requirements imposed upon them, but often these students require further assistance to facilitate their personal decisions about education after high school. Postsecondary education and career preparation programs, educators, and educational…

Background: Vocational interests play a central role in the vocational decision-making process and are decisive for the later job satisfaction and vocational success. Based on Ackerman's (1996) notion of "trait complexes," specific interest profiles of gifted high-school graduates can be expected. Aims: Vocational interests of gifted and…

The psychometric properties of measures of self-efficacy for the six themes of Holland's theory were examined using item response theory. Item and scale quality were compared across levels of the trait continuum; all the scales were highly reliable but differentiated better at some levels of the continuum than others. Applications for adaptive…

THE PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF A STUDENT'S EXPRESSED VOCATIONAL CHOICE WAS COMPARED WITH THE PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF HIS SCORES ON A VOCATIONAL PREFERENCE INVENTORY. THE DATA FOR THE STUDY WAS FURNISHED BY TWO AMERICAN COLLEGE SURVEYS. STUDENTS FROM TWO NATIONWIDE SAMPLES OF 28 COLLEGES WERE POLLED FOR THEIR VOCATIONAL CHOICES AND WERE GIVEN THE SIXTH…

Describes procedures and applications for translating the scores from vocational interest inventories into regions on a world-of-work map. Suggests the procedure can be used in both vocational guidance and research to provide a basis for better understanding of vocational choice and development. (JAC)

This paper illustrates a procedure for using the interest scores of occupational group members to locate occupations on Holland's hexagon. The procedure locates occupations throughout the hexagon--not just at the six points. The Holland types are Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Artistic (A), Social (S), Enterprising (E), and Conventional (C).…

From personality comparison between both present and future job choices, significant positive results were obtained to support Holland's premise that people search out environments and, hence, vocations that are compatible with their personalities. (Author)

Hypothesizes that occupational perceptions are more specific for older age groups than for younger age groups. Hypothesis was tested by using latent root analysis and minimum residual factor analysis to analyze intercorrelations among six Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) scales for five large and diverse samples. Both analyses supported the…

This study compares effects on high school students (N=959) of the Self Directed Search (SDS), the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI), and no treatment. Students taking the SDS or the VPI evaluated the instruments, felt more satisfied with current occupational choices, and considered more occupational alternatives. Differences between the…