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When personality meets situation: Exploring influences on choice of business major
Author(s) -
BARNOWE J. THAD,
FROST PETER J.,
JAMAL MUHAMMAD
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
journal of occupational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.257
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 2044-8325
pISSN - 0305-8107
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8325.1979.tb00451.x
Subject(s) - situational ethics , affect (linguistics) , psychology , personality , social psychology , orientation (vector space) , field (mathematics) , applied psychology , geometry , mathematics , communication , pure mathematics
Students who self‐select a business school education are exposed to many situational influences (teachers, courses, grades, peers, information about job market and salaries) which further affect their career choices. A model of personal specialization distinguishing individuals' affective predispositions toward persons and things in the environment provided four categories of person/thing orientation: person specialist, thing specialist, generalist and non‐specialist. The possibility that person/thing orientation interacts with situational influences to affect choice of business major was tested by examining specific correlations, using as a dependent variable the extent to which the chosen major involves dealing with persons (as opposed to things). Although most correlations were low, the findings support a positive relationship between combinations of situational factors with person/thing orientation and the person involvement of chosen field.