Abstract
Information integration theory was used to study how qualitatively different job characteristics (salary, work load, and prestige) combine to influence occupational desirability in a task requiring the rating of unidentified occupations. In a second task, subjects were asked to rate overall desirability and component factors for a series of actual occupations. The data were used to generate a graphic scale of desirability for a variety of occupations and to analyze the weighting of factors affecting occupational desirability. “Prestige” was much more important in rating actual occupations than in rating unidentified occupations.
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The authors wish to express their appreciation to Norman H. Anderson and Milton E. Rosenbaum for suggesting the possibility of using information integration methodology to investigate occupational desirability, and special thanks to Thomas M. Ostrom and Martin F. Kaplan for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.
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Gray, M.J., Levin, I.P. Process analysis and scaling of occupational desirability: An example using information integration theory. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 11, 161–164 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336795
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336795