Scale development of occupational identity and testing model of antecedents and outcome variables of occupational identity

Abstract

The first purpose of this study was to define the construct of occupational identity and develop the scale of occupational identity, the second purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure of occupational identity using exploratory common factor analysis and test the discriminant validity of occupational identity with workplace satisfaction, and third purpose of this study was to test the model of antecedents and outcome variables of occupational identity using confirmatory factor analysis. For fulfilling these purposes, three studies were conducted. Data were gathered from 390 workers in study 1, 505 workers in study 2, 1,115 workers in study 3. As a result, the three-factor structure of occupational identity was stably replicated, although the sample was changed. The occupational identity had discriminant validity with workplace satisfaction. Except for person-occupation fit(a subfactor of occupational identity) had a high correlation with general, occupational satisfaction(a subfactor of workplace satisfaction), other subfactors of occupational identity generally had low correlations with other subfactors of workplace satisfaction. It was found that the occupational identity was derived from occupational reputation, dedication to the occupation, occupational pride, and mission to the occupation. And the occupational identity resulted in the purpose of the worker’s life and intention to continue the worker’s occupation. Based on these results, We made discussions about implications, limitations, and future research tasks.