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John Holland's theory of vocational choice has been a dominant one in careers psychology for many years, especially in North America. A key construct in the theory is congruence between person and environment. Yet research has failed to find as strong a link as might be expected between congruence and outcomes such as satisfaction and performance. This could present a major challenge to the theory. Fourteen possible reasons for the weak associations between congruence and outcome measures are identified and discussed under three broad headings: the theory, the research and the world. It is concluded that the most important reasons are (1) that Holland's measures of people and environments partially neglect some important constructs; (2) that environments have not been conceptualized or measured entirely appropriately; and (3) the data that are used in the calculation of congruence indices are insufficiently precise or comprehensive. It is suggested that Holland's theory and associated measures should be developed further, and that the processual elements of it need more attention.
John Holland's theory of vocational choice has for many years been a dominant force in vocational psychology and careers counselling and guidance. It was originally formulated partly on the basis of Holland's experiences as a careers counsellor in the tJSA in the 1950s. It has subsequently developed in significant ways, and the latest version is clearly laid out in Holland (1997). The theory proposes that people and occupational environments can be characterised on the basis of the extent to which they resemble each of six pure types', and that a good match between person and environment will have a number of beneficial outcomes, other things being equal. The types can be depicted in a hexagonal form (see Fig. 1) which approximately represents their degree of similarity to each other. In these senses the theory is more about the structure than the process of decision making. However, Holland also makes a number of propositions about how people and their environments interact over time, and is keen to stress that his theory is not simply a static matching model.
One of Holland's declared intentions is to enable individuals to use his theoiy for themselves, without unnecessary jargon or consumption of skilled counsellor time. A set of self-scored questionnaire-based measures has...