This study examined the relationships of vocational interests and self-efficacy expectations, or confidence, to personality, as measured by the Personal Styles scales of the Strong Interest Inventory. The study also examined the extent to which confidence and personality measures contributed incrementally to the prediction of occupational group membership. In a sample of 1,103 adults employed in 21 occupations representing the complete Holland hexagon, confidence–personality relationships were very similar to interest–personality relationships found in previous research. Discriminant analyses indicated that both personality and confidence contributed incrementally to the prediction of occupational group membership, although the most powerful single predictor set was 14 basic confidence dimensions (e.g., science, public speaking, and writing) extracted through principal components analysis. There were substantial differences across the 21 occupations in their predictability and in the extent to which they were differentiated by personality variables versus confidence dimensions. Implications for further work on the intersections of vocational interests, confidence, and personality are discussed.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215.
2.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
3.
Barrick, M. R., Mount, M. K., & Gupta, R. (2003). Meta-analysis of the relationship between the five-factor model of personality and Holland’s occupational types. Personnel Psychology, 56, 45-74.
4.
Betz, N. E., & Borgen, F. H. (2000). Integrating vocational interests with self-efficacy and personal styles. Journal of Career Assessment, 8, 329-338.
5.
Betz, N., Borgen, F., & Harmon, L. (2005). manual for the Skills Confidence Inventory (rev. ed.).Mountain View, CA: CPP.
6.
Betz, N. E., Borgen, F. H., Kaplan, A., & Harmon, L. W. (1998). Gender as a moderator of the validity and interpretive utility of the Skills Confidence Inventory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43, 90-98.
7.
Betz, N. E., Borgen, F. H., Rottinghaus, P., Paulsen, A., Halper, C. R., & Harmon, L. W. (2003). The Expanded Skills Confidence Inventory: Measuring basic dimensions of vocational activity. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62, 76-100.
8.
Betz, N. E., & Hackett, G. (1981). The relationship of career-related self-efficacy expectations to perceived career options in college men and women. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 28, 399-410.
9.
Betz, N. E., Harmon, L., & Borgen, F. (1996). The relationships of self-efficacy for the Holland themes to gender, occupational group membership, and vocational interests. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43, 90-98.
10.
Betz, N. E., & Rottinghaus, P. R. (2006). Current research on parallel measures of interests and confidence for basic dimensions of vocational activity. Journal of Career Assessment, 14, 56-76.
11.
Betz, N. E., & Wolfe, J. (2005). Measuring confidence for basic domains of vocational activity in high school students. Journal of Career Assessment, 13, 251-270.
12.
Borgen, F. H. (1999). New horizons in interest theory and measurement: Toward expanded meeting. In M. L. Savickas & A. R. Spokane (Eds.), Vocational interests: meaning, measurement, and counseling use (pp. 383-412). Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black.
13.
Borgen, F. H., & Harmon, L. W. (1996). Linking interest assessment and personality theory: An example of convergence between practice and theory. In M. L. Savickas & W. B. Walsh (Eds.), Handbook of career counseling theory and practice (pp. 251-266). Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black.
14.
Borgen, F. H., & Lindley, L. D. (2003). Individuality and optimal human functioning: Interests, self-efficacy, and personality. In W. B. Walsh (Ed.), Counseling psychology and optimal human functioning (pp. 55-91). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
15.
Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). NEO-PI-R professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
16.
Costa, P. T., Jr., McCrae, R. R., & Holland, J. L. (1984). Personality and vocational interests in an adult sample. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 390-400.
17.
Day, S. X., & Rounds, J. (1997). “A little more than kin, and less than kind”: Basic interests in vocational research and career counseling. Career Development Quarterly, 45, 207-220.
18.
Donnay, D. A. C., & Borgen, F. H. (1999). The incremental validity of vocational self-efficacy: An examination of interest, self-efficacy, and occupation. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 46, 432-447.
19.
Donnay, D. A. C., Morris, M., Schaubhut, N., & Thompson, R. (2005). Strong Interest Inventory manual: Research, development, and strategies for interpretation. Mountain View, CA: CPP.
20.
Gasser, C. E., Larson, L. M., & Borgen, F. H. (2004). Contributions of personality and interests to explaining the educational aspirations of college students. Journal of Career Assessment, 12, 347-365.
21.
Hackett, G., & Betz, N. E. (1981). A self-efficacy approach to the career development of women. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 18, 326-339.
22.
Harmon, L. W., Hansen, J. C., Borgen, F. H., & Hammer, A. L. (1994). Strong Interest Inventory: Applications and technical guide.Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
23.
Hogan, J., & Holland, B. (2003). Using theory to evaluate personality and job-performance relations: A socioanalytic perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 100-112.
24.
Holland, J. L. (1997). making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
25.
Isaacs, J., Borgen, F. H., Donnay, D. A. C., & Hansen, T. A. (1997, August). Self-efficacy and interests: Relationships of Holland themes to college major. Poster presented at the 105th annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago.
26.
Kieffer, K. M., Schinka, J. A., & Curtiss, G. (2004). Person-environment congruence and personality domains in the prediction of job performance and work quality. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 168-177.
27.
Lachenbruch, P. A. (1967). An almost unbiased method of obtaining confidence intervals for the probability of misclassification in discriminant analysis. Biometrics, 23, 639-645.
28.
Larson, L. M., & Borgen, F. H. (2002). Convergence of vocational interests and personality: Examples in an adolescent gifted sample. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 60, 91-112.
29.
Larson, L. M., Rottinghaus, P. J., & Borgen, F. H. (2002). Meta-analyses of Big Six interests and Big Five personality variables. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61, 217-239.
30.
Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45, 79-122.
31.
Lindley, L. D., & Borgen, F. H. (2000). Personal Style scales of the Strong Interest Inventory: Linking personality and interests. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 57, 22-41.
32.
Nauta, M. M. (2004). Self-efficacy as a mediator of the relationships between personality factors and career interests. Journal of Career Assessment, 12, 381-394.
33.
Nauta, M., Kahn, J., Angell, J., & Cantarelli, E. (2002). Identifying the antecedent in the relation between career interests and self-efficacy: Is it one, the other, or both?Journal of Counseling Psychology, 49, 290-301.
34.
Parsons, E., & Betz, N.E. (1998). Test retest reliability and validity studies of the Skills Confidence Inventory. Journal of Career Assessment, 6, 1-12.
35.
Ralston, C. A., Borgen, F. H., Rottinghaus, P. J., & Donnay, D. A. C. (2004). Specificity in interest measurement: Basic Interest Scales and major field of study. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65, 203-216.
36.
Rottinghaus, P. J., Larson, L. M., & Borgen, F. H. (2003). The relation of self-efficacy and interests: A meta-analysis of 60 samples. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62, 221-236.
37.
Rottinghaus, P. J., Lindley, L. D., Green, M. A., & Borgen, F. H. (2002). Educational aspirations: The contribution of personality, self-efficacy, and interests. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61, 1-19.
38.
Spokane, A. R., & Decker, A. R. (1999). Expressed and measured interests. In M. Savickas & A. Spokane (Eds.), Vocational interests: Their meaning, measurement, and use in counseling (pp. 211-233). Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black.
39.
Staggs, G. D. (2005). meta-analyses of interest-personality convergence using the Strong Interest Inventory and the multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. Unpublished dissertation, Iowa State University, Ames.
40.
Staggs, G. D., Larson, L. M., & Borgen, F. H. (2003). Convergence of specific factors in vocational interests and personality. Journal of Career Assessment, 11, 243-261.
41.
Sullivan, B. A., & Hansen, J. C. (2004). Mapping associations between interests and personality: Toward a conceptual understanding of individual differences in vocational behavior. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 287-298.
42.
Swanson, J., & D’Achiardi, C. (2005). Beyond interests, needs/values, and abilities: Assessing other important career constructs over the life span. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (pp. 353-381). New York: Wiley.
43.
Tracey, T. J. G. (2002). Development of interests and competency beliefs. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 49, 148-163.
