Personality Traits, Vocational Interests, and Career Exploration: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Between American and Hong Kong Students

Abstract

This study compared the pattern of relationships among personality, vocational interests, and career exploration within an integrated framework between 369 American and 392 Hong Kong university students. The first hypothesis predicted differential contributions of the universal and indigenous personality dimensions based on the Cross-cultural (Chinese) Personality Assessment Inventory-2 (CPAI-2) to career exploration of the American and Hong Kong students. The second hypothesis predicted that vocational interests mediated the association between personality and career exploration of the students. Cultural differences were found between the personality predictors for Hong Kong and American students, supporting the first hypothesis. The CPAI-2 indigenous personality dimensions derived in the Chinese cultural context predicted career exploration of Hong Kong students only. The second hypothesis was partially supported: Enterprise interest type mediated the association between Social Potency and career exploration in the Hong Kong sample; Artistic interest type was the mediator in the American sample. The contributions of personality and vocational interests to students’ career exploration, and the implications to cross-cultural career counseling were discussed.