The rivalry between personality and interest in vocational choice: case study of Moroccan students

Abstract

The objective of this research is to investigate the rivalry that can take place between personality and interest in vocational choice regarding Moroccan consumers. Indeed, while the concepts seem similar when applied to research on vocational choice, they measure different dimensions in the consumer decision-making process. Personality seeks to intrinsically identify the dominant traits of each individual, while interest extrinsically measures the preference that this individual shows towards a professional field. To verify this hypothesis, we have undertaken a quantitative study among 277 students in Morocco. We aim to verify whether there exist any overlaps between personality and interest dimensions regarding vocational choice behavior, using canonical correlation analysis. The results discern that extraversion is correlated to the artistic type of interest; agreeableness is correlated to social and entrepreneurial profiles; consciousness is correlated to realistic and conventional profiles; and openness is correlated to conventional, social, and investigative profiles. Neuroticism is not correlated with the first four RIASEC profiles. A discussion of the results and managerial implications is presented at the end.