The Comparative Contributions of Congruence and Social Support in Career Outcomes

The authors assessed the relative contributions of social support and interest-- occupation congruence in job satisfaction and tenure. Congruence predicted 13% of the variance in job satisfaction for men, but it was not a significant predictor of job satisfaction for women. Social support accounted for 10% of the variance in job satisfaction for women but was not a significant predictor for men. Neither congruence nor social support predicted tenure. Implications for vocational counseling are discussed. According to Holland's (1985a) theory, the principal predictor of job satisfaction is interest congruence, which is the degree of match between the individual's vocational interests and aspects of their work environment (Assouline & Meir, 1987; Holland, 1985a; Weinrach & Srebalus, 1990). From Holland's perspective, job satisfaction should be the result of a high level of similarity between the individual's interests and the demands of the work environment (Holland, 1985a; Weinrach & Srebalus, 1990). Although job satisfaction in and of itself does not predict job performance, the interaction of satisfaction and ability does predict performance (Varca & Valutis, 1993). According to D. Brown (1990), interest congruence is only one of many factors that predict job satisfaction. Empirical studies have consistently indicated that congruence explains approximately 12% of the variance in job satisfaction (Assouline & Meir, 1987). For example, congruence of career interests and work environment has been significantly related to job satisfaction for teachers, college majors, accountants, biologists, police officers, engineers, nurses, and individuals with disabilities (Jagger, Neukrug, & McAuliffe, 1992). However, an important portion of the variance in job satisfaction remains unexplained. D. Brown (1990) asserted that in addition to congruence, job satisfaction is related to the degree of positive and negative evaluations an individual has for many aspects of his or her job. One way to account for the unexplained variance may be to explore noninterest types of congruence as well as secondary effects of congruence. For example, Adkins, Ravlin, and Meglino (1996) found that congruence among employees' values is associated with higher job satisfaction and performance ratings. Hypothesized reasons for these relationships have included higher levels of social attraction among persons with more congruent values (Byrne, 1971) and more effective communication among more similar workers (Zenger & Lawrence, 1989). On the basis of these findings, it would be reasonable to hypothesize that workers with more similar personalities should experience greater social attraction and better interpersonal communication than those with less similar personalities. Given that many consider Holland codes a valid measure of personality (Spokane, 1990), this would suggest that individuals with greater congruence with their job are likely to experience greater congruence with their colleagues. Also, higher levels of attraction and effective communication in this environment are likely to yield higher levels of social support as a secondary effect of congruence. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine workplace social support in conjunction with congruence as predictors of job satisfaction. For this study, we defined workplace social support as the combined instrumental support, emotional support, and mentoring received from both colleagues and supervisors (Hill, Bahniuk, Dobos, & Rouner, 1989). Research has indicated that workplace social support is related to positive vocational outcomes, including reduced absenteeism and position turnover (Winstead, Derlega, Montgomery, & Pilkington, 1995), increased resistance to burnout (Myung-Yong & Harrison, 1998), and reduced depression and anxiety (El-Bassel, Guterman, Bargal, & Su, 1998; Olson & Shultz, 1994). Additional research has found that workplace social support is positively related to greater job satisfaction (cf. …