The development of a vocational interest measuring instrument in an adult educational setting
Date
2002-03
Authors
Utete-Masango, Sylvia Janet
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The major concern in the world of work has been the mismatch between a person's
vocational interests and job pursuits. The understanding has been that jobs make
differing demands on people and that the abilities of the individual and demands of
the job have a bearing on productivity hence the need for matching people to jobs.
The most notable attempts to identify and organize vocational interests have been
Holland's theory of vocational interests and personality types. Holland asserts that
people can be categorized predominantly as one of six personality types, namely,
realistic (R), investigative (I), artistic (A), social (S), enterprising (E), and conventional
(C).
The review of literature has shown that person-environment fit explains the degree of
match between occupational pursuits and one's vocational interests and that before a
measure can be used across cultures, its construct validity must be established in
each culture.
The current study was motivated by the Zimbabwe Public Service Commission's
quest, in the absence of vocational interest measures tailored for Zimbabwe, for
assessment tools that can assist in predicting suitability for recruitment or promotion.
The study was therefore designed to (a) develop a measure of vocational interest
validated on the Zimbabwe population, (b) build a model for predicting and classifying
people into job sectors and (c) assess the adequacy of Holland's RIASEC structure for assessing person-job fit in the Zimbabwe Public Service. To achieve this, a
correlational research design was used. The vocational interest measure and the
MB-10 were the two instruments used for data collection. A sample of 500 public
servants representing six occupational sectors in the Zimbabwe Public Service
participated in the study. Statistical approaches to data analysis included reliability
and validity analysis, factor analysis and multiple discriminant analysis.
The results of the reliability coefficients were within acceptable levels. The subscale
reliabilities of the vocational interest measure ranged from ra = 0.85 to ra = 0.89.
Overall, the concurrent validity of the vocational interest measure was established.
Factor analysis and correlation coefficients statistic assessed the adequacy of the
hexagonal ordering of the RIASEC types. Factor analysis was computed resulting in
8 factors being extracted instead of the theoretically conceptualized 6 factors. The 8
extracted factors accounted for 65.88% of the total variance. Holland's theory affirms
that occupational types that are more proximate on the hexagon are more similar
than types that are more distant. Results of the RIASEC intercorrelations showed
strong correlations between Realistic and Investigative (r = 0.69) and moderate
correlations with four of the adjacent types. However, low and negative correlations
were obtained between Conventional and Realistic (adjacent types) (r = -0.14) and
between Investigative and Conventional (alternate types) (r = -0.11). On the other hand, there was strong correlation between Realistic and Social (opposite types) (r =
0.25.)
The model for predicting and classifying people into appropriate job sectors was
developed. The model's utility was confirmed using the scores from the sample data.
The cross validation table obtained an error rate of 0.29, an indication of a relatively
good model.
Given the results of the present study, it appears the study hypotheses were
generally supported. Further work in refining the model is recommended.
Description
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2002.
Keywords
Adult education -- Zimbabwe, Vocational interests -- Zimbabwe, Vocational education -- Zimbabwe, Vocational interests -- Testing