The comparative and combined utility of work value and interest data in career counseling with adults

In the present study, a comparative analysis was performed, the focus of which was prediction of job satisfaction: what is the contribution of work values over and beyond what is available from vocational interests? The comparative and combined analysis was informed by person-environment theoretical formulations and instrumentation from Holland's 1985 theory of careers for interests and from Dawis and Lofquist's 1984 theory of work adjustment for work values. Using work value correspondence and interest congruence as the independent variables obtained 1 year prior to the job satisfaction data, regression analyses were performed, separately for male (N = 106) and female (N = 119) client samples. The regression results indicated that: (a) work value correspondence accounted for significant portion of the satisfaction variance (4 to 29%) after controlling for interest congruency, (b) interest congruency was a poorer predictor for males than for females, and (c) moderate relationship between congruency and correspondence found for the female sample was not replicated for males. Implications for the use of interest inventories and work value inventories in vocational counseling were discussed.