Career Interests, Self-Efficacy, and Personality as Antecedents of Career Exploration

Career interests and self-efficacy (using J. L. Holland's realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional types for both) and the big five personality dimensions (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) were used to predict college students' career exploration behaviors approximately 18 months later. Among 113 college students, none of the predictors was associated with subsequent environmental exploration. However, after controlling for gender and year in school, five of six interest types, one self-efficacy type, and two personality dimensions were associated with subsequent self-exploration. Whereas realistic, artistic, and conventional interests; artistic self-efficacy; and openness were positively associated with self-exploration, investigative and enterprising interests and extraversion were negatively associated with such exploration. Implications for theory, research, and intervention are presented.