This article proposes a theoretical framework to study organizational embeddedness and occupational embeddedness. Organizational embeddedness is the totality of forces (fit, links, and sacrifices) that keep people in their current organizations, while occupational embeddedness is the totality of forces (fit, links, and sacrifices) that keep people…

High point profile analysis of scores from the General Occupational Theme scale of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank-Strong Campbell Interest Inventory and the General Aptitude Test Battery for 516 males and 330 females indicated that interests correlated with high abilities. A theoretically coherent typology of individuals' vocational…

Examined vocational hypothesis testing by applying Snyder's hypothesis-testing research paradigm to a vocational task in two experiments. Subjects (N=106) were asked to evaluate the appropriateness of a specific occupation for themselves. Subjects tended to exhibit confirmatory hypothesis-testing strategies when relevant occupations were…

Examined validity of self-estimates of ability on a vocational interest measure (Self-Directed Search). Correlated self-ratings of 149 female undergraduates with well-validated measures of abilities corresponding to each of Holland's six interest domains. Found higher correlations between self-ratings of abilities and objective measures than for…

This literature review on vocational choices, decision making, vocational assessment, and career counseling (325 references) focuses on preentry individual behavior. The review finds a predominantly white male heterosexual referent, need to recognize multiple factors affecting behavior, and importance of appropriately powerful statistical…

Trends in conceptualization, instrumentation, and sampling in four career development research areas are charted: stage-based and process-oriented models, decision making, intervention evaluation, and organizational development/career orientation. Research reporting methods are analyzed, and suggestions for future research directions offered. (200…

A three-year literature review found that vocational choice, decision making, intervention, and assessment have been studied with a plethora of constructs and scales that were often atheoretical and superficially related. Traditional measurement methods must be reexamined for progress in the field of vocational behavior to occur. (322 references)…