A Psychometric Evaluation of Schein's (1985) Career Orientations Inventory. (August 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Leong, Frederick T. L.; Rosenberg, Stanley D.; Chong, SinHui
• Is Part Of: Journal of career assessment. Volume 22:Number 3(2014:Aug.)
• Page Start: 524
• Page End: 538
• Publication Date: 2014-08
• Subjects: careers -- career anchors -- career orientations -- career specialty choices -- psychometric evaluation; Vocational guidance -- Periodicals; 331.702
• DOI: 10.1177/1069072713498685
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1069-0727

Abstract

Since its introduction, Schein's Career Orientations Inventory (COI) has been widely used to assess and advise individuals who are making both initial and specialty career choices. Employed by both practitioners and researchers, the COI was designed to identify the person's "career anchors, " also known as their career identities . Individuals are expected to have the highest job satisfaction and performance when their job specialization matches their career anchors. However, little published research has evaluated the psychometric properties of the COI. To address this gap, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis, calculated the subscale reliabilities, and correlated the career anchors with Holland's career interests to examine its convergent and discriminant validities. In this article, we report on the psychometric properties of the COI based on our sample of 165 midcareer college graduates and make several suggestions on the use and interpretation of the COI.