Jo-Ida C. Hansen

Work Values Across Generations

Mainstream publication discussions of differences in generational cohorts in the workplace suggest that individuals of more recent generations, such as Generation X and Y, have different work values than do individuals of the Silent and Baby Boom generations. Although extant research suggests that age may influence work values, few of the assertions about generation differences have been tested by empirical research. The present study investigated work values, as measured by the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire, across three generations (Silent Generation, N = 371; Baby Boom, N = 1179; and Generation X, N = 139) while accounting for age. Results suggested that workers from the Silent Generation placed more importance on Status and Autonomy than did Baby Boom or Generation X workers. More recent generations (Baby Boom and Generation X) were found to place more importance on Working Conditions, Security, Coworkers, and Compensation. Additional analyses suggest that, while the measured differences among the three generations are small, generation influences work values more so than does age.

Mapping Associations between Interests and Personality: Toward a Conceptual Understanding of Individual Differences in Vocational Behavior.

This study tested the hypothesis that previously reported associations between personality traits and vocational interests can be accounted for by associations between lower order personality traits and interests. Personality traits were explored using the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992b), which measures the personality types of the five-factor model (e.g., P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992a) as well as 30 lower order personality facets. Interests were defined using J. L. Hollands (1997) RIASEC types as well as basic interest factors (J. Rounds, 1995). Results suggested several interest-personality associations at the facet level that lend support to emerging theories of the role of individual differences in vocational development.

Stability of vocational interests over 4-Year, 8-Year, and 12-Year intervals

Abstract The present study investigated long-term stability of vocational interests in a sample of 409 subjects tested with the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory ( SCII; Hansen & Campbell, 1985 ) as college freshmen in 1974 and retested 12 years later in 1986. In addition, 204 of the subjects also were tested 4 years after their freshman year. Interest stability was determined by computing a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, for each subject, between her or his test and retest SCII profiles. Results indicated that (a) there was a remarkable degree of interest stability over all three time intervals; (b) individual differences in stability also were apparent over the three intervals; (c) the stability coefficients were significantly related to self-ratings of stability, and were significantly higher than correlations based on randomly matched profiles; and (d) five methods of operationally defining stability produced somewhat different results in terms of characteristics of the coefficient distributions; however, the different methods resulted in similar rank-orderings of individuals.

A clarification of Holland's construct of differentiation: The importance of score elevation☆

Abstract In J. L. Hollands (1985, Making Vocational Choices (2nd ed.), Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall) theory of vocational choice, the construct of differentiation refers to the degree to which an individuals interests are clearly defined and is operationalized in the present study as the numerical difference between an individuals highest and lowest scores on the General Occupational Theme scales (GOT) of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) (D. P. Campbell and J. C. Hansen, Manual for SVIB-SCII (3rd ed.), Palo Alto, CA: Stanford Univ. Press). Techniques for measuring differentiation do not account for the elevation of an interest profile; thus, subjects with strong interests (all high scores) are treated as equivalent to subjects with weak interests (all low scores). The present study examined the custom of treating all undifferentiated subjects as if they were equal, by dividing subjects into High-Score Undifferentiated (HSU) and Low-Score Undifferentiated (LSU) groups, based on the elevation of the highest GOT score. Compared to the LSU subjects, HSU subjects (a) were more likely to have SCII profiles which were internally consistent, (b) had a higher mean cumulative grade point average, (c) had a higher mean Academic Comfort score, and (d) were more likely to persist in college. These results suggest that accounting for score elevation does reveal differences between HSU and LSU subjects and that future studies should not treat undifferentiated subjects as a homogeneous group.

The application of Holland's vocational model to the strong vocational interest blank for women

Abstract To pattern recent research on the Mens form of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB), six scales were developed for the Womens form that mapped the vocational model of Hollands interest theory. The scales were free of item overlap, and within each scale, the items intercorrelated highly positive and represented a wide range of popularity. Concurrent validity for the scales consisted of rank order mean scores for 91 female groups, primarily occupational samples used in construction of the occupational scales on the SVIB. The groups were arranged in a meaningful and common sense order on each of the six scales. These data were consistent with the correlations of the Holland-based scales with the basic interest scales and occupational scales now in existence.

Translation and Validation of the Spanish Form of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory.

One major problem in cross-cultural research is language equivalence of measurement instruments that have been translated. This study was designed to determine the equivalency of the Spanish transl...

Structure of Interests of Asian-American College Students

Unweighted multidimensional scaling (MDS) analyses were used to investigate whether Hollands theoretical structure of interests described the interest structures for 2 cultural groups and for genders within these groups. The intercorrelation matrices of the Strong Interest Inventory General Occupational Themes, for samples of male and female Asian-American and White-American university students were submitted separately to MDS analysis.

The Interest Structure of Native American College Students

This study investigated the fit of Hollands vocational interest structure for samples of female and male Native American college students. The spatial arrangement of Native American interest types was expected to (a) be ordered in a R-I-A-S-E-C circular order, (b) approximate a hexagon, and (c) occupy a two-dimensional space. Strong Interest Inventory General Occupational Theme scores for 103 female and 73 male Native American college students first were submitted to a multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis. The MDS analysis allowed a visual test of the circular order and hexagonal hypotheses and a statistical test of the two-dimensional hypothesis. A randomized test of hypothesized order also was used to statistically test the circular order hypothesis. All of the statistical tests and visual analyses supported the circular order and two-dimensional hypothesis. The female interest data, however, were more consistent with Hollands proposed hexagonal interest structure than were the male interest data.

Does enough evidence exist to modify Holland's theory to accommodate the individual differences of diverse populations?

Abstract The research by Fouad and Dancer, Swanson, and Prediger and Vansickle—each using an impressive data set and a rigorous research design—contributes to the existing literature on the structure of interests. Fouad and Dancer and Swansons results provide evidence that the Holland RIASEC-order hypothesis is robust across cultures. Analogous to the construct of values, the construct of interests appears to have a broad pattern of structural similarity across cultures in concert with specific sample differences that reflect the individual differences of cultures. These specific sample differences call into question the calculus assumption on which Hollands congruence construct is based. Prediger and Vansickles Hexagon Congruence Index, however, may offer an alternative to existing methods of congruence assessment that circumvents the calculus assumption.

Cross-Cultural Predictive Accuracy of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory.

The authors investigated the feasibility of transferring the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) into another culture. Results are discussed relative to appropriate psychotechnological transfer.