The construct validity of Schein's career anchors orientation inventory

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to test the construct validity of the measurement model of Schein's Career Orientation Inventory (1990) where entrepreneurship and creativity constitute two separate constructs. Design A fairly representative sample of 1,847 Israeli working adults completed Schein's Career Anchor Inventory (COI) questionnaire. The data was subjected to confirmatory factor analysis to compare the fit of the proposed nine-construct model to Schein's eight Findings The findings demonstrate that a) the proposed nine-construct model of the COI, which distinguishes between Entrepreneurship and Creativity constructs has a better fit than the eight-construct model. b) The nine-construct model has convergent and discriminant validity and unidimensionality. Value The study's contributions are threefold: first, it generally supports Schein's Career Anchor Theory, yet, with nine anchors rather than with the original eight; second, it confirms the distinction between entrepreneurship and creativity; and third, it highlights the need to rephrase several existing items, and add new ones. The suggested changes and the conceptual framework of the nine-anchor model will make the COI a more valid and reliable instrument, both for theory-building, as well as for practical and diagnostic use by career counselors.

Revisiting the Career Anchor Model: A Proposition and an Empirical Investigation of a New Model of Career Value Structure

“…For a technician, specialization is motivated by security, whereas for a professional, expertise meets a need for professional growth. Second, our results corroborate the conclusion of Danziger, Rachman-Moore and Valency (2008) that the entrepreneurial creativity anchor also needs to be reformulated. The concept of creativity is distinct from that of entrepreneurship.…”

“…Empirical studies show that the security/stability anchor has been split into two factors, organizational security (good employee benefits, advantageous pension plan) and geographical security (job stability in a given place) (DeLong, 1982a(DeLong, , 1984Jiang, Klein and Balloun, 2001). The entrepreneurial creativity anchor has also been divided into two (Danziger, Rachman-Moore and Valency, 2008). Additionally, the debate centers on specific anchors.…”

Factor Analysis Evaluation of Schein’s Career Orientations Inventory in Colombia

“…In fact, significant differences between women and men's CAs were found, with two exceptions: technical/functional competence and security. These results do not provide evidence of the generalizations of Danziger's et al (2008) results in so-called Western societies. Similar discussions were addressed in studies conducted in developing countries.…”

The good, the bad, and the talented: Entrepreneurial talent and selfish behavior

“…Similarly, for Schein's (1975) Career Orientation Inventory it was found that businessrelated entrepreneurship (business talent) and creativity constitute two separate constructs. Danziger et al (2008) test the construct validity of the two-factor model with 1,847 Israeli working adults and provide strong support for the distinction between these two dimensions. In accordance with this literature, we factorize the entrepreneurial selfefficacy items without the creativity items (coded 'C' in Appendix C) and find that there is only one factor with an eigenvalue exceeding 1.…”

“…There are many studies on entrepreneurial self-efficacy, but to the best of our knowledge there is only one study that distinguishes psychometrically between entrepreneurial creativity and entrepreneurial business talent. Based on a survey of 1,847 Israeli working adults, Danziger et al (2008) report that the 'entrepreneurial creativity' dimension within Schein's (1975) career orientation inventory needs to be split into two factors: entrepreneurship and creativity. These results, along with our own findings, clearly demonstrate that more research is needed to improve the rather rudimentary measurement of creativity vis-à-vis other business-related talents.…”