Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. (2011) 12:559–568
DOI 10.1007/s12564-011-9157-x
An exploration of adult career interests and work values
in Taiwan
Hsiu-Lan Shelley Tien
Received: 21 May 2010 / Revised: 6 November 2010 / Accepted: 3 March 2011 / Published online: 6 April 2011
Education Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea 2011
Abstract The purpose of the study was to investigate the
relationship between vocational interests and work values
among 206 adults in Taiwan. The instruments were the
Career Interest Inventory developed based on Holland’s
RIASEC typology and the Work Value Inventory developed based on Super’s theory. The results of multivariate
analysis of variance indicated significant gender differences in overall vocational interests and overall work values. In addition, the gender differences were found in three
vocational interests (Realistic, Artistic, and Social) and
three types of work value (Achievement, Economic Return,
and Way of life). The results of canonical correlation
analyses showed similar, but not exactly the same, patterns
in correlation of interests and values between men and
women. These results were discussed in terms of their
implications for research and practice.
Keywords Career interests Vocational interests Work values
Vocational interest and work value are two of the important
constructs in understanding an individual’s career choice
behavior. While describing the six interest types, Holland
(1997) also mentioned values in addition to personality and
activities preferred by each of the types. For example,
Artistic type of individuals value independence, esthetic
quality, and impulsivity. Conventional type of people value
order, precision, and accuracy. However, there are few
H.-L. S. Tien (&)
Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling,
National Taiwan Normal University,
162 Hoping E. Rd. Sec 1., Taipei, Taiwan
e-mail: [email protected]
studies describing the relationship between vocational
interest and work value empirically. To investigate the
relationships between the two important constructs with an
international sample is even an important inquiry.
The importance of career interest in predicting an
individual’s vocational behavior was asserted. For example, Holland (1997) asserted that the congruence of career
interest and work environment could predict the individual’s work satisfaction. Social cognitive career theory
(Lent et al. 1994) emphasized the relationship between
career interest, self-efficacy, outcome expectation, and
career choice behavior. Hansen and Dik (2005) further
suggested that interests might be the most stable of all
psychological constructs. Reviews of research in this area
concluded that interests tend to stabilize during adulthood
for the majority of individuals (Swanson 1999), yet others
show dramatically changed patterns. How about work
values? As the society changed, work value might be
another variable that was considered as stable and influence
an individual’s vocational behavior.
In the United States, the relationships among career
interests and work values have been studied, but infrequently. The relationships among these constructs with
non-US samples need to be examined. We intended to
examine the generalizability of the relationships to a
sample from Taiwan.
Career interests
Vocational interest represents an individual’s personal
preference. It was believed to be an important factor that
influences an individual’s vocational choice behavior.
Holland’s RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social,
Enterprising, and Conventional) hexagon is the most
123
560
popularly applied model for career practitioners to understand the structure of vocational interests. Previous
researchers have concluded that sex-typical interests might
show greater stability (Swanson 1984). Hansen and Lee
(2007) examined the evidence of validity of the Strong
Interest Inventory Occupational Scale scores for predicting
college major choices of Asian-American women and men
and White women and men. The results support the use of
the SII with Asian-American college students. Nauta and
Kahn (2007) examined the relationships between young
adults’ identity status, the consistency and differentiation
of their career interests, and their career decision selfefficacy. They found that identity status was related to
career decision self-efficacy and differentiation of interests,
but it was not associated with consistency of interests. In
addition, more advanced identity status dimensions were
associated with more differentiation of interests. Sverko
et al. (2007) tested the validity of Holland’s theory in
the Croatian sample. They applied the Croatian version
of Holland’s Self-Directed Search to 1,866 Croatian
adolescents. The results verified the hexagonal structure of
Holland’s typology. In addition, the relationships between
RIASEC types and value orientations were also found.
Concurrent validity showed that on the basis of Holland’s
RIASEC scores, one can predict the educational program in
which the student is enrolled.
Changing interest patterns certainly occur, yet very little
is known about characteristics distinguishing those with
stable versus unstable interests (Low et al. 2005; Swanson
1999). We believed that the stability of personal work
value may be one of the reasons why vocational interests
are stable. The structure of vocational interests was also
tested in Taiwan by using an 831-college-student sample.
The results indicated that the order of the six interest types
on the two-dimensional space was R-I-A-S-E-C for both
men and women (Tien 1994). Because most previous
studies in Taiwan have focused on adolescents and college
students and less is known about the nature of work values,
we want to explore the adults’ career interest and work
values and their relationship.
Work values
Work value was another variable that is considered as quite
stable for individuals beyond college age. Rokeach (1973)
defined a value as an enduring belief that a specific mode of
conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially
preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or
end-state of existence. The relationship between value
congruence and job satisfaction was also examined
(Chatman 1991; Meglino et al. 1989; O’Reilly et al. 1991).
Significant positive relationships have been found between
123
H.-L. S. Tien
individual-organizational value congruence and job satisfaction. Generally speaking, the empirical findings and
theoretical reasons supported the expectation that value
congruence will be positively related to job satisfaction and
organizational commitment (Kalliath et al. 1999). It is
reasonable to examine the role of work value on an individual’s vocational behavior in addition to interest.
The structure of occupational values was also investigated by using exploratory factor analysis, cluster analysis,
and multidimensional scaling (Smith and Campbell 2006).
The analyzed data were need reinforcers for 900 occupations from the US Department of Labor’s Occupational
Information Network (O*NET). The individual’s needs
could be satisfied through those reinforcers. In their study,
results indicated broadly defined values that primarily
reflected elements of workplace identity and workplace
structure. For example, workers on certain occupational
types valuing giving directions and instructions to others
would be reinforced by the value ‘‘authority’’; workers
prefer to have coworkers who are easy to get along with
would emphasize the value ‘‘coworker’’. Work value,
although less prominent than vocational interests in both
research and practice, does provide an alternative manner
to describe both occupations and persons.
Rottinghaus et al. (2007) conducted a 30-year follow-up
examination of 107 former high school juniors and seniors
from a rural Midwestern community. The instrument was
Kuder Occupational Interest Survey (KOIS). Results
showed minor mean changes and moderate intra-individual
stability. This study corroborates earlier stability studies. It
also extended a more understanding about why some individuals show unstable interest patterns. We believed that one
of the possible reasons was associated with the work values
held by the individuals at different point of time in their life.
Ehrhart and Makransky (2007) investigated the influences of vocational interests and personality to individuals’
perceptions of fit. Results indicated that vocational interests
were better predictors of both perceived person–job and
perceived person–vocation fit than personality. We pondered how interest was more important than personality in
predicting an individual’s career behavior. We believed the
possible reason might be the work values that associated
with an individual’s preference. Therefore, we would like
to further examine the relationships between vocational
interest and work values. Since a number of researchers
have investigated the relationship between vocational
interests and personality (e.g., Blake and Sackett 1999;
Carless 1999; Hogan and Blake 1999; Tokar and Swanson
1995), our interest is to further explore the relationship
between vocational interests and work values held by
adults in Taiwan. More specifically, we hypothesize that
certain types of vocational interests would be significantly
correlated with certain categories of work values.
Career interests and work values
Purpose of the current study
Vocational interest has been emphasized as an important
factor influencing an individual’s career choice behavior.
Holland classified vocational interest into six types. He
asserted that the congruence between types of interest and
work environment would predict stability and job satisfaction of the individual. In describing personal attributes
in each of the vocational types, in addition to the typical
preferences, skills, and personality in each of the types,
Holland (1985) also explained values expressed by individuals in different interest types. For example, people in
Investigative type value intelligence while individuals in
Enterprising type value power and status. We believe that
work values, although less prominent than interests in
both research and clinical practice, provide an additional
manner of describing both occupations and persons. It is
obvious that vocational interest and work value are both
important variables in understanding an individual’s career
choice behavior. However, little research was conducted to
test the relationships between vocational interest and work
values. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the
relationships between vocational interest and work values.
In addition, we also expect and therefore examine the
gender differences on vocational interest and work values.
Research questions and hypotheses
In summary, we intended to answer the following research
questions: (1) Were there any gender differences in adult’s
career interests? (2) Were there any gender differences in
adult’s work values? and (3) How was the relationships
between career interests and work values for adult men and
women in Taiwan? According to the literatures reviewed,
we hypothesized that (1) certain types of career interests
were different between men and women and that (2) there
were significant relationships among career interests and
work values for both male and female participants in Taiwan. As far as the gender differences in work values, since
little evidence was found in this area, we did not provide
hypothesis in the current study.
Method
Participants
Two samples were recruited for the current study, one for
Work Value Inventory reliability and validity test and the other
one for testing the relationships among career interest and
work value. To test the reliability of the Chinese version of the
Work Value Inventory (Super 1973), 184 adults (140 men and
561
42 women, 2 participants did not indicate gender) were
recruited from different adult career training courses in college
setting in Taipei area. Their age ranged from 19 to 57 with an
average of 28.05 years (SD = 8.69). Of the 184 participants,
39 of them were college students when the studies were conducted and 145 of them were attending the in-service career
training courses provided by the college. They were encouraged by their companies/organizations to attend the career
courses. All the college students were junior, and all other
adults worked full time when the study was conducted.
To test the relationships among career interests and work
values, another sample was recruited. It included 206 adults
(106 men and 100 women) in Taipei, Taiwan. The age
ranged from 19 to 55 with an average of 26.25 years
(SD = 8.01). Seventy-seven of them were still at the
undergraduate program while the study was conducted (45
sophomores and 32 juniors). The others all obtained bachelor degrees with different years of work experiences in
different work settings such as middle school, high school,
investment consultant companies, and military services. All
of them worked full time when the study was conducted.
Measures
Vocational interests
Vocational interests were measured with the Chinese version of Career Interest Inventory (Lin et al. 1995). It was
developed based on Holland’s Theory. The developed
Chinese version of Career Interest Inventory has been
applied for practice and research purposes for many years in
Taiwan. It is a 156-item instrument that measures interests
in Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and
Conventional types. Participants used a 4-point scale
(4 = like very much, 3 = like moderately, 2 = dislike
moderately, and 1 = dislike very much) to respond to each
item, yielding scores for each interest dimension that ranged
from 26 to 104. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the six
sales (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising,
and Conventional) were .96, .94, .95, .96, .94, and .95 with a
sample of 341 adults. Results of a multi-trait multi-method
analysis also supported the convergent and discriminant
validity of the inventory (Lin et al. 1995). The same construct, for example the Investigative type of interest, measured in both activity and occupation scales correlated
highly to each other. Different constructs measured in the
same and/or different scales correlated to each other lowly.
Work values
Shia and Youe (1983) developed the Chinese Interest
Inventory based on Super’s Work Value Inventory
(WVI, Super 1973). It included 15 scales: achievement,
123
562
management, esthetics, prestige, altruism, security, associates, supervisory relations, creativity, surroundings, economic returns, variety, independence, way of life, and
intellectual stimulation. There are a total of 45 items with 3
items in each of the 15 scales. The participants used a 5-point
scale (5 = most important and 1 = least important) to
respond to each item. The total score for each value
dimension ranged from 3 to 15. Reliability coefficient for
each of the 15 subscales ranged from .73 to .91 with a mean
of .81 based on the sample of 184 adults in the current study.
For the validity test, it was reported in Shia and Youe’s
(1983) study. They conducted exploratory factor analysis
with the 15 subscales. The results indicted six factors
extracted: Self-expression, External rewards, People-oriented, Social cognition, Altruism, and Variety. The result
was quite similar to the result conducted by O’Connor and
Kinnane (1961) when they tested the Super’s Value Inventory. Their study came out with four factors: Self-expression, Material, Behavior control, and Goodness of Life.
Since the validity of the original inventory was outdated, we
further examined the content validity of the Work Values
Inventory in the current study with the evidence of content
validity. Vogt et al. (2004) suggested that consultation hold
promise for enhancing the content validity of instruments.
Haynes et al. (1995) believed that content validity was one
component of construct validity. Therefore, we invited three
experts in career counseling to examine the item content under
specific subscales. In our study, the three experts aged between
45 and 50 years with teaching/research experiences of
10–15 years. They discussed the importance of content
validity to instrument development first and then the construct
meaning of each value subscales. As far as the agreement
among the three experts’ judgment, they reached consensus
regarding the representativeness of each item for each value
subscale after the discussion. The three experts were familiar
with the Consensus Qualitative Research method (Hill et al.
1997; Hill et al. 2005). Below are some examples of items
under specific scales. ‘‘…feel you have helped another person’’
belongs to the ‘‘altruism’’ scale; ‘‘…contribute new ideas’’
belongs to the ‘‘creativity’’ scale; ‘‘…are paid enough to live
right’’ belongs to ‘‘economic returns’’; ‘‘…are sure of always
having a job’’ belongs to ‘‘security’’; and ‘‘…lead the kind of
life you most enjoy’’ belongs to ‘‘way of life’’ scale. Since there
are only 60 items and the meaning of each item was quite
clearly attached to the meaning of the scales, the three experts
in career field reached consensus quite well. This procedure
took two meetings and 3 h each meeting. It confirmed the
content validity of the Work Values Inventory.
Demographics
Participants were also asked to report their age, gender,
grade level, and whether they had held a part-time or full-
123
H.-L. S. Tien
time job. In addition, we also inquired them regarding the
years of work experiences and work settings. Most of them
were teachers or counselors in middle school and high
school. Some of them were from investment consultant
companies and military services.
Procedure
Participants were recruited from the undergraduate-level
and in-service training courses on a university campus in
Taipei. They all took career-related courses at the time
when the survey was conducted. The first author went to
the classes and provided instruction for the purpose of the
survey. They agreed and completed the two inventories in
groups. It took about 40 min. The authors then provided
explanations about the meaning of the test results for those
volunteer participants in groups. It means that the participants learned about their career interests and values as the
feedback for their participation in this study. No money
and no credit were provided.
Data analysis
The collected data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of
variance (MANOVA) and canonical correlation analysis.
The major advantage of MANOVA versus a series of analysis of variance (ANOVA) is to provide a single method of
testing group difference in a set of variables as a whole so
that inferences can be made accurately without the inflated
type I error. In this study, MANOVA was first applied to
examine the gender difference in career interest and work
value, respectively. When the results showed significant
gender difference in the construct, we then examined the
difference in the scales of the construct. Furthermore, in
order to understand the relationship between the sets of
scales that are consisted of vocational interest and work
value, respectively, canonical correlation analysis was then
conducted. In addition, Pearson product–moment correlation coefficients were computed to help understanding the
relationships between specific types of interests and values.
Results
Gender differences on vocational interests
and work values
Table 1 listed mean, standard deviations, and results of
MANOVA test with gender as the independent variable.
Gender differences were found to be significant in both
career interest, Wilk K(6, 199) = 22.02, p = .000,
g2 = .40, and work values, K(15, 190) = 4.54, p \ .000.
For the differences in specific scales of career interest,
Career interests and work values
563
Table 1 Means, standard deviations, and MANOVA test of the
career interest and work values scales
Men
(N = 106)
Women
(N = 100)
M
M
SD
SD
F
55.93***
Interest type K(6, 199) = 22.02***
Realistic
63.68 13.09 50.74
11.65
Investigative
61.30 11.57 59.18
13.93
Artistic
61.25 12.16 72.57
10.97
49.10***
Social
69.54 10.92 75.40
10.64
15.20***
Enterprising
63.39 11.25 63.04
12.36
.04
Conventional
60.87 11.56 59.18
11.87
1.07
1.42
Work values K(15, 190) = 4.54***
Altruism
12.98
3.62 13.02
3.93
.01
Esthetic
11.18
3.25 12.08
3.47
3.71
Creative
1.42
12.47
2.87 12.95
2.89
Intellectual stimulation 12.42
3.01 12.43
3.02
.00
Independence
15.42
2.33 15.93
2.52
2.24
Achievement
Prestige
15.63
14.06
2.47 16.48
3.12 14.42
2.35
3.32
6.36*
.66
Management
12.04
2.95 11.51
3.03
1.60
Economic returns
15.25
3.40 13.53
3.79
11.71**
Security
16.95
2.33 17.28
2.39
.99
Surroundings
15.22
2.71 15.30
3.03
.04
Supervisory relations
16.72
2.59 16.58
2.76
.13
Associates
15.80
2.69 15.72
2.77
.05
2.90
9.44
3.00
.07
2.79 17.23
2.28
14.86***
Variety
Way of life
9.33
15.86
*p \ .05, ** p \ .01, *** p \ .001
male adults were significantly higher in Realistic type of
interest, F (1, 204) = 55.93, p = .000, g2 = .22. Mean
score for men in Realistic scale was 63.68 and 50.74 for
women. Women, on the other hand, were more interested
in Artistic and Social types of career interest, F (1,
204) = 49.10, p = .000, g2 = .19, and F (1, 204) = 15.20,
p = .000, g2 = .07, respectively. Mean score for men in
Artistic scale was 61.25 (SD = 12.16) but 72.57
(SD = 10.97) for women. For Social scale, mean score for
men was 69.54 (10.92) and was 75.40 (SD = 10.64) for
women. Gender effect was found in the three interest types.
As far as the gender differences on work values, men
and women were significantly different in Achievement,
Economic return, and Way of Life scales. The F-values for
the three scales were 6.36 (p = .012), 11.71 (p = .001),
and 14.86 (p = .000). Women valued more on Achievement (M = 16.48, SD = 2.35) and Way of Life
(M = 17.23, SD = 2.28) scales, while male participants
valued more on Economic return scales (M = 15.25,
SD = 3.4). It seems that men in Chinese culture perceive
more pressure on earning for the family.
Canonical correlations between vocational interests
and work values
Table 2 listed the correlation coefficients between interests
and values. In addition, we also conducted a canonical correlation analysis to examine this relationship in a more detail.
The canonical correlation linked roots derived from the
interest inventory with roots derived from the value scale. In
other words, the purpose of this analysis was to determine
which specific aspects of career interests are linked with which
specific aspects of the work values. Since men and women
showed differences in career interests and work values, we
conducted canonical correlation analysis separately.
For male participants, the results indicated three significant canonical factors. The first canonical correlation was
.75 (56.3% overlapping variance), p = .001; the second,
.68 (46% overlapping variance), p = .001; and the third,
.58 (33% overlapping variance), p = .003. Standardized
canonical coefficients, as listed on Table 3, were calculated
to compare the contributions of the variables with each of the
canonical correlations. In the first canonical correlation, the
standardized canonical coefficients for the interest variables
showed that Social type loaded most highly (-.83). For the
value variables, Altruism loaded most highly (-.82). This
pattern of shared variance suggests that Social type of
individuals would value Altruism a lot. Male adults interested in Social type of work would perform their value of
helping others and benefiting others in their work.
In the second canonical correlation, out of the interest
variables, Artistic type loaded most highly (-.98). For the
value variables, esthetic loaded most highly (-.96), followed by Creative (-.59). This shared variance is consistent
with the assumption that Artistic type of people would prefer
esthetic and performing creativity in their work. In the third
canonical correlation, Enterprising type loaded most highly
(-.70) out of the interest variables. For the value variables,
Management loaded most highly (-.69), followed by
Prestige (-.66), Economic returns (-.53), and Security
(-.52). This shared variance indicated that Enterprising type
of people would value management and prestige in their
work. Economic returns and security, although not as highly
loaded as Management and Prestige did, were also valued by
Enterprising type of male participants.
For female participants, the results also indicated three
significant canonical factors. The first canonical correlation
was .66 (43.8% overlapping variance), p \ .001; the second,
.59 (34.7% overlapping variance), p = .001; and the third,
.58 (33.7% overlapping variance), p = .018. Standardized
canonical coefficients were also calculated to compare the
contributions of the variables with each of the canonical
correlations (Table 3). In the first canonical correlation, the
standardized canonical coefficients for the interest variables
showed that Social type loaded most highly (.79). For the
123
564
H.-L. S. Tien
Table 2 Correlations between vocational interests and work values
for men and women
R
I
A
S
E
Table 3 Standardized canonical coefficients with canonical factors
on both variable sets for men and women
C
Canonical factors
for men
Canonical factors
for women
1
1
Men (N = 106)
Altruism
-.02
.15
.12
.64** .17
.06
Esthetic
.13
.41**
.64**
.31** .36**
.20*
Interest type
Creative
.13
.35**
.36**
.31** .33**
.11
Realistic
Intellectual
stimulation
.20*
.31**
.24*
.30** .34**
.25**
Investigative
Independence -.07
.18
.12
.17
.22*
.02
Social
Achievement
-.03
.14
.14
.23*
.31**
.11
Enterprising
Prestige
-.10
.12
.14
.20*
.39**
.07
Conventional
.13
.30** .49**
.19
Work values
.08
.06
.20*
Economic
returns
.01
.01
Security
.24*
.03
.06
.03
.25**
.02
.02
.16
.18
.08
.16
.14
-.08
-.01
-.05
.10
.02
-.10
.09
.07
.05
.10
.06
-.03
Associates
Variety
Way of life
-.11
-.05
Surroundings
Supervisory
relations
-.01
.09
-.11
Altruism
-.04
-.24
.12
-.26
.05
.01
-.22
-.01
-.04
.35
.08
-.98
.04
-.20
-.34
.76
-.83
-.49
-.01
.79
-.01
.11
-.06
-.53
-.70
.20
.73
.62
.16
-.32
.01
-.15
.78
.20
Altruism
-.82
-.30
.07
.68
-.19
.21
Esthetic
-.00
-.96
-.07
-.26
-.03
.68
Creative
-.18
-.59
-.26
-.07
.08
.74
Intellectual stimulation
-.16
-.45
-.20
.06
.12
.56
Independence
-.18
-.20
-.39
-.04
-.06
.27
-.19
-.17
-.25
-.25
-.42
-.66
-.11
.13
.25
.57
.40
.49
.29**
.19
.09
.22*
-.02
.16
.20*
.21*
-.12
Management
.05
.38** .09
-.10
3
-.61
.19
.16
2
.30
Achievement
Prestige
Women (N = 100)
3
-.01
Artistic
Management
2
-.23
-.29
-.69
.16
.81
.27
Economic returns
.21
.00
-.53
-.18
.54
.27
Security
.01
-.10
-.52
.07
.16
.33
Surroundings
.04
-.29
-.10
-.32
.22
-.01
Esthetic
.02
.13
.35** -.07
.19
.12
Creative
.10
.16
.36**
.32**
.13
Supervisory relations
-.22
.07
-.14
-.02
.25
.14
.10
Associates
-.10
-.10
-.07
-.01
.13
.09
Variety
-.02
-.30
-.38
-.51
.06
.30
Way of life
-.26
-.25
-.47
.29
-.08
.35
Intellectual
.12
stimulation
Independence -.07
.25*
.03
.04
-.11
.06
Achievement
-.02
.01
.13
-.04
.23*
.15
Prestige
-.05
.09
.10
.12
.42**
.36**
Management
.21*
.05
.05
.28**
-.09
.03
.05
-.04
.13
.47**
.41**
Economic
returns
-.09
-.01
.02
-.08
.26**
.33**
Security
-.15
.02
.07
.03
.15
.13
.02
.05
.01
-.14
.02
.20*
Supervisory
relations
-.06
.01
-.03
-.05
.14
.11
Associates
-.04
.01
.04
.04
.06
.13
.22*
.15
-.30** .07
.09
Surroundings
Variety
Way of life
.17
-.20
-.04
.10
.15
.10
-.04
*p \ .05, ** p \ .01, *** p \ .001
value variables, altruism loaded most highly (.68). Similar to
the male data, this pattern of shared variance suggests that
Social type of individuals would value altruism a lot.
For the second canonical correlation, out of the interest
variables, Conventional type loaded most highly (.78), followed by the Enterprising type (.73). In the value variables,
Management loaded most highly (.81), followed by Prestige
(.57) and Economic returns (.54). This shared variance
implied that women in Enterprising and Conventional types
123
Three canonical factors were significant for both men and women;
coefficients in bold tended to cluster together and were focused on for
interpretation
of interests would emphasize the values of Management,
Prestige, and Economic returns. In the third canonical
correlation, Artistic type loaded most highly (.76) out of the
interest variables. For the value variables, Creative loaded
most highly (.74), followed by Esthetic (.68) and Intellectual
stimulation (.56). This shared variance, similar to what
happened for men, indicated that women interested in
Artistic type would value Creativity, Esthetics, and Intellectual stimulations in their work. In short, the canonical
correlation affirmed the relationship between vocational
interests and work values.
Discussion
Gender difference in career interests was affirmed
in Chinese culture
For career interest, the result was similar to the previous
study conducted with samples from Taiwan (Tien 2003).
Career interests and work values
Female adults’ interests in Artistic and Social types were
significantly higher than men’s interests in Artistic and
Social types; men were more interested in Realistic type of
interest. It implied the gender stereotypes in the world of
work in Taiwan. Although participants’ interests in Investigative, Enterprising, and Conventional types showed no
significant gender differences, gender segregation regarding the adults’ perception of career interests in Taiwan was
still obvious. Similarly in Korea, Tak (2004) investigated
the vocational interest of college students. The results
showed an overall significant difference between male and
female students. Even in the same field, gender differences
were found. For example, Rutherford (2008) investigated
interests and attitudes of engineering students, and the
results revealed that female engineering students were
generally more altruistic and less interested in ‘‘things’’
than male engineering students. Another study conducted
in China also revealed gender difference in vocational
interest (Xing 1997). Female students favored liberal art,
performing art, and other language-expressing-related
occupations, whereas male students were strongly interested in science.
Similar to most countries, in Taiwan, women tend to be
interested in and choose vocations in Artistic and Social
types and men tend to be interested in and work in Realistic
types. It is worth noticing that gender difference in investigative type of interest was not statistically significant.
Women were also interested in careers in investigative
type. We believe it was to do with the educational policy
that the women were encouraged to pursue their potentials
in science and math area in the past few years. As far as the
non-significant differences in Enterprising and Conventional types, we were not surprised that both men and
women in Taiwan would be interested in both types and
pursuing jobs in these two fields equally or similarly.
Comparing to the study conducted over 20 years ago,
Henry et al. (1988) examined the effect of gender in student’s classifications into 6 personality types in the SelfDirected Search (SDS). Participants were 27 male and 30
female Blacks and 26 male and 17 female Whites enrolled
in a medical education preparatory program. The results
indicated gender yielded significant difference for Realistic
and Investigative personality types. Manickaraj et al.
(1996) examined gender difference in their occupational
interest. The participants were 49 men and 43 women in
their final year of MA studies in psychology through distance education. Results showed that men had a higher
preference for Realistic and Investigative occupational
environments. The two sexes did not differ significantly in
their preference for other occupational environments.
Nowadays, women have chances to pursue and express
their interests in investigative or associated science interest
in the society with cultural diversity.
565
Gender differences in work values
The finding of our study was different from that of Robinson
and Betz’s (2008). Their study showed no significant difference in any subscales of the Super’s Work Value Inventory—
Revised. However, for the results of work value survey, we
were surprised that ‘‘achievement’’ was valued by women
more importantly than by men in our study. ‘‘Achievement’’
was always applied to describe men’s career development in
Chinese culture (Jin 1991; Yuei 2004). It is a more individualoriented value from the viewpoint of traditional Chinese
culture valued by men. However, the women in our study
valued achievement more than the men did. The stereotypical
connections of ‘‘male-achievement’’, ‘‘female-dependent’’,
‘‘male-out for earning’’, and ‘‘female-in for housework’’ in a
traditional collective-oriented Chinese society were not
appropriate to explain work behaviors in modern society in
Taiwan. It seems that female adults in Taiwan are quite
westernized and tend to value achievement strongly in the
modern society.
With respect to the value ‘‘economic returns’’, it was
valued by male than by female participants significantly.
It might be reasonable and acceptable according to the
Chinese culture that ‘‘it is the male’s responsibility to take
care of the family’’. To take care of the family, husband
should earn money and hand it to the wife to take care of
the family traditionally in Chinese society. It is a quite
traditional attitude in taking care of a family. For the value
‘‘way of life’’, female participants emphasized more on it
than the men did. Women would pay more attention to
their lifestyle than the men would. It seems that women in
general were more aware of their life patterns than the men
were. It is an interesting phenomenon and needs further
exploration in the future study.
Relationships between vocational interests
and work values
The results of our study indicated that the relationships
between certain types of vocational interests and work
values are quite salient and consistent for both men and
women: (1) the relationship between Social type of interest
and the value of altruism and (2) the relationships between
Artistic type of interest and values of creativity and
esthetic. These findings were quite consistent with the literatures (Holland 1985). However, the findings regarding
the patterns of correlations between Enterprising or Conventional type of interests and certain types of values were
different in gender. For men, Enterprising type of interests
was related to management, prestige, economic returns,
and security. However, the values of management, prestige, and economic returns were associated with both
Enterprising and Conventional types of interests for
123
566
women. Generally speaking, the results present a clear
picture of value characteristics of interest types.
According to Šverko and Babarovic (2006), research
studies attempting to identify the relationships between
values and interests produced somewhat ambiguous results.
The main reason was due to the research methods. In our
study, we applied canonical correlation analysis and the
results showed a quite clear relationship between interests
and values for both men and women. Although previous
studies conducted by using correlation analysis found that
the correlations between interests and values are pretty low
(e.g., Baird 1970; Breme and Cockriel 1975; Super 1995);
however, in the current study, we found that the values and
interests are quite distinct psychological constructs but
with stable patterns of correlations with each other in
certain types of work environment.
In addition, we noticed the negative relationship
between ‘‘social’’ type of interest and the value of ‘‘variety’’ for women. Women interested in Social type of
interest valued altruism and tend to be steady in their dispositions. It was asserted that occupational niches are
created based on certain stable predispositions. Many
empirical studies supported the overlap between certain
broad interests and personality domains (Staggs, et al.
2007). In the current study, we found that work value,
another construct considered to be stable, to a certain
degree was related to personality/interest.
H.-L. S. Tien
between career interest and values, we can draw the conclusions that (1) the relationship between Social type of
interest and altruism was very clear for both men and
women; (2) the relationship between Artistic type of
interest and esthetics, creativity, and intelligence was also
quite clear for both men and women; and (3) the relationship between values of prestige, management, and
economic return was significantly correlated with Enterprising type of men, while the same three values significantly correlated with both Enterprising and Conventional
types of interest for women.
Limitations and suggestions for future studies
The results of the current study have several implications
for career counselors. First, descriptors from a variety of
domains such as interests and values would be a more
complete approach than one that focused on single factor.
Actually, when Holland proposed the six types of career
interests, he also mentioned the values held by each of the
six types in addition to the activities preferred by each of the
six types. The values were also important in predicting an
individual’s career behavior. A second implication of
importance to clients and counselors pertains to the assessment of values. It is possible that clients would get equal
high scores on many of the values scales. For example, in the
current study, participants were pretty high on scales such as
supervisor relationship, security, achievement, and way of
life. For applications in individual counseling of small
group, we can ask the clients to rank order for those values to
see what they exactly value the most.
One limitation of the current study must be considered. We
measured the construct ‘‘value’’ by ‘‘Super’s Work Value
Inventory’’. It did not differentiate ‘‘personally preferable
values’’ from ‘‘socially preferable values’’ (Kalliath et al.
1999). The former indicates an individual’s values, and the
latter refers to values that are shared by the members of
some social organization. This refined definition about
work values might be applied in the future for careercounseling practitioners to know more about the detailed
context of the relationship between work values and
vocational interests. As referred by Robinson and Betz
(2008), the revised Super’s Work Value Inventory might be
related to the broader cultural value systems of individualism and collectivism, and we can further revise the value
inventory and examine its structure in the Chinese culture.
The second limitation was that we applied the Work
Value Inventory developed based on Super’s value construct instead of the instrument developed based on Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment (MTWA, Dawis and
Lofquist 1984). The six dimensions of work values (safety,
autonomy, comfort, altruism, achievement, and status)
might be another meaningful framework to examine the
relationship between interest and values. Furthermore, we
suggest that the value–environment congruence, person–
environment congruence, and work adjustment would be
another issue for future research.
Finally, the third limitation was pertaining to the
participants applied in the study. They were not randomly
sampled from the adult population in Taiwan. The generalization of the findings might be limited to the adults in
northern area of Taiwan. Future research could recruit
more participants in a more systematic way.
Conclusions
References
Implications for career counselors
To compare and contrast similarity and differences
between men and women in terms of the relation patterns
123
Baird, J. C. (1970). Psychophysical analysis of visual space. Oxford,
England: Pergamon Press.
Career interests and work values
Blake, R. J., & Sackett, S. A. (1999). Holland’s typology and the fivefactor model: A rational empirical analysis. Journal of Career
Assessment, 7(3), 249–279.
Breme, F. J., & Cockriel, I. W. (1975). Work values and work
interests: Are they the same? Journal of Vocational Behavior, 6,
331–336.
Carless, S. A. (1999). Career assessment: Holland’s vocational
interests, personality characteristics, and abilities. Journal of
Career Assessment, 7, 125–144.
Chatman, J. A. (1991). Matching people and organizations: Selection
and socialization in public accounting. Administrative Science
Quarterly, 36, 459–484.
Dawis, R. V., & Lofquist, L. H. (1984). A psychological theory of
work adjustment: An individual differences model and its
application. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
Ehrhart, K. H., & Makransky, G. (2007). Testing vocational interests
and personality as predictors of person-vocation and person-job
fit. Journal of Career Assessment, 15, 206–226.
Hansen, J. C., & Dik, B. J. (2005). Evidence of 12-year predictive and
concurrent validity for SII Occupational Scale scores. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 67, 365–378.
Hansen, J. C., & Lee, W. V. (2007). Evidence of concurrent validity
of SII scores for Asian American college students. Journal of
Career Assessment, 15, 44–54.
Haynes, S. N., Richard, D. C. S., & Kubany, E. S. (1995). Content
validity in psychological assessment: A functional approach to
concepts and methods. Psychological Assessment, 7, 238–247.
Henry, P., Bardo, H., & Bryson, S. (1988). The impact of race
and gender on Holland’s Self-Directed Search for nontraditional premedical students. College Student Journal, 22(2),
206–212.
Hill, C. E., Knox, S., Thompson, B. J., Williams, E. N., Hess, S. A., &
Ladany, N. (2005). Consensual qualitative research: An update.
Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 196–205.
Hill, C. E., Thompson, B. J., & Williams, E. N. (1997). A guide to
conducting consensual qualitative research. The Counseling
Psychologist, 25, 517–572.
Hogan, R., & Blake, R. (1999). John Holland’s vocational typology
and personality theory. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 55,
41–56.
Holland, J. L. (1985). Making vocational choices: A theory of
vocational personalities and work environments (2nd ed.).
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of
vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.).
Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Jin, S. R. (1991). A study of the relations between vocational interests
and personality. Bulletin of Educational Psychology, 24, 91–114.
(In Chinese).
Kalliath, T. J., Bluedorn, A. C., & Strube, M. J. (1999). A test of value
congruence effects. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20,
1175–1198.
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.
Lin, H., Jin, S., Chang, H., & Chen, C. (1995). The career interest
inventory. Taipei: Testing Publishing.
Low, K. S. D., Yoon, M., Roberts, B. W., & Rounds, J. (2005). The
stability of vocational interests from early adolescence to middle
adulthood: A quantitative review of longitudinal studies.
Psychological Bulletin, 131, 713–737.
Manickaraj, S., Sabesan, S., Raghavan, T. V. A., & Suresh, V. (1996).
Gender difference in occupational interest. Social Science
International, 12(1–2), 23–25.
Meglino, B. M., Ravlin, E. C., & Adkins, C. L. (1989). A work values
approach to corporate culture: A field test of the value
567
congruence process and its relationship to individual outcomes.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 424–432.
Nauta, M. M., & Kahn, J. H. (2007). Identity status, consistency and
differentiation of interests, and career decision self-efficacy.
Journal of Career Assessment, 15, 55–65.
O’Connor, J. P., & Kinnane, J. F. (1961). A factor analysis of work
values. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 8(3), 263–267.
O’Reilly, A. C., Chatman, J., & Caldwell, F. D. (1991). People and
organizational culture: A profile comparison approach to
assessing person-organization fit. Academy of Management
Journal, 34, 487–516.
Robinson, C. H., & Betz, N. E. (2008). A psychometric evaluation of
Super’s work values inventory—Revised. Journal of Career
Assessment, 16(4), 456–473.
Rokeach, M. (1973). The nature of human values. New York: Free
Press.
Rottinghaus, P. J., Coon, K. L., Gaffey, A. R., & Zytowski, D. G.
(2007). Thirty-year stability and predictive validity of vocational
interests. Journal of Career Assessment, 15, 5–22.
Rutherford, B. (2008). Interests and attitudes of engineering students.
Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and
Social Sciences, 68(9), 3815A.
Shia, L. C., & Youe, H. C. (1983). The work value interest inventory:
An introduction and revision report. Test and Guidance, 60,
1030–1036. (In Chinese).
Smith, T. J., & Campbell, C. (2006). The structure of O*NET
occupational values. Journal of Career Assessment, 14(4),
437–448.
Staggs, G. D., Larson, L. M., & Borgen, F. H. (2007). Convergence of
personality and interests: Meta-analysis of the multidimensional
personality questionnaire and the strong interest inventory.
Journal of Career Assessment, 15(4), 423–445.
Super, D. E. (1973). The work value inventory. In D. G. Zytwoski
(Ed.), New approached to interest measurement (pp. 189–205).
Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Super, D. E. (1995). Values: Their nature, assessment, and practical
use. In D. E. Super, B. Sverko (Eds.), Life roles, values, and
careers: International findings of the work importance study
(pp. 54–61). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Šverko, I., & Babarovic, T. (2006). The validity of Holland’s theory
in Croatia. Journal of Career Assessment, 14(4), 490–507.
Sverko, B., Babarović, T., & Sverko, I. (2007). Values and life roles
in the context of career choice and career development.
Suvremena Psihologija, 10(2), 295–320.
Swanson, J. L. (1984, August). Can stability of interests be
empirically predicted? In J. Hansen (Chair), New directions in
interest measurement. Symposium conducted at the annual
meeting of the American Psychological Association, Toronto,
Canada.
Swanson, J. L. (1999). Stability and change in vocational interests. In
M. L. Savickas (Ed.), Vocational interests: Meaning, measurement, and counseling use (pp. 135–158). Palo Alto: DaviesBlack Publishing.
Tak, J. (2004). Structure of vocational interests for Korean college
students. Journal of Career Assessment, 12, 298–311.
Tien, H. S. (1994). The vocational interest structure of Taiwanese
college students. Paper presented at the national conference of
the National Career Development Association, January, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
Tien, H. S. (2003). A social cognitive approach to high school
students’ career interests. Bulletin of Educational Psychology,
34, 247–266.
Tokar, D. M., & Swanson, J. L. (1995). Evaluation of the
correspondence between Holland’s vocational personality typology and the five-factor model of personality. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 46, 89–108.
123
568
Vogt, D. S., King, D. W., & King, L. A. (2004). Focus groups in
psychological assessment: Enhancing content validity by consulting members of the target population. Psychological Assessment, 16(3), 231–243.
Xing, S. (1997). The measurement of occupational interests in China.
Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and
Social Sciences, 57(7), 2864A.
123
H.-L. S. Tien
Yuei, C (2004). A Study on Work Values and Job Involvement for the
Life Guidance Section Members at the NTNU. Unpublished
master thesis, National Taiwan Normal University (In Chinese).