Experimental manipulation of vocational interests: Influence on self-efficacy and choice goals

This study was the first to use a true experimental design to test the hypothesis that vocational interests can be a precursor to the development of domain-specific self-efficacy beliefs in three occupational domains, namely information technology, sales, and teaching. Two levels of interest were created based on work values that differed in their level of appeal. Participants (206 college students from a large Midwestern university) rated sets of job descriptions that contained activity-based information in addition to a reference to work values associated with the position. Participants rated each of the job descriptions in terms of interest, confidence, and choice intention. The manipulation check was successful; participants expressed significantly more interest in job descriptions associated with the desirable work values relative to the descriptions associated with less desirable values. Moreover, the results showed that level of expressed interest had both a direct effect on self-efficacy ratings and an indirect effect via choice goals. Theoretical implications of the research as it relates to social cognitive career theory are discussed