Associations Between Vocational Interests and Personality "Beyond" the Big-Five.

Abstract

This investigation explores the relationships between vocational interests and personality dimensions suggested to be "beyond" the Big Five or Five Factor Model. Participants (653 adults; 125 men and 528 women, with a mean age of 40.57 years, SD = 16.61, range 18-92) provided data on the 10 personality dimensions of the Supernumerary Personality Inventory (SPI; Paunonen, 2002), along with the 34 scales (27 work interests and seven work style preference scales) of the Jackson Career Inventory. Several significant associations, such as negative correlations between conventionality and an interest in the arts, negative correlations between femininity and an interest in science, positive correlations between humorous and an interest in nature/adventure/medicine, and positive correlations between manipulativeness and an interest in business were identified bringing to light new perspectives on how personality relates to different occupational roles and styles. The findings stress the importance of employing diverse personality and vocational interest measures to provide a more holistic view of associations between personality and career preferences. Limitations and future research are discussed.