A test of Holland's theory of vocational choice.

Abstract

This study tested the effectiveness of Holland's theory of vocational choice for predicting students' satisfaction with their choices of college majors. Upperclassmen majoring in mathematics and sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, classified according to Holland's six personality types on the basis of their responses to the Vocational Preference Inventory, rated themselves on satisfaction with their college majors. Satisfaction with major was significantly related to personality type among the students majoring in mathematics but not among those majoring in sociology; however, the pattern of satisfaction expressed by four of the six personality types in sociology agreed with theoretical expectations.

Person-environment congruence, employee job satisfaction, and tenure: a test of Holland's theory

“…These findings are in agreement with those obtained in numerous other studies in which student-college congru ency and satisfaction were investigated: student satisfaction was found to be related to congruency with one's major field (Holland, 1973;Helms & Williams, 1973;Astin & Panes, 1969;Morrow, 1971;Richards & Jones, 1970;Nafziger, Holland, & Gottfredson, 1975).…”

Experimental Construct Validity of the Outcomes of Study Skills Training and Career Counseling as Treatments for the Retention of At‐Risk Students

“…Participants who chose a major congruent with their Holland code were deemed successful and received a score of 1; participants failing to declare a major and those declaring incongruent majors received a 0. Other studies (e.g., Morrow, 1971;Pryor & Taylor, 1986) have used the VPI similarly.…”

Optimizing student‐institution fit

“…In this study, those students with academic majors not a part of the numerically dominant group reported significantly more dissatisfaction not only with their housing arrangements but with their overall college experience as well. Congruency between personality type and academic major has also been found to correlate with significantly greater student satisfaction on the campus (Morrow, 1971 ;Nafziger and others, 1975). Other studies have also correlated student-institution fit with student satisfaction and achievement and have obtained similar results (Pervin, 1967; Walsh and Russell, 1969; Starr and others, 1972).…”