Resource Center: Research Outline

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The Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Work Values in Career Development

Publication:  Career Development Quarterly (2010)

Article: Positive Adolescent Career Development: The Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Work Values

Author:  Hirschi, A.

Research Area:
Career planning; changing career attitudes during a career exploration intervention/education
program implemented in the 8^th grade.

What do we mean when we talk about “work values”?

Intrinsic values – variety at work, helping others, independence, leadership, and responsibility
Extrinsic values – high pay, job security, fast and easy entry to job, leisure time, prestigious work

Sample:
268 European (primarily Swiss-German) 8^th graders (average age of 14) involved in a career awareness and development program.

Measures:
Career Development Inventory (CDI) - career decidedness, planning, and exploration

Research Questions:
From the author: “What is the residualized gain effect of extrinsic and intrinsic work values on positive career development, taking into account sociodemographic factors.”

First, let’s control for (i.e. restrict the influence of) demographic characteristics, such as ethnicity and gender. 

Then, let’s look at extrinsic and intrinsic value judgments separately, because we want to see if there’s a difference between how much each one relates to career development. 

Our goal is to investigate which type of values contribute the most to positive career development.

We already know from previous research that values tend to be stable individual beliefs about what is important; however, is it possible to influence value judgments during a career exploration intervention?  If so, how can this finding be used to improve programs and students’ experiences?

Main Findings and Future Implications

Intrinsic values were more highly related to positive career development than extrinsic values after a year long vocational training program designed to facilitate career exploration and development. 

This research discusses how the role of work values relates to career awareness and suggests how educators and counselors could engage students in a discussion about what is important to them (e.g. high pay versus work-life balance). 

Although both types of values are important to career development, intrinsic values may be overlooked in favor of prestige and pay, especially in the United States. A student-led discussion that sought to identify value differences, by categorizing important work characteristics as either "extrinsic" or "intrinsic", could help students explore what they think will be important to them in a career. 

Reference
     Hirschi, A. (2010). Positive Adolescent Career Development: The Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Work Values. The Career Development Quarterly, 85, 276-287.