test of holland's theory of vocationalpersonalities and work environmentsKristine D. ToomeyEdward M. LevinsonEric J. Paimer

This study investigated the validity of J. L. Holiand's (1997) theory of vocationalpersonalities and work environments. The sample consisted of 241 randomlyselected members of the National Association of School Psychologists, each ofwhom completed a demographic data form, the Self-Directed Search-Revised(SDS-R; J. L. Holland, 1994) and a modified short form of the Minnesota Satisfac-tion Questionnaire (D. J. Weiss, R. V. Dawis, G. W. England, & L H. Lofquist, 1967).Only limited support was found for major constructs associated with Holland's theory,although the study found several significant relationships between 3-letter SDS-Rcodes and desired role function as would be predicted by Holland's theory.

Holland's (1997) theory of vocational personalities and work environments is one ofthemost well-respected and widely used theories of career development. It is frequentlythe basis for the use and interpretation of assessment instruments used by employmentcounselors, career counselors, and other professionals. Holland believed that there aresix major personality types and that people and occupations can be categorized accord-ing to combinations of these types. Congruence, or the degree of similarity between anindividual's personality and any given work environment, can be determined and canbe used to predict job satisfaction, job performance, and job stability. Differentiation,or the variability among scores representing each of the personality types, can also beassessed and influences the prediction of these vocational outcomes. However, there isempirical ambiguity regarding some of the theory's basic constructs. In a large-scalemeta-analysis, Spokane (1985) reviewed 40 correlation and 23 change studies oncongruence. The overall finding was that congruence was significantly and positivelycorrelated with academic performance and persistence, stability of choice, perceivedcongruence, personality (ego-strength), and job satisfaction. In spite of the relation-ships, the correlations rarely exceeded .25 to .35.

In response, Assouline and Meir (1987) conducted an analysis of 41 congruencestudies. Results yielded negligible residual variance for studies measuring congruencestability and congruence achievement, with correlations of .15 and .06, respectively.In contrast, there was a great deal of variability in congruencesatisfaction

Kristine D. Toomey, Baltimore County Public Schools, Towson, Maryland; Edward M. Levinson, Depart-ment of Educationai and School Psychology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Eric J. Palmer, WesternBeaver County School District, Industry, Pennsylvania. Correspondence concerning this article shouldbe addressed to Edward M. Levinson, Department of Educationai and Schooi Psychology, IndianaUniversity of Pennsyivania, 246 Stouffer Haii, Indiana, PA 15705 (e-maii: emievins@iup.edu).

2009 by the American Counseling Association. Atl rights reserved.

82 joumal of employment counseling June 2009 Volume 46

study results, with the overall correlation falling at .21. When congruence betweenan individual's personality code and the modal code for people in his or her workenvironment was compared to satisfaction, the mean correlation was .29. The 16studies that compared a person's personality type and overall occupational satisfactionyielded a correlation of .21, whereas those comparing interests to within-occupationspecialty yielded a correlation of .42.

Spokane, Meir, and Catalano (2000) reviewed the congruence literature from 1985to 1999. They concluded that research on congruence needs to be further refined andresearch methods need to be improved. However, Tinsley (2000), in his review of thecongruence literature, was more direct and concluded that Holland's (1997) modellacks validity when it comes to personenvironment fit and needs to be revised.

Many researchers have studied the congruence-satisfaction relationship byinvestigating the relationship between the individual and his or her work envi-ronment using outcome measures such as job satisfaction. Early studies foundsupport for the validity of Holland's (1997) model in a single occupation (Doty& Betz, 1979; Spokane & Walsh, 1978). Holland (1997) summarized the litera-ture on predictive validity by stating that the predictions of occupation frominterest inventories have been "statistically significant and usually moderatelyefficient" (p. 103).

However, some recent studies have suggested otherwise. For instance, a studyby Lent and Lopez (1996) found mixed results for the congruence-satisfactionrelationship. Overall findings demonstrated that low congruence was associatedwith more satisfaction, which is opposite of what would be predicted by Holland'stheory. Young, Tokar, and Subich (1998) also reported mixed results when theydemonstrated that satisfaction is related to congruence only for certain personalitytypes and in certain occupations. They found that the relationship was strongest forinvestigative types, but not significant for social types. They also found that peoplein artistic occupations had the highest congruencesatisfaction relationship whereasthose in realistic settings had the lowest. Finally, Meir and Tzadok (2000) foundthat congruence was related to satisfaction when comparing each worker's Hollandcode with every other worker's code, but did not find a relationship when congru-ence was calculated by the traditional method (comparing an individual's code toan environmental code). Miller, Bass, Wallace, and Cowger (2004) recently providedevidence contrary to Holland's (1997) model. They found no correlation betweencongruence and job satisfaction.

Within-occupation congruence studies seem to have yielded higher congruencecorrelations than those at the more general career level. These studies differedsomewhat from the traditional congruence studies in that a person's scores on aninstrument designed to measure interests in specialty areas within an occupation werecompared with the person's actual specialty choice (Meir & Yaari, 1988). Exploringwithin-occupational interests is especially important given the diversity in manyoccupations and the myriad specialty choices a person has to make throughout hisor her career (Meir, 1988).

In a study within the engineering profession, it was determined that the higher theindividual's preference for the job function that characterized his or her current job.

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the higher the level of job satisfaction (Meir & Erez, 1981). Correlations between .44and .62 were found between specialty congruence and satisfaction. Similarly, Meirand Yaari (1988) found that the mean correlation between specialty congruence andsatisfaction was .41, which exceeds the .30 noted by Spokane (1985).

Attempts have been made to investigate the congruence-satisfaction associationover a longer period of time using longitudinal research. A study by Gottfredson andHolland (1990) found a correlation of .36 between Vocational Preference Inventory(Holland, 1985) congruence and satisfaction of bank tellers over a 4-month period.A positive relationship between congruence and satisfaction was also reported ina similar study with bank tellers in Israel (Meir & Navon, 1992). A study of Dutchemployees also yielded a correlation between congruence and satisfaction and foundthat over time, worker profiles tended to fall more in line with their occupation (Feij,van der Velde, Taris, & Taris, 1999).

Several studies have tested Holland's assumption that individuals will search formore congruent occupations when changing careers. In one study (Oleski & Subich,1996), the data suggested that for career changers moving toward a more congruentoccupation, job satisfaction was correlated with congruence at .32 to .33, dependingon the congruence index used.

METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN CONGRUENCE STUDIES

In a review of the literature, Arnold (2004) proposed 14 reasons that congruencestudies have yielded either mixed or weak correlations with satisfaction. He catego-rized these 14 reasons into three categories: changes that may be needed to Holland's(1997) theory, research methodological problems, and changes in the world and theway in which individuals approach work. One reason cited by numerous researchersregarding differing results in congruence studies is the use of discrepant measurementtechniques (Assouline & Meir, 1987; Spokane, 1985). Use of different congruencemeasures may also yield different results.

METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN DIFFERENTIATION STUDIES

Like congruence, research on differentiation has produced mixed results. A well-defined interest profile has been found to be related to vocational stability (Longthorp& Pattison, as cited in Holland, 1997). In a study with teachers, differentiationwas correlated with job satisfaction at .19 and was the next best predictor aftercongruence (Wiggins, Lederer, Salkowe, & Rys, 1983). In a study by Gottfredsonand Holland (1990), the construct was not supported. Holland (1997) summarizedthe research by saying that although differentiation is a weak concept, "successfulinvestigations have typically included diverse and large samples, an appropriatedesign, and standard outcome measures" (p. 148).

Given the ambiguity associated with research on Holland's (1997) theory, par-ticularly the constructs of congruence and differentiation, the study reported in thisarticle was designed to test aspects of Holland's theory with a heretofore unstudied

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occupation and one similar to employment counseling, that is, school psychology.The data presented here were collected as part of a broader study by Toomey (2001),and partial results from that study have been presented elsewhere (Toomey, Levin-son, & Morrison, 2008). Specifically, research questions to be answered by the datapresented in this article are as follows:

What is the relationship between congruence and overall, intrinsic, and extrinsicjob satisfaction?

What is the relationship between congruence and intent to remain in thefield?

Are there any significant relationships between scores on the Self-DirectedSearch-Revised (SDS-R) and desired role function?

What is the relationship between differentiation of the SDS-R profile and jobsatisfaction?

METHOD

Participants

A systematic random sample of 450 full-time, school-based psychologists was selected fromthe membership directory of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).

instruments

Data form. This form was used to obtain demographic information and respondentcharacteristics to assist with identifying correlates of job satisfaction. Additionally,it elicited participants' responses regarding the actual time they spent in variousroles and the time they desired to spend in various roles (assessment, counseling,consultation, administrative tasks, clerical tasks, research).

SDS-R {Holland, 1994). This is a self-administered and self-scored measure thatis based on Holland's (1997) theory and is used primarily for career counseling. Aswe have reported elsewhere (Toomey et al., 2008), internal consistency reliability ofthe SDS-R has been reported to be in the .80s and .90s, for the Activities, Compe-tencies, and Occupations scales. According to information presented in the manual(Holland, Powell, & Fritzsche, 1994), the SDS-R yielded correlation coefficientsof .90 to .94 for summary scales and .37 to .84 between the two self-estimates.The test-retest reliability ranged from .76 to .89 for the summary scales. In testsof concurrent validity, the overall hit rate between high point code and aspiration/occupation was 54.7%.

The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ; Weiss, Dawis, England, & Lofquist,1967). The MSQ is a widely used measure of job satisfaction that is based on thetheory of work adjustment postulated by Dawis and associates. The theory of workadjustment is well-established and well-respected, the result of considerable researchthat has been conducted on it (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984; Tinsley, 1993).

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Several versions of the MSQ are available, including a long form, a modified long form,a short form, and a modified short form. The long form of this instrument contains 100items that yield intrinsic, extrinsic, and general scales, with internal consistency coeffi-cients of .86, .80, and .90, respectively (Dawis, 1992). Zytowski (1994), in a review of theMSQ, reported that internal consistency for the 21 scales ranged from .59 to .97 among27 different norm groups. However, 83% of these coefficients were above .80. Test-retestwas reported as .83 after 1 week, and .61 after 1 year, for the 20 facet scales.

There is also a short form of the MSQ, which is self-administered. The shortform comprises one item from each of the 20 subscales of the long version thatcorrelated highest within the original sample. A study by Hirschfeld (2000)demonstrated that the original MSQ short form did not differ significantly froma revised version and reported excellent alpha coefficients for both versions.

Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire-Modified Version (mMSQ; Weiss et ai, 1967).The original MSQ was first modified by Anderson, Hohenshil, and Brown (1984) toincrease face validity of job satisfaction ratings for school psychologists. Since thattime, the mMSQ has been used extensively in a number of similar studies with schoolpsychologists (M. B. Brown, 1992; Levinson, 1989; Moore, 1999; Rhodes, 1993; Solly& Hohenshil, 1986; South, 1990; VanVoorhis & Levinson, 2006). The mMSQ has beenshown to have excellent psychometric properties and concurrent validity (Anderson etal., 1984; Levinson, 1990, 1991).

Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire-Modified Short Form (mMSQ-Short; Weiss et ai,1967). In the current study, we made modifications in the mMSQ-Short, similar to thoseof Anderson et al. (1984) for the mMSQ, for purposes of generalization to the schoolpsychologist's work environment by changing "boss" to "supervisor" and "company" to"school system." Additionally, the five-item response format was changed to a four-level,Likert-type scale in accordance with previous studies.

Each of the 20 items on the mMSQ-Short represents a job reinforcer and cor-responds to a scale on the MSQ long form (Dawis, 1992). Cronbach's alpha wasutilized to estimate the internal consistency of the two scales of the mMSQ-Short.When analyzed at an item level, the reliability for the Intrinsic scale was .81,whereas the reliability for the Extrinsic scale was .71. The coefficient alpha forthe Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Overall scales of the mMSQ-Short was .86.

The overall job satisfaction score on the mMSQ-Short was correlated with a one-item jobsatisfaction item on the data form to determine concurrent validity. The Pearson correlationcoefficient was .72 (p< .001), which indicated that the relationship between the mMSQ-Shortand the data form is statistically significant. Previous studies have also yielded statisticallysignificant correlations with this procedure (Anderson et al., 1984; Levinson, 1989,1990,1991; Levinson, Fetchkan, & Hohenshil, 1988; Solly & Hohenshil, 1986).

Procedure

The survey materials were distributed and returned by mail. The data collectionprocess consisted of four steps: initial survey distribution, a postcard reminder, andtwo follow-up mailings.

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RESULTS

Response Rate

Although the 450 school psychologists to whom packets were sent was a systematic,random sample at the time data were collected, only 70.2% (316) of the samplereturned questionnaires. Furthermore, 19 of the respondents indicated that theydid not wish to participate. Fifty-six other surveys could not be used because therespondents were not working full-time or were not working in the capacity of aschool psychologist. Therefore, the data from 241 respondents were included in theanalyses. As a consequence, the final sample was not wholly representative of NASPmembership at the time of data collection.

Demographics

At the time data were collected, a total of 72.3% of NASP members were women,but a total of 78.6% of the respondents were women. Therefore, the sample slightlyoverrepresented women and slightly underrepresented men. The mean age of thesample was 42 years, with a range from 26 to 67.1 years.

The sample represented the following NASP geographic regions: North Central(18.3%), Northeastern (25.3%), Southeastern (23.6%), West Central (15.8%), andWest (17%). These percentages were similar to the regional representation reportedin the NASP population at the time the study was conducted.

Although 25.5% of NASP members held a doctoral degree at the time data werecollected, a total of 15.6% ofthe sample reported that they held such a degree. Thus,doctoral-level practitioners were slightly underrepresented in the study. Whereas53.9% of NASP members held either a master's plus 30 hours or a specialist degreeat the time data were collected, 74.3% of respondents reported that they had earneda 60-hour master's or specialist degree. Hence, the sample slightly overrepresentsmaster's plus 30 hours and specialist-level practitioners. A total of 10.1% of respon-dents indicated that they had earned a master's degree.

The mean number of years as a school psychologist for the sample was 8.9, witha standard deviation of 6.4. Although 46.3% of the NASP population had less than10 years' experience at the time data were collected, almost 73% of respondentshad served less than 10 years. Hence, the sample slightly overrepresents schoolpsychologists with less than 10 years of experience.

Congruence-Satisfaction Relationships

Two indices were used to calculate the congruence between individuals and theirwork environment. The congruence scores were then correlated with three mMSQ-Short measures of job satisfaction: Overall, Intrinsic, and Extrinsic scales.

In order to calculate the congruence between each individual's code and the ascertainedmodal code of the school psychologist, the lachan Index (lachan, 1984a, 1984b) and

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the Brown and Gore C Index (S. D. Brown & Gore, 1994) were used. The lachan Indexconsiders all three code letters as well as their relative importance in each pair of codes,with some pairings receiving weights. The weights range from 1 to 22, with higher scoresrepresenting increasing levels of congruence. Although this index assumes the RIASEC(Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) order, it does notincorporate the circumplex assumption of Holland's (1997) theory.

The Brown and Gore C Index (S. D. Brown & Gore, 1994) is based on the premise thatthree dimensions need to be met. First, the measures need to have symmetrical underlyingdistributions so that cases at the upper and lower ends ofthe distribution can be discrimi-nated. Second, they should be able to discriminate among individuals with like but out oforder codes. Third, they should be consistent with Holland's (1997) circumplex model.

Scores for Overall, Intrinsic, and Extrinsic scales measuring job satisfaction wereobtained from each individual's responses on the mMSQ-Short. A correlation coefficientwas calculated to determine the relationship between personality-occupation congruenceand job satisfaction with each of the congruence measures. We used t tests to determine ifthere was a statistically significant difference between results with the lachan and Brownand Gore C indices.

What is the relationship between congruence and overall, intrinsic, and extrinsicjob satisfaction when using the lachan Index? Because SEI and SIE were equally ac-ceptable three-letter codes based on the data, calculations were completed with eachas the modal code. Congruence was calculated with the lachan Index (lachan, 1984a,1984b) for SEI and SIE. The lachan method for treating ties in scores was used. Forinstance, if the code SIA/SIE was compared with the modal code of SEI, congruencewas calculated for SEI and SIA, as well as for SEI and SIE. The average of the twowas used as the congruence measure.

No significant correlations were found between overall job satisfaction on the mMSQand congruence with the lachan Index. Correlations were similar when SEI (r = .11,p = .09) and SIE (r = .12, jo = .06) were used as the modal code. These were muchlower than the levels previously found in meta-analyses on congruence (Assouline& Meir, 1987; Spokane, 1985). When intrinsic job satisfaction was compared withcongruence, no significant correlations were found. Although there was a statisti-cally significant relationship with extrinsic job satisfaction, it was not meaningful,because the correlations were not above .16 with any pair.

What is the relationship between congruence and overall, intrinsic, and extrinsic jobsatisfaction when using the Brown and Gore C Index? Calculations were completedwith both SEI and SIE as the modal code. The Brown and Gore C Index (S. D. Brown& Gore, 1994) was also calculated for each protocol. Although the authors did notstipulate how to deal with ties, the same averaging procedure was applied to allowfor comparison between the two indices.

No significant correlations were found between overall job satisfaction on the mMSQand congruence when using the Brown and Gore C Index (S. D. Brown & Gore, 1994).When SEI was used as the modal code, the correlation was .12 (p - .067). When SIEwas used, the correlation was .03 (p = .635). There were no significant correlationswhen either intrinsic or extrinsic job satisfaction was used as an outcome measure.

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What is the relationship between congruence and intent to remain in the field?There were no significant correlations between intention to remain in the currentposition and congruence when measured with the lachan Index (lachan, 1984a,1984b). There was a statistically significant negative correlation (r = -.22, p < .01)between the SIE code calculated with the Brown and Gore C Index (S. D. Brown &Gore, 1994) and intention to remain in the field of school psychology.

Are there any significant relationships between SDS-R seores and desired role func-tion variables? To further investigate the construct of congruence, an analysis wasconducted using SDS-R scores and desired role functions. The relationship betweencongruence and job satisfaction was not significant; there were, however, some note-worthy relationships among the SDS-R scores and role function variables. There wasa statistically significant positive correlation between a participant's total Social scoreand desired time in counseling (r = .26, p < .001), as well as a negative correlationwith desired time in assessment (r = -.20, p < .01). The total Enterprising score wasalso negatively correlated with desired time in assessment (r .27, p < .001) andpositively correlated with desired time in administrative activities (r = .22, p < .01).Desired time in research was positively correlated with the Investigative (r = .23,p < .01) and Artistic scales (r = .20, p < .01), whereas the Conventional scale waspositively correlated with desired time in clerical activities (r = .24, p < .001).

What is the relationship between differentiation ofthe SDS-R profile and job satis-faction? To answer this question, the lachan (1984a, 1984b) Differentiation Indexwas used to determine the level of differentiation of each SDS-R profile. Then, acorrelation coefficient was calculated to determine the relationship between dif-ferentiation and overall job satisfaction.

Differentiation was calculated for each protocol using Iachan's (1984a, 1984b) Differ-entiation Index and compared with the job satisfaction variables. The correlation betweendifferentiation and overeJl job satisfaction was statistically significant but not meaningful(r = .13, p < .05). The correlation between intrinsic satisfaction and differentiation wasnot statistically significant. However, the correlation between differentiation and extrinsicjob satisfaction was significant but not meaningful (r = .19, p < .01).

DISCUSSION

Congruence and Job Satisfaction

No significant correlations were found between overall job satisfaction on the mMSQ-Short and congruence with either the lachan Index (lachan, 1984a, 1984b) or Brownand Gore C Index (S. D. Brown & Gore, 1994). With the highest correlations fallingin the .11 to .12 range, they were far below the levels previously found in meta-analyses on congruence (Assouline & Meir, 1987; Spokane, 1985). This finding isconsistent with other studies that have failed to find a congruence-satisfaction rela-tionship (Lent & Lopez, 1996; Leong, Austin, Sekaran, & Komarraju, 1998; Milleret al., 2004). This is especially interesting given that prior studies indicated a strongcongruence-satisfaction relationship for primarily Social types (Assouline & Meir,

journal of employment counseling June 2009 Volume 46 89

1987) like the group of professionals included in our study. Instead, our results aresimilar to findings of a study by Young et al. (1998) wherein no significant relation-ship was found between congruence and job satisfaction for Social types.

In addition, when intrinsic job satisfaction was compared with congruence, no signifi-cant correlations were found. Although there was a statistically significant relationshipwith extrinsic job satisfaction, it was not meaningful. It appears that the personality ofschool psychologists is rather diverse and job satisfaction at the occupational level isnot related to personality code. In fact, the various correlations between desired rolefunctioning and personality type suggests that job satisfaction may be more influencedby the specific role an individual school psychologist has than by the congruencebetween his or her personality and the modal code for the profession.

A possibility suggested by numerous researchers regarding the reason for dif-.fering results among studies is the use of discrepant measurement techniquesfor calculating congruence (Assouline & Meir, 1987; Spokane, 1985). Spokaneargued that by using different procedures for measuring congruence, the numberof participants who could be labeled as such varied from 30% to 70%. However,the criticism of discrepant measurements does not apply to our study because twodifferent congruence indices were used, and still no significant and meaningfulrelationship was found.

When considering the two congruence measures for the modal codes SEI and SIE,there was a significant correlation for each pair. The lachan Index (lachan, 1984a,1984b) and Brown and Gore C Index (S. D. Brown & Gore, 1994) yielded correla-tions of .67 for SEI and .63 for SIE, which is fairly consistent with what has beenreported in the literature. Previous comparisons between the two measures in theliterature yielded correlations of .48 (S. D. Brown & Gore, 1994) and .75 (Young etal., 1998). There was also a statistically significant difference between the pairs,depending on the index used.

intention to Remain in the Fieid

There were no significant correlations between intention to .remain in the currentposition and congruence as would be predicted by Holland's (1997) theory. Therewas, in fact, a statistically significant negative correlation between the SIE congru-ence code calculated with the Brown and Gore C Index (S. D. Brown & Gore, 1994)and intention to remain in the field of school psychology. This finding is oppositewhat would have been expected based on Holland's theory.

Differentiation of the SDS-R and Job Satisfaction

The correlation between differentiation and overall job satisfaction was statisticallysignificant; however, it was not meaningful. The correlation between intrinsic jobsatisfaction and differentiation was not statistically significant. However, the cor-relation between differentiation and extrinsic job satisfaction was significant anddoes offer some support for Holland's (1997) theory as applied to the occupation ofschool psychology. It appears that school psychologists with more clearly defined'

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SDS-R profiles are more satisfied with the external reinforeers of the job. The reasonfor this is unclear, however, and warrants further investigation.

Consistent with our study, there are numerous others in which a relationshipbetween differentiation and overall job satisfaction was not supported (Gottfredson& Holland, 1990; Nafziger, Holland, & Gottfredson, 1975). Holland (1997) himselfdescribed differentiation as a weak concept.

Limitations of the Study

One factor that may have influenced our results was the choice of instrumentation. Apotential limitation of congruence studies is the choice of outcome measure (Arnold,2004; Spokane et al., 2000). The mMSQ-Short, rather than the longer version of themeasure was used because of the number of protocols included in the survey packet.Therefore, there was a smaller sampling of items than would have been the case hadthe long form of the MSQ been used. A variety of respondents also expressed dis-satisfaction with several of the items on the mMSQ-Short, which may have influencedresponses. Relatedly, a different measure of job satisfaction, or another outcomemeasure such as performance, might have produced different results.

Recommendations for Future Research

In light of our findings, the following questions might form the basis for futureresearch in this area.

1. Would congruence be found at the role function or micro-level of the occupationif an interest inventory had been devised specifically for school psychologists,as has been done for other professions (Hener & Meir, 1981; Meir & Engel,1986; Meir & Erez, 1981)?

2. Would the congruence hypothesis be supported if another personality or jobsatisfaction measure had been used?

Future researchers should attempt to answer such questions and should also attemptto replicate our findings with similar occupations like employment counseling. Wouldsimilar results have been obtained if employment counselors instead of school psycholo-gists had been used in the current study? Caution should be exercised in generalizingour findings until such studies are conducted. These questions, and limitations of ourstudy notwithstanding, only limited support for the validity of Holland's (1997) theorywith a heretofore unstudied occupationschool psychologywas provided in thisstudy. Given these results, employment counselors and others who use assessmentinstruments based on Holland's theory, and use the constructs of congruence and dif-ferentiation when interpreting and using assessment data, should do so with caution.

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