The significance of occupations in work careers: An empirical and theoretical review

The central position of occupations in work careers has been a widely accepted position in the study of careers. Furthermore, it has also been commonly believed that most work careers follow the temporal sequence of occupational choice, occupational preparation and training, and occupational entry and retention. An analysis of research findings, however, shows that most individuals do not make stable occupational choices as the first step in their work careers, nor do they show a strong commitment to a particular occupation during their work careers. On the contrary, occupational mobility is far more characteristic of most work careers than occupational stability. One possible explanation of the high rates of occupational mobility is that individuals are responding to opportunities that develop during the course of their careers. As opportunities unfold during work careers, individuals use those opportunities to make future career and occupational choices. Thus, careers may be more accurately considered as a series of responses to a succession of opportunity situations than the effort to realize a predetermined occupational goal.     

The “post” phase of deviant careers: Reintegrating drug traffickers

Although social scientists have examined the entry, intermediate, and exit phases of deviant careers, few have analyzed the reintegration of former occupational deviants into the conventional society and legitimate economy. For this follow‐up study, 10 years after conducting a longitudinal ethnographic study of upper level drug dealers and smugglers, I returned to the field to see what had become of my former subjects. I describe the directions they have ventured and analyze the social and occupational effects of their years in the drug world on their subsequent lives. For drug dealers, whose careers follow a roughly patterned evolution through ascension, peak, and decline, reintegration serves as the postdealing phase of their deviant careers.     

A longitudinal study of career success,embeddedness, and mobility of early career professionals

The study of voluntary job mobility has traditionally focused on how the present context and individual factors either support or constrain choice of blue and white collar workers. Less attention has been devoted to the relationships among career success, embeddedness, and mobility of early career professionals. How do past career success and job mobility affect job embeddedness, subsequent career success, and future mobility within and between organizations and occupations? Each of these constructs is often studied as a dependent variable, yet the relationships among them, over time, are rarely examined. We explore the effects of past objective career actions (promotions, % salary change, and job mobility) on current job embeddedness and subjective career success, and on job, organizational, and occupational mobility one year later. Results support the positive influence of past promotions, % salary change, and current job embeddedness on subjective career success, and a negative influence for past promotions, job embeddedness, and subjective career success on mobility one year later as people began to ‘settle in’. We also observed small positive relationships of past promotions and % salary change with job embeddedness, and of past job mobility with future mobility — indicating that objective career success contributes to embeddedness, yet those that move more often tend to keep doing so. There were no differences or interaction effects based on gender or years of work experience. We found significantly stronger negative relationships of embeddedness and subjective career success with mobility between occupations than for mobility within organizations. However, the same pattern of findings was observed for job, organization, and occupational mobility.     

Factors affecting occupational advice for speakers who do and do not stutter

Factors affecting perceptions of occupational suitability were examined for speakers who stutter and speakers who do not stutter. In Experiment 1, 58 adults who do not stutter heard one of two audio recordings (less severe stuttering, more severe stuttering) of a speaker who stuttered. Participants rated the speaker's communicative functioning, personal attributes, and suitability for 32 occupations, along with perceptions of the occupations' speaking demands and educational requirements. Perceived speaking demand strongly affected occupational suitability ratings at both levels of stuttering severity. In Experiment 2, 58 additional adults who do not stutter heard a recording of another adult in one of two conditions (fluent speech, pseudo-stuttering), and provided the same ratings as in Experiment 1. In the pseudo-stuttering condition, participants' perceptions of occupational speaking demand again had a strong effect on occupational suitability ratings. In the fluent condition, suitability ratings were affected primarily by perceived educational demand; perceived speaking demand was of secondary importance. Across all participants in Experiment 2, occupational suitability ratings were associated with ratings of the speaker's personal attributes and communicative functioning. In both experiments, speakers who stuttered received lower suitability ratings for high speaking demand occupations than for low speaking demand occupations. Ratings for many high speaking occupations, however, fell just below the midpoint of the occupational suitability scale, suggesting that participants viewed these occupations as less appropriate, but not necessarily inappropriate, for people who stutter. Overall, the findings support the hypothesis that people who stutter may face occupational stereotyping and/or role entrapment in work settings. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: At the end of this activity the reader will be able to (a) summarize main findings on research related to the work-related experiences of people who stutter, (b) describe factors that affect perceptions of which occupations are best suited for speakers who stutter and speakers who do not stutter, and (c) discuss how findings from the present study relate to previous findings on occupational advice for people who stutter.     

Studying entrepreneurial occupations in the Terman women

To achieve a better understanding of entrepreneurship development in women, longitudinal data on 672 individuals collected from 1922 to 1959 were analysed in a secondary investigation of the Terman Longitudinal Study. Women's reports on their occupations during 10 different years were assigned to one of two categories: work for pay (0/1), and work allowing for self‐employment (0/1) in the respective year. Structural equation modelling supported earlier results concerning male entrepreneurial activity. Personality and aspects of the parenting context the women had experienced by the average age of 12 predicted early entrepreneurial competencies (inventions, leadership) and occupational interests by age 13, which related to an entrepreneurship‐related career goal in 1936, when the participants were about 27 years of age on average. Such a career goal in turn predicted a higher number of occasions of entrepreneurship‐prone work. Surprisingly, we also found a relationship to divorce. Women who had experienced the failure of a marriage were in occupations with a potential for entrepreneurship more often. Reasons are discussed against a backdrop of historical timing and current findings to identify general aspects of entrepreneurship development.     

Perceptions Now and Then of Occupational Sex Typing: A Replication of Shinar's 1975 Study

College students' perceptions of the sex typing of 129 occupations were gathered and compared with those reported by Shinar (1975). Questionnaires were completed by 72 males and 70 females. As in Shinar's study, a continuum of the perceptions of occupations from masculine to feminine was replicated. A comparison of the mean ratings for the occupations and of the percentages of women in each occupation in 1975 and 1988 is reported in a comprehensive table. The results indicated that occupational sex typing continues to exist and that women tend to perceive jobs as being more neutral than men do. However, the occupational sex typing may not be based on the actual percentages of women in the occupations.     

Getting What the Occupation Gives: Exploring Multilevel Links Between Work Design and Occupational Values

The history of work design research is voluminous and compelling. Thousands of studies have demonstrated the wide‐reaching and powerful impact the design of work can have on a host of meaningful outcomes. Yet, absent in much of this research is an explicit consideration of the context within which work is performed and how this context might impact work design. Drawing from the theory of work adjustment, we describe the different ways in which occupations are linked to work design. In a sample of 805 individuals from 230 occupations, our multilevel examinations show the occupational‐level values of achievement, independence, altruism, status, and comfort are related to a variety of work characteristics. In addition, we found that work characteristics are key mechanisms through which these occupational values affect individual‐level job satisfaction. Implications of these results for work design theory and practice are discussed.     

Ranking and Factorial Structure of Occupational Stereotypes Among Jewish Pupils in South Africa

This study investigated the hierarchical order of occupations by means of 10 evaluative criteria, and established the factorial structure of occupational stereotypes in a group of 82 Jewish pupils in South Africa, who rated 20 occupations on the Semantic Differential. Conclusions are: (a) the rank orders of occupations are highly similar irrespective of ranking criterion; (b) on the whole, professions tended to be ranked most favorably, and manual and unskilled jobs least favorably; and (c) occupational stereotypes were found to fall into four different categories, labeled (1) practical occupations with relatively high status; (2) unattractive occupations (semiskilled); (3) female occupations; and (4) occupations possessing power and influence.     

职业污名与离职倾向：牵连家人污名与家庭卷入的作用

职业污名对从业者的工作态度和工作行为有着重要影响。以往研究从个体职业身份的视角解释职业污名的作用, 忽略了从业者个体身份认同的多重属性。本研究基于身份边界理论, 提出职业污名会通过牵连家人污名这一机制影响从业者的离职倾向。另外, 这一机制的强弱取决于个体的家庭卷入程度。本研究通过对分属不同职业的384名从业者的3轮问卷调研发现, 家庭卷入调节了牵连家人污名在职业污名与离职倾向之间的中介作用。当个体的家庭卷入水平高时, 这一中介作用更强; 家庭卷入水平低时, 该中介作用更弱。本研究在理论上提出并检验了职业污名影响的新机制, 同时对实际管理工作提出了建议。     

African American Women in the Workplace: Relationships Between Job Conditions, Racial Bias at Work, and Perceived Job Quality

Although studies have described work processes among employed African American women, few have examined the influence of these processes on job outcomes. This study examined relationships between African American women's exposure to a range of occupational stressors, including two types of racial bias—institutional discrimination and interpersonal prejudice—and their evaluations of job quality. Findings indicated that institutional discrimination and interpersonal prejudice were more important predictors of job quality among these women than were other occupational stressors such as low task variety and decision authority, heavy workloads, and poor supervision. Racial bias in the workplace was most likely to be reported by workers in predominantly white work settings. In addition, Black women who worked in service, semiskilled, and unskilled occupations reported significantly more institutional discrimination, but not more interpersonal prejudice, than did women in professional, managerial, and technical occupations or those in sales and clerical occupations.     

The emergence and effects of deviants in low and high status groups

We test the proposition, derived from social identity theory and the subjective group dynamics model, that a group member who undermines the in-group’s quest for positive status will be perceived as a “deviant.” Using a minimal group paradigm, participants (N=104) were assigned to either a high or a low status group. They were then confronted with an in-group member who claimed that the status differentials were either legitimate or illegitimate. We found that a group member who claimed that the status differences were legitimate in a low status group, or illegitimate in a high status group, was seen as less valuable to the in-group than a more neutral in-group member. Furthermore, such deviants were less likely to be selected for group leadership than neutral group members. Finally, the presence of a deviant undermined the cohesion of the group. The results are discussed in terms of the social functions of deviant rejection for obtaining or preserving positive group distinctiveness.     

Perceived causality for success in occupations

A representative group of occupations was examined within an attributional framework, utilizing the concept of perceived causality for success. Specifically, it was hypothesized that (1) success in different types of occupations would be attributed to different causes, (2) the causal attributions of incumbents would differ from those of nonincumbents, (3) standard occupational categories could be derived on the basis of perceived causality for success, and (4) perceived causality for success could be used as a basis for generating a circular ordering of occupations.Holland's (1973) occupational classification was used as a basis for categorization. College students, as well as six types of occupational incumbents, were administered a questionnaire in which they attributed causality for success in 35 occupations. The results supported the first three hypotheses and also revealed some systematic relationships between causes and between perceived causality for success and occupational prestige.     

The Psychological and Physical Weil-Being of Women in Sex-Stereotyped Occupations

The authors examined the perceptions of women who work in three sex-specific occupational categories and the effects of their participation in these occupations on several psychological and physical health variables.     

REPRESENTATION OF THE WORLD OF WORK IN DAYTIME TELEVISION SERIALS

Daytime television serials were analyzed for their representation of the world of work. It was found that 80 percent of all jobs portrayed were in the professional, technical, and managerial category with a very high representation of jobs in the health fields. When occupations represented by men and women characters were separately analyzed, similar patterns of gross overrepresentation of the professional occupations and underrepresentation of clerical, sales, and benchwork categories were noted. This distortion of the world of work as portrayed on television serials was compared with the distortion already noted in the occupational literature.     

The relationship of parental education and maternal work and occupational status to Occupational Aspiration in adolescent females

This study investigated the relationship of parental education and maternal work and occupational status to the Occupational Aspirations (classified as Innovative, Moderate, and Traditional) of adolescent females. Innovative occupations are those in which fewer than 30% of the workers are women; Moderate occupations are those in which 30–50% of the workers are women; and Traditional occupations are those in which more than 50% of the workers are women. Innovative choices were made significantly more often as an Ideal aspiration than as a Real aspiration, and, reciprocally, Traditional occupations were chosen less often as an Ideal aspiration than as a Real aspiration. Significant association was found between Occupational Aspiration and father's education and between Occupational Aspiration and mother's occupational status (traditional or nontraditional).     

Scientists Negotiate Boundaries Between Religion and Science

Analysis of interviews with 275 natural and social scientists at 21 elite U.S. research universities suggests that only a minority of scientists see religion and science as always in conflict. Scientists selectively employ different cultural strategies with regards to the religion‐science relationship: redefining categories (the use of institutional resources from religion and from science), integration models (scientists strategically employ the views of major scientific actors to legitimate a more symbiotic relationship between science and religion), and intentional talk (scientists actively engage in discussions about the boundaries between science and religion). Such results challenge narrow conceptions of secularization theory and the sociology of science literature by describing ways science intersects with other knowledge categories. Most broadly the ways that institutions and ideologies shape one another through the agency of individual actors within those institutions is explored.     

Occupational differences in work engagement: A longitudinal study among eight occupational groups in Norway

The aim of the present study was to explore occupational differences in the experience of engagement both with regard to differences in the level of work engagement as well as in the predicting value of different antecedent variables. Multigroup latent mean analysis was performed on eight different occupational groups in Norway (lawyers, physicians, nurses, teachers, church ministers, bus drivers, and people working in advertising and information technology; N = 3,475). Tests for factorial invariance supported the use of the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory scale across occupational groups and that the latent means were comparable across the groups. Results indicated significant occupational differences in the experience of vigor and dedication. The lawyers reported the most vigor and the church ministers the most dedication. Least vigor was reported among the teachers and the advertising group reported to be least dedicated. Cross‐lagged multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis suggested there are different processes behind the development of engagement across occupations. Visualization of how some occupations cluster or differ from each other is important as it might engender theory building and further hypotheses testing.     

The Role of Occupational Characteristics and Occupational Imbalance in Explaining Well-being

One of the key factors for promoting well-being lies in balancing one’s daily life occupations and the nature of these occupations. Occupation refers to a group of everyday life goal-directed activities which may be associated to any life domain, not necessarily work, such as leisure, education, or self-care. Yet it is not clear what constitutes occupational imbalance, and its association to other factors has not been examined systematically. This study proposed and tested a theoretical model for specifying the structural relationships between occupational imbalance, occupational characteristics, personality and well-being. 288 working adults completed the following questionnaires: Inter-goal Relations Questionnaire (occupational imbalance), Personal Projects Analysis (occupational characteristics), the Big Five Inventory (personality traits) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (well-being). Twenty-five models were tested using structural equation modeling. All the models fit the data well. Occupational characteristics, with the exception of stress, served as significant mediators between personality and well-being, yet occupational imbalance did not play a significant role across all models. Our findings provide substantial support for the importance of occupation to well-being, however occupational imbalance is still an elusive concept that requires further investigation theoretically and empirically.