Holland’s Theory (1997)
Of Vocational Personalities
and Work Environments
Holland’s Theory
 Part
of the theory’s appeal is due
to the simple and intuitively
meaningful premises on which it
is based.
Three fundamental questions:
ONE:
 What characteristics of persons and
environments lead to positive vocational
outcomes (such as satisfying career
outcomes)?
• What characteristics of persons and
environments lead to negative career
outcomes?
Three fundamental questions:
TWO:

What characteristics of persons and
environments leads to career
stability or change over the lifespan?
Three fundamental questions:
THREE:
• What are the most effective ways of
providing assistance to people with
career concerns?
Holland’s underlying premise:

Career choice is an expression of
one’s personality …
– Thus, members of an occupation have
similar personalities and similar
histories.
Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 1 : Most individuals can be
described in terms of their resemblance to
six personality types:
Investigative
Realistic
Artistic
Holland Types
Conventional
Enterprising
Social
Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 1 (Continued):
– Each personality type has a characteristic set
of attitudes and skills to use in response to
problems encountered in the environment, and
– Each encompasses preferences for vocational
and leisure activities, life goals and values,
beliefs about oneself, and problem-solving
style.
Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 1 (Continued):
– Types develop as a “product of a
characteristic interaction among a
variety of cultural and personal forces
including peers, biological heredity,
parents, social class, culture, and the
physical environment” (Holland, 1997,
p. 2)
Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 1 (Continued):
– These experiences lead to an individual’s
preferring some activities over others: the
preferences then develop into strong interests,
which lead to related competencies.
– Individual’s competencies form a specific
“disposition” that allows the individual to
“think, perceive, and act in special ways.
(Holland, 1997, p. 2)
Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 2:
– Environments can
be categorized as
one of six model
types:
Investigative
Realistic
Artistic
Holland Types
Conventional
Social
Enterprising
Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 2:
– The environment’s type is determined
by the dominant type of the individuals
who compose that environment.
– “Where people congregate, they create
an environment that reflects the types
they most resemble” (Holland, 1997, p.
3).
Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 3:
– “People search for environments that will let
them exercise their skills and abilities, express
their attitudes and values, and take on
agreeable problems and roles” (Holland, 1997,
p. 4).
– In a reciprocal manner, environments also
search for people, through activities such as
social interactions and recruitment and
selection practices.
Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 4:
– Personality and environment interact to
produce behavior.
– Knowing an individual’s personality
type and the type of their environment
allows us to make predictions about a
range of possible outcomes, such as
vocational choice, job tenure and
turnover, achievement, and satisfaction.
Holland’s secondary assumptions: