ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the cross-cultural literature pertaining to vocational interests and its implications for global businesses and focuses on how national and cultural contexts influence the structure of vocational interests and impact key correlates of interests. It identifies directions for future research that can enhance current understanding of vocational interests’ role in human capital management in a global economy. Consistent with person-environment fit theory, congruence between an individual’s interests and his/her job environment contributes to job and career outcomes. One of the focal questions in cross-cultural research is whether a phenomenon is universal, or is contingent on the culture in which it is enacted. Some structural dissimilarities between American and Japanese college students on this additional dimension imply distinctive views of prestige across cultures. Ability may also be integrated as a dimension of interests. Several studies have been conducted to examine the linkages between vocational interests and personality traits in countries other than the United States.
