Career Self-Efficacy and the Prediction of Work and Home Role Salience

Abstract

This study investigated whether there were gender differences in the relationship between career-related self-efficacy expectations and both work and home role salience. Self-efficacy expectations to perform duties in both male and female-dominated occupations were assessed in 113 students from a large midwestern university. In addition, salience for the work and home roles was explored with Super and Nevill's The Salience Inventory (1986) for both genders. Super and Nevill defined role salience in terms of three dimensions: commitment, participation, and value expectations. Results suggest that self-efficacy in traditionally male-dominated occupations positively predicted commitment to the work role for women but not for men. Previous research was also supported in the finding that women expected to participate more in home-related activities than did men.