Relationship of sex and professional training area to job orientation.

Examined indications that differences in job orientation may be more closely related to professional interests as reflected in one's professional training area than to differences in sex. 175 university students subgrouped into male business majors, female business majors, and female psychology majors rated the importance of 25 job characteristics comprising 3 job orientation dimensions--long-term career objectives, comfortable working environment and pleasant interpersonal relationships, and intrinsic job aspects. Male and female business majors differed significantly on the comfortable working environment and pleasant interpersonal relationships dimension, but business majors, regardless of sex, differed significantly from female psychology majors on all 3 dimensions, thus supporting the use of professional training area as a control variable in research related to sex differences in job orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Career counseling as a mental health intervention.

Discusses career counseling aimed at work adjustment or job change as a potential intervention for many individuals suffering from job stress and argues that, in certain instances, career counseling should be used instead of traditional psychotherapy and/or as an alternative to stress management. Assessment strategies for determining the appropriate intervention for individuals suffering from job stress are generated from work adjustment theory. The implications of utilizing career counseling as a mental health intervention are also presented. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in job outcome preferences: Trends among newly hired college graduates.

Examined several causes for discrepant findings in the literature related to sex differences in job outcome preferences. 648 college graduates newly hired into entry-level business jobs over a 9-yr period rated job characteristics comprising 3 job outcome dimensions: (a) long-term career objectives, (b) working environment and interpersonal relationships, and (c) intrinsic job aspects. The possibility that the area of professional training could account for sex differences in job outcome preferences was explored, controlling for age, education, organizational level, and occupational category. Although professional training area did have a significant effect on job outcome preferences, sex differences persisted, with females giving significantly less emphasis to career objectives and significantly more emphasis to work environment and interpersonal job aspects than males. Analyses of trends showed a convergence of female preferences toward those of males on the 2 dimensions in which sex differences were found. Efforts to predict turnover from job outcome preferences suggested that females with a relatively high career orientation were less likely than males or other females to leave the organization. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Making law therapeutic for lawyers: Therapeutic jurisprudence, preventive law, and the psychology of lawyers.

The integration of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) with preventive law (PL) offers a uniquely satisfying and humanistic way of practicing law. The author uses the psychological data on the personality characteristics of lawyers to argue that TJ/PL is particularly well suited for lawyers with certain personality traits atypical of lawyers generally. These traits reflect altruistic, humanistic, or interpersonally oriented values; 2 of these atypical traits have been empirically linked to career dissatisfaction among lawyers. Because of the pervasiveness of the problem of lawyer job dissatisfaction, solutions are needed. TJ/PL is more than simply an alternative way of practicing law; it may actually hold the key to solving some of the problems currently besieging the legal profession. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Continuing education and job performance: A longitudinal study.

Investigated the relationship of participation in continuing education to job performance of engineers. Performance and education data were obtained for 110 engineers in 3 organizations that differed in their technology, ranging from research and development (R & D) to manufacturing. The number of graduate courses taken early in the career was strongly related to job performance only for engineers working in the R & D organization. Engineers with poor job performance, regardless of organizational technology, had a greater likelihood of enrolling in more in-house courses, but this greater participation had no relationship to subsequent performance. The possible moderating effects of organizational variables, course characteristics, and individual differences are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and job satisfaction: The mediating role of job characteristics.

This study tested a model of the relationship between core self-evaluations, intrinsic job characteristics, and job satisfaction. Core self-evaluations was assumed to be a broad personality concept manifested in 4 specific traits: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and low neuroticism. The model hypothesized that both subjective (perceived) job characteristics and job complexity mediate the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction. Two studies were conducted to test the model. Results from Study 1 supported the hypothesized model but also suggested that alternative models fit the data well. Results from Study 2 revealed that core self-evaluations measured in childhood and in early adulthood were linked to job satisfaction measured in middle adulthood. Furthermore, in Study 2 job complexity mediated part of the relationship between both assessments of core self-evaluations and job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between organizational context and job analysis task ratings.

This research examined whether differences among job incumbents in their task ratings could be attributed to systematic as well as random variation. Data collected from 83 respondents showed that there was a significant degree of interrater agreement regarding task importance but not for ratings of task time spent. Moreover, measures of job context were significantly correlated with ratings of time spent but not task importance. These results suggest that within-job variation among raters can have both systematic and random components. Thus, practitioners should collect data on the job context as well as on incumbents' demographic characteristics and experience. Personnel practices based on task analyses may need to be examined to ensure that they are compatible with local variation in the job. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Explaining gender differences in self-pay expectations: Social comparison standards and perceptions of fair pay.

Examined gender differences in self-pay expectations and the factors that mediate these differences. On the basis of B. Major and E. Konar's (1984) model, 5 mediators were considered: career paths, objective job inputs, perceived job inputs, job facet importance, and social comparison standards. The mediating role of a 6th factor, fair pay standards, was also examined. College seniors planning to enter a variety of occupational fields completed the Career Expectations Survey, which assessed their self-pay expectations and the 6 mediating factors. Findings indicate that, regardless of occupational field, women had lower career-peak self-pay expectations than men. The best mediator of the gender gap in self-pay expectations was fair pay standards. Implications for future research on the construct of fair pay standards and its importance in understanding the gender wage gap are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships of age and seniority with career variables of engineers and scientists.

Studied changing career experiences of professional engineers and scientists in 1967 (n = 290) and 1969 (n = 90). Both age and seniority were related to (a) amount of various needs, (b) aspirations for needs, (c) importance of needs, (d) satisfaction with needs, (e) self-image, (f) organizational climate, (g) job challenge, (h) job involvement, (i) intrinsic motivation, (j) perceived performance, and (k) perceived effort. Ss completed objective measures of these variables, including the Porter Need Satisfaction Questionnaire. On the basis of these correlations, 1-way analyses of variance between each variable and the different age groups, and rank orders for different age groups, it is concluded that career stages (early, middle, and late) did exist with different variables characterizing different stages. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between voluntary employer changes and perceived job stress in Taiwan.

Although the career strategy of voluntary employer changes has been recognized, it remains unclear whether those adopting such a strategy pay a price of higher job stress or experience a benefit of lower job stress. Two competing hypotheses of the relationship between voluntary employer changes and perceived job stress were proposed. Data from a survey of master's of business administration degree holders in Taiwan supported the hypothesis of a negative relationship. Those with more voluntary employer changes perceive lower job stress. This finding expands the knowledge of the link between behavioral characteristics and job stress. The situations for this finding are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is job search related to employment quality? It all depends on the fit.

In this longitudinal study on job search, fit perceptions, and employment quality, 113 graduates completed surveys prior to organizational entry and 4 mo after entry. Job search behavior and career planning were positively related to pre-entry person job (P-J) and person-organization (P-O) fit perceptions, and pre-entry P-J fit perceptions mediated the relationship between career planning and postentry P-J fit perceptions. P-J and P-O fit perceptions were positively related to job and organizational attitudes, and pre-entry P-J fit perceptions mediated the relationship between career planning and job attitudes. Further, the relationships between pre-entry fit perceptions and employment quality were mediated by postentry fit perceptions. These results indicate that P-J and P-O fit perceptions play an important role in linking job search to employment quality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ratings of managerial skill requirements: Comparison of age- and job-related factors.

This article examines how individual characteristics (age, experience) and organizational characteristics (department, level) influence the skill requirements rated as being important for managerial jobs. One hundred ninety-seven managerial employees completed a survey composed of 20 skill dimensions pertinent to supervisory positions in the mining industry. Organizational level and departmental affiliation were correlated with job skill importance ratings. Ratings of skill importance were also correlated with the age of the person being rated, years of experience, and the age of the rater. As predicted, correlations with ratee age varied across different skill dimensions. This study has implications for fair employment practices to the degree that raters base evaluations of a job on the age of incumbents vs job relevant characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Importance ratings in job analysis: Note on the misinterpretation of factor analyses.

A common practice in job analysis involves having subject matter experts (SMEs) provide importance weights for the behaviors identified as characteristics of a given job, and then grouping those behaviors by factor analysis. Two problems with using factor analysis on these data are explored: (a) The factors that emerge from such an analysis are not interpretable as important dimensions of the job, and (b) job dimensions that SMEs agree are important will not emerge as factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Making career decisions: A sequential elimination approach.

Presents a model for career decision making based on the elimination of occupational alternatives, which is an adaptation for career decisions of A. Tversky's (see record 1973-00249-001) elimination-by-aspects theory of choice. Each occupational alternative is viewed as a set of aspects, and at each stage an aspect is selected according to its importance; alternatives lacking the selected aspect are eliminated. This process continues until only a few alternatives, or a single alternative, remain. The expected utility approach is reviewed as a representative compensatory model for career decisions. The advantages and the disadvantages of the sequential elimination and the expected utility approaches are examined. The possible combination of the 2 approaches is explored, and the implications for career counseling, computerized career decision-making systems, and research issues are discussed. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in career decision making: The content and structure of preferences.

To identify possible sources of the observed differences in the career choices of women and men, three facets of career preferences were examined: the relative importance attributed to career-related aspects, the within-aspect preferences (i.e., desirable characteristics of occupations), and the structure of aspects derived from these within-aspect preferences. The career-related preferences of 2,000 young adults who were in the process of making their career decisions were analyzed. These career-related preferences were elicited during their dialogues with a computer-assisted career guidance system. The analyses revealed (a) only small gender differences in the relative importance of the aspects, (b) considerable gender differences in the within-aspect preferences, and (c) certain gender differences in the structure of aspects. The findings and their possible theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Display Rule "Regulators": The Relationship Between Supervisors and Worker Emotional Exhaustion.

This field study examined the effect of supervisory regulation of display rules--the rules about what kind of emotion to express on the job (R. Ekman, 1992; A. Rafaeli & R. I. Sutton, 1987)--on the emotional exhaustion of subordinates. On the basis of a sample of 940 call center employees, the authors found that worker emotional exhaustion varied across supervisors within jobs, suggesting that emotion work is influenced at the supervisory, rather than job, level. Moreover, the authors found that the importance supervisors place on interpersonal job demands of their workers was positively related to worker emotional exhaustion. Worker career identity moderated the interpersonal-job-demands--emotional-exhaustion relationship, but self-efficacy did not. Study conclusions and suggestions for future research are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time is on my side: Time, general mental ability, human capital, and extrinsic career success.

The present study linked general mental ability (GMA) to extrinsic career success using a multilevel framework that included time and 3 possible time-based mediators of the GMA–career success relationship. Results, based on a large national sample, revealed that over a 28-year period, GMA affected growth in 2 indicators of extrinsic career success (income and occupational prestige), such that the careers of high-GMA individuals ascended more steeply over time than those of low-GMA individuals. Part of the reason high-GMA individuals had steeper growth in extrinsic success over time was because they attained more education, completed more job training, and gravitated toward more complex jobs. GMA also moderated the degree to which within-individual variation in the mediating variables affected within-individual variation in extrinsic career success over time: Education, training, and job complexity were much more likely to translate into career success for more intelligent individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes and expectations of 1995 gastroenterology graduates about gastroenterology

OBJECTIVE: To learn more about current attitudes and expectations of recent (June 1995) graduates of gastroenterology fellowship programs, why they chose either a private practice or academic career, and what impact managed care or health care reform had in their decision. METHODS: Between April and June 1995, and 8-page, 35-question survey questionnaire was mailed to graduating fellows and returned for evaluation. RESULTS: Graduates believed managed care had an impact on job availability, but it was not a factor in their job choice. Forty percent of the respondents reported that finding a job was either difficult or very difficult. The majority of respondents (67%) are pursuing a career in private practice. Most private practice physicians (PP) trained in 2-yr programs whereas academic physicians (AC) trained for the most part in 3-yr programs. The principal criteria on which decisions regarding job selection were based were similar between the two groups: co-workers, geographic location, access to patient care, and ability to perform endoscopy. Respondents in PP and AC expected to work 50-70 h/wk, care for patients with similar diseases, and have ample time for family. They would choose GI again as a career and believed that there is a future in GI. Salary expectations varied markedly between the two groups, and AC physicians were more concerned about their future financial needs. Twenty percent of PP physicians and 71% of AC physicians plan to participate in clinical research. CONCLUSIONS: Recent graduates of gastroenterology fellowship programs continue to have high expectations of their future careers. Although some had difficulty finding a job and stated that, although managed care had an impact on the job market, it had not yet become a major factor in their job selection.