Effects of Changing Proportions of the Sexes on Ratings of Occupational Prestige

Touhey (1974) has suggested that an influx of women into high-status, male-dominated professions will result in declining prestige and desirability for those professions. The present study attempts both a replication and an extension to examine results of changing sex ratios in low-status and female-dominated occupations. Replication of the previous finding and its predicted extension to high- status women's jobs occurred only with college sophomores; juniors and seniors generally did not respond to sex composition, although they did rate high-status men's jobs as even more prestigious with a larger proportion of women employed in the job. Results for the low-status jobs were less clear, possibly reflecting the distance of college students from such occupations. Unlike Touhey's, these results are not interpreted as predicting future occupational prestige, but only as reflecting current attitudes about women and men.     

The Role of Masculinity/Femininity, Values, and Occupational Value Affordances in Shaping Young Men��s and Women��s Occupational Choices

Gender differences in occupational values have been well-established, yet little research has examined the predictive qualities of individual difference variables such as self-perceived masculinity/femininity on values and these constructs?? predictive role in the traditionality and perceived value affordances of future occupations??or the values persons expect a job to fulfill. Undergraduates (185 males, 401 females) from the Eastern, Southern, and Midwestern United States reported their occupational values, self-perceived masculinity/femininity, expected occupations, and the perceived value affordances of these jobs. Results indicated significant relationships among self-perceived masculinity/femininity, value endorsements, and the perceptions of value affordances. Results also indicated some differences among the three subsamples as well as gender differences across subsamples. Also, value endorsements mediated the relationships between self-perceived masculinity/femininity and traditionality and self-perceived masculinity/femininity and perceived value affordances. Thus, the values associated with jobs and personal value endorsements are important variables in career choice. The implications of these findings are discussed, and it is suggested that perceptions of occupational value affordances may be an entry point for intervention when trying to reduce occupational gender segregation.     

Clustering of skills and occupations: A generic skills approach to occupational training

A report on the process and procedures of determining generic occupational skills and clusters of occupations for optimal occupational training needs is presented. Four hundred and ninety workers and their supervisors representing 37 different occupations were interviewed using a structured questionnaire consisting of items on mathematics, communication, reasoning, and interpersonal and manipulative skills. Respondents were asked to indicate whether a specific skill was a prerequisite to enter a job and also whether that specific skill was required on the job. Six, three, and two hierarchical skill factors and nine occupational clusters were identified. Training and curricular implications were explored.     

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。     

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.     

Organizational embeddedness and occupational embeddedness across career stages

This article proposes a theoretical framework to study organizational embeddedness and occupational embeddedness. Organizational embeddedness is the totality of forces (fit, links, and sacrifices) that keep people in their current organizations, while occupational embeddedness is the totality of forces (fit, links, and sacrifices) that keep people in their current occupations. The proposed framework identifies the antecedents of these parallel processes and when and why they can diverge. It also highlights the role that individuals’ career stages play in the embedding process. The article concludes with a discussion of avenues for future research on job turnover and occupation change and implications for management practice.     

The job climate for women in traditionally male blue-collar occupations

Rapid growth has been observed in recent years in the number of women entering traditionally male blue-collar occupations, yet researchers have paid little attention to this pioneering group. The present study undertook a comparison of the job conditions of two groups of nontraditional women workers, tradeswomen (N=71), and transit workers (N=151); a third group, school secretaries (N=389), was studied as a comparison group of traditionally female workers. Results from a 16-page mail questionnaire revealed that women in traditionally male occupations encountered significantly more adverse working conditions than did their traditional counterparts, and, in addition, reported significantly less satisfaction and more stress at work. Tradeswomen were the most likely to experience sexual harassment and sex discrimination, and black tradeswomen to experience race discrimination. The degree of job satisfaction expressed by the secretaries was unexpected, since most evidence suggests that clerical workers lack autonomy, and encounter boredom and routinization on the job. These findings are discussed in terms of gender segregation and the need to focus future research efforts on specific occupational groups in order to make appropriate policy recommendations as well as to provide help for women in these jobs.This research was supported by grants from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Grant No. 1 RO1 OH02162-01A1) and the College of Health and Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University. The authors wish to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of Patty Lambert, Ming Qi Wang, Mary Harmon, Joseph Vasey, Gina Jay, Darrell Harvey, and Haleh Rastegary.     

The relative effectiveness of alternative job sources

Vocational research has focused on the occupational choice process and the individual's adjustment to work. Very little research has examined the job search process in which the individual must engage in order to implement occupational choices. This study examines one dimension of the job search process: the relationship between job source and subsequent work experiences. The data reveal that when the respondents initially entered the labor market, those relying on formal job sources tended to work in higher-level occupations and in jobs more closely related to their training than their counterparts who used other job sources. In the longer run, the labor market advantages associated with the use of formal job sources dissipated for the engineering majors but tended to persist for the business alumni.     

Pink and blue collar jobs: children's judgments of job status and job aspirations in relation to sex of worker

Past work shows that even young children know that occupations are differentially linked to men and women in our society. In our research, we studied whether 6- and 11-year-old children's (a) beliefs about job status and (b) job interests would be affected by the gendered nature of jobs. When asked about familiar occupations, children gave higher status ratings to masculine jobs and expressed greater interest in jobs culturally associated with their own sex. To circumvent the extant confounds between job gender and job status in our culture, we also developed a new methodology in which novel jobs were portrayed with either male or female workers. Older children rated novel jobs portrayed with male workers as having higher status than the identical jobs portrayed with female workers. Portrayal sex had no effect on children's own interests in these novel jobs at either age. Methodological, theoretical, and educational issues are discussed in relation to sex-role development and vocational aspirations.     

Occupational Aptitude Patterns Map: Development and implications for a theory of job aptitude requirements

United States Employment Service data on the cognitive and noncognitive aptitude requirements of different occupations were used to create an occupational classification—the Occupational Aptitude Patterns (OAP) Map. The OAP Map consists of 13 job clusters arrayed according to major differences in overall intellectual difficulty level and in functional focus (field) of work activities. The OAP Map was compared with an alternative, aptitude-based classification, with the Holland typology of work environments, and with ratings for complexity of involvement with data, people, and things. Those comparisons provided considerable evidence concerning the construct validity of different aspects of the Map and helped to clarify the uses for which the Map is most appropriate. When combined with previous evidence about patterns of job aptitude demands, the OAP Map provides the basis for a theory of job aptitude requirements. The OAP Map and accompanying analyses support the following hypotheses: (1) general intelligence is the major gradient by which aptitude demands have become organized across jobs in the U.S. economy, (2) within broad levels of work, the aptitude demands of different fields of work differ primarily in the shape of their cognitive profiles, and (3) different aptitude demand patterns arise in large part from broad differences in the tasks workers actually perform on the job.     

Explaining the adult careers of dyslexic boys: Variations in critical skills for high-level jobs

Several hundred boys who were diagnosed as dyslexic (specifically reading disabled) in adolescence and who attended a private college preparatory school for dyslexics were followed up in adulthood. The occupations of these men, who were above average in both intelligence and socioeconomic background, were compared to those of both a control group and the general white male population. As hypothesized, the dyslexic men had higher level jobs than the average man but they were much less likely than the controls to become professionals. They rarely entered jobs such as physician, lawyer, or college teacher which require higher degrees; instead most became managers or salesmen. The occupational differences between the dyslexic and control men were related to, but not completely accounted for, by their large differences in educational attainment. Data on the competencies rated as critical to good job performance in different occupations were consistent with the hypothesis that dyslexic men would establish themselves in relatively high-level jobs emphasizing nonacademic rather than academic on-the-job skills. Nondisabled professionals rated getting information through reading among the most critical of the skills required on their jobs. In contrast, managers and salesmen rated reading as less important than nonacademic competencies such as taking initiative and responsibility or being persuasive. The results illustrate the value of knowing more about the particular competencies required in different jobs in order to help members of special groups, particularly those such as dyslexies who have specific and enduring handicaps but who are otherwise intellectually normal.     

Structure of physical performance in occupational tasks

Two lines of research concerning the dimensionality of physical performance in occupational tasks are described. In the first, the physical requirements of tasks are analyzed as reflected in job analyses. In the second, the structure of physical abilities tests used to predict performance in physically demanding jobs is evaluated. Principal components analyses of both job analysis and test performance data suggest that the structure of physical abilities has three major components--strength, endurance, and movement quality. This structure appears to be independent of job type or level of incumbents' performance.     

Race and the workforce: occupational status,aspirations, and stereotyping among African American children

This study examined whether African American children's perceptions of occupational status and their own vocational interests are affected by racial segregation of the workforce. Children (N = 92) rated familiar occupations with respect to status, desirability, and stereotyping. Children also rated novel jobs that had been depicted with African Americans, European Americans, or both African and European Americans. As predicted, for familiar jobs, children's judgments were linked to their knowledge of racial segregation of these jobs. In addition, novel occupations that had been depicted with African Americans were judged as lower in status than the identical occupations that had been depicted with European Americans, demonstrating a causal influence of workers' race on children's judgments. Children's age and socioeconomic background moderated their occupational judgments.     

“The holy crossfire”: A job diagnosis of a pastor's position

Much of the research on job characteristics is focused on industrial positions involving relatively clear tasks. The present study briefly distinguishes between task-based jobs such as those found in lower heirarchical levels of industrial settings and role-based jobs such as those found in general management positions. A methodology for diagnosing the role-based job of a pastor is outlined. How this methodology was used in diagnosing one pastor's position is then presented. The results of the diagnostic process centered on the crossfire of expectations along four dimensions: 1) symbol vs. human; 2) stabilizing vs. changing; 3) performing vs. enabling; and 4) pastor-directed vs. selfdirected spiritual advancement. These dimensions are discussed and their implications examined.     

Jobs You Won't Find in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles

This article, although written in a whimsical style, points out the value-laden nature of our premier source of occupational information, the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Other than legal occupations, jobs that are remunerative can be placed into three categories: (a) illegal occupations, (b) underground or counterculture occupations, and (c) occupations “in limbo.”