Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships among some concepts of social cognitive career theory. A questionnaire covering career self-efficacy, outcome expectations, vocational preference, and gender role personality was completed by 393 undergraduate students. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that self-efficacy and outcome expectations were useful predictors of interests across 6 vocational domains. In other words, the results suggest that both self-efficacy and outcome expectations play an important role in the process of interests formation among Japanese university undergraduates. The effect of instrumentality and expressiveness on vocational interests was found to be mediated by self-efficacy and outcome expectations. These relations differed, depending on the vocational domain. It is important to be aware that relationships between instrumentality, expressiveness, and interests differ according to the vocational realm. Research on the interests-formation processes should include consideration of the characteristics of each vocational area.
