Vocational Decision Making Among Women: Implications for Organizational Behavior

This paper synthesizes the literature on vocational decision making among women. Anticipatory socialization to adult work roles results in the development of a vocational self-concept, which includes personality, interests, values, perceived capacities, perceived opportunities, and perceived costs. Preferences based on this self-concept guide the job-search process. Expectancy theory is proposed to integrate the findings in the literature, and implications for research are discussed.