A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies was conducted to investigate stability and change in work values across the life span. Both rank-order stability and mean-level change were investigated using an integrative classification for intrinsic, extrinsic, social and status work values (Ross, Schwartz, & Surkis, 1999). Results of rank-order…

According to public service motivation theory, individuals with a strong public service orientation are attracted to government jobs. This proposition was investigated in three studies by measuring public sector motivation at a pre-entry level as an individual difference variable affecting perceptions of fit and organizational attraction. Results…

We examined perfectionistic personality characteristics and their association with science self-efficacy beliefs and academic performance among college students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We were especially interested in gender differences in effects given that women remain significantly underrepresented in…

Although empirical research on this topic is scarce, personality traits and vocational interests have repeatedly been named as potential individual level predictors of job change. Using a long-term cohort study (N = 291), we examined RIASEC interest profiles and Big Five personality scores at the beginning of the professional career as predictors…

We extend prior research on involvement in employee development activity by including prominent individual difference constructs that have been previously ignored in this area of research. These include two important personality characteristics (conscientiousness and openness to experience), mental ability and goal orientation constructs. We…

Examined race and sex differences in personality profile among nursing students. The Self Directed Search was administered to students entering baccalaureate nursing programs. Results generally supported Holland's typology. Race and sex differences in SDS codes were not significant. Some differences were found in socioeconomic characteristics.…

Assessed personality and background features of men in female-dominated professions by comparing 54 men employed in atypical professions with 63 men employed in sex-typical fields. Results showed that the men, by virtue of having entered female-dominated professions, have common personality and background factors which differentiate them from…

Holland's Self-Directed Search and NEO Five-Factor Inventory were completed by 146 males and 213 females. For males, Holland types were differentiated by the factors Openness and Extraversion; for females by Openness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness. Significant associations also appeared between these three factors and Prediger's Data/Ideas and…

Investigated differences among women and men (N=151) employed in traditional female occupations (staff nursing, elementary school teaching, librarianship) who took the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI). Findings on the VPI Social, Investigative, Conventional, Enterprising and Artistic scales showed women, when compared to men in the same…

Seventy-five male and 77 female college students completed the Personality Adjective Check List and Self-Directed Search. Results show that Millon's personality styles and Holland's occupational types are reliably linked, seeming closest in the concept of social dominance-submission and emotionality-restraint and most divergent in the view of…

The relationship between the personal style scales of the Strong Interest Inventory and the Big Five model of personality was investigated with 740 undergraduates and a cross-validation sample of 321. No significant gender differences were observed. Personal style scales indicating living and working preferences were correlated with personality…

A sample of 139 (of 557) college graduates completed the Revised Self-Monitoring Scale and the Private Self-Consciousness Scale. For men, self-presentation correlated positively with Holland's social and enterprising personality types. Private self-consciousness correlated with artistic (both sexes) and investigative (men only) types. (SK)

In Finland, 151 women and 160 men were followed from age 8 to 36. High career orientation was explained by high self-control. Social activity was related to female career orientation. Both stable and unstable careers were more strongly related to personality traits in women than men. (63 references) (SK)

Investigated personality correlates of occupational status using Holland's (1973) typology. Data from 175 employed adult males showed no single personality factor was associated with status across occupational types. In general, the relationship between personality factors and occupational types provided additional confirmation of Holland's theory…

Administered an individual differences measure of motivational and orientations and a multidimensional measure of exploratory activity and beliefs to undergraduate students (N=154). Canonical analysis yielded one significant canonical root which indicated autonony and control orientations were positively related to self-exploration and beliefs in…