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Sex Roles, Vol. 12, Nos. 3/4, 1985

The Development of a Taxonomy of Career Competencies for Professional Women Gall Hackett 2 University o f California, Santa Barbara

Nancy E. Betz and Maxene S. Dory The Ohio State University

The purpose o f this study was to develop a taxonomy o f the competencies necessary to women's pursuit o f professional-level, especially academic, careers. During the first phase o f the study two research activities, a review o f literature in the areas o f career development, career counseling, and the psychology o f women, and a semistructured "'critical incidents" interview with each o f 5Ofemale faculty members f r o m a large midwestern university, resulted in a list o f 620 career-relevant behaviors and skills. This pool o f career compe,'encies was then examined by three counseling psychologists, and a classification scheme to describe the data was developed. Finally, raters attemp/ed to assign the original competency items to the proposed categories in order to validate the taxonomy. The final, refined version o f the taxonomy is presented, and the utility o f these results for counseling and research in the area o f women's career development is discussed.

Writers and researchers in the area of vocational psychology are increasingly recognizing the inadequacy of available conceptual models of women's vocational behavior (Fitzgerald & Crites, 1980; Osipow, 1983; Vetter, 1973). Present theories of career development, based primarily on JThis research was supported by grant R03MH35687-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Anne Crimmings, Sally Hardesty, Deborah Konitsney, and Karen Taylor. A previous version of this manuscript was presented as part of a symposium entitled "New Research Directions in Vocational Psychology" at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C., August 1982. 2Requests for reprints should be sent to Gall Hackett, Counseling Psychology Program, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106. 393 0360 0025/85/0200-0393504.50/0 ,~, 1985Plenum PublishingCorporation

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studies of men and boys, have not been able to effectively explain the more complex and elusive career development of women. What is needed is a unifying conceptual model of women's career development capable of integrating existing knowledge, generating testable research hypotheses, and guiding intervention efforts. Although there is as yet no such grand model, efforts at theorybuilding have begun. Hackett and Betz (1981), for example, have suggested the applicability of social-learning theory, and especially Bandura's selfefficacy theory, to the conceptualization, understanding, and modification of women's career development. Bandura (1977) has postulated that behavior and behavior change are initiated primarily by expectations of personal efficacy, i.e., the expectations or beliefs that one can successfully perform a given behavior. Efficacy expectations determine whether or not behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long behavior will be sustained in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences (Bandura, 1977; 1982). Bandura's concept of self-efficacy has been applied primarily to the treatment of various phobic syndromes in clinical settings, but recent extensions to other clinical and counseling concerns have demonstrated the utility of self-efficacy theory (Bandura & Schunk, 1981; Condiotte & Lichtenstein, 1981; Kazdin, 1979; Schunk, 1981). Initial efforts at exploring the role of self-efficacy expectations in women's career development have been supportive of Hackett and Betz's (1981) hypotheses. The fundamental assumption of this self-efficacy approach to women's career development is that many career-related problems faced by women may be due to low or weak self-efficacy expectations. Creating and successfully pursuing career options necessitates a variety of coping behaviors; for example, skills in generating alternatives, gathering accurate information about oneself as well as potential career options, and goal setting. Other general coping behaviors include assertiveness and the ability to take the initiative. Specific behaviors necessary to particular career options are probably infinite in number and variety but may include behaviors oriented toward the acquisition of" important educational or occupational skills such as quantitative, technical, supervisory, or leadership skills. If individuals lack expectations of personal efficacy in one or more career-related behavioral domains, behaviors critical to effective and satisfying choices, plans, and achievements are less likely to be initiated and, even if initiated, less likely to be sustained when obstacles or negative experiences are encountered. While low self-efficacy expectations undoubtedly affect the career behavior of men as well as women, the continuing limited and disadvantaged position of women in the labor force and the limited range of career options from which most women choose is hypothesized to be due, at least in part, to differential expectations of self-efficacy among women vs.

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men (Hackett & Betz, 1981). Efficacy expectations are derived from experience; the typical process of sex-role socialization of females in our culture works against women developing high levels of efficacy expectations with regard to crucial career-relevant behaviors and skills. From this perspective, low or weak expectations of self-efficacy are viewed as a major means by which barriers to women classified as internal (e.g., Harmon, 1977) are manifested in career-related behaviors and choices. External barriers to women, such as discrimination, sexual harassment, or lack of support systems, represent obstacles which require strong self-efficacy expectations to surmount. Thus, self-efficacy theory is considered relevant to all aspects of women's career development, and the theory provides a perspective from which to examine and ultimately guide intervention efforts capable of facilitating that development. In the first empirical investigation of the applicability of self-efficacy theory to women's career development, Betz and Hackett (1981) examined the relationship between self-efficacy expectations and occupational choice. They found that career-related self-efficacy expectations were significantly correlated with the occupational alternatives considered by women and men. Furthermore, consistent and significant sex differences as a function of the traditionality of occupational field were discovered. Women's selfefficacy expectations were higher with respect to traditionally-female occupations, e.g., secretary, and men's self-efficacy expectations were higher with respect to occupations that are traditionally dominated by men (e.g., engineer). The results of this investigation supported Hackett and Betz's (1981) hypothesis that the level and strength of career-related self-efficacy expectations differ by sex and that these sex differences in self-efficacy are related to the differences in the occupational choices of women and men. Further support for the self-efficacy approach was provided by the results of related investigations of math competence, mathematics-related self-efficacy, and the consideration of math-related majors and careers. Hackett and Betz (Note 1) reported that mathematics self-efficacy was highly predictive o f the choice of a mathematics-related major in college; sex differences in math self-efficacy in favor of males were also found and these corresponded to sex differences in math-related major choices. In a path analysis of the data in the Hackett and Betz study, Hackett's (Note 2) findings also supported the major mediational role of self-efficacy expectations in the choice of mathematics-related careers. Studies yielding similar findings have been conducted in several other occupationally-related behavioral domains (e.g., chemistry, Kerns, Note 3), the specific job duties of nurses, physicians, elementary school teachers, and college professors (Ayres-Gerhart, Note 4), career decision-making (Taylor & Betz, 1983), leadership behaviors (Konitsney, Note 5), and independence-related behaviors (Hardesty, Note 6).

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Although the results of each of these studies supported the utility of the concept of career-related self-efficacy expectations to the understanding of women's career development, more research is needed to establish the applicability of the self-efficacy construct to other career-related domains. However, further research on the self-efficacy model is hindered by the lack of knowledge of the major behavioral domains upon which research and intervention efforts should be focused. In other words, behavioral domains such as mathematics and decision-making provide relatively obvious loci for the study of women's self-efficacy expectations and their relationships to behavioral competence, but it is not at all clear what other career-relevant domains are important to women's successful pursuit of various careers. Furthermore, in order to assess self-efficacy expectations, concrete stimulus behaviors must first be identified. Self-efficacy is measured by asking individuals to indicate whether or not they can perform a given task or behavior. Thus, systematic identification of general domains of careerrelevant behaviors and the specific behaviors, skills, and competencies that comprise each behavioral domain was viewed as the next step in the development of a self-efficacy approach to women's career development. The purposes of the present study then, were: (a) to identify those behaviors and skills that are important to women's professional-level career development, and (b) to organize the resulting pool of "career competencies" into a logical classification scheme or t a x o n o m y that could be used to determine the direction of further research on the self-efficacy approach to women's career development.

METHOD The following section describes the two major phases of the development of the t a x o n o m y of career competencies for professional women. The objective of the first phase, i.e., the generation of a set of behaviors, skills, and competencies facilitative of women's professional-level career development, was accomplished through two major research activities: (a) a review of the literature in the areas of career development, career counseling, and the psychology of women; and (b) interviews with selected groups of professional women. The second phase consisted of classifying the pool of career competencies that were generated during the first phase into a comprehensive classification scheme or t a x o n o m y of career competencies for professional women.

Phase I: Generation of Competency Items Competency items were generated through a review of the literature in the areas of career development, career counseling, and the psychology of

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women and through interviews with professional women. Regarding the former method of item generation, articles in the relevant areas were reviewed and the behaviors, skills or competencies postulated or empirically demonstrated to be important to women's career development were identified. The second method of item generation, i.e., interviews with professional women, followed the procedure described in the following sections. Fifty women pursuing an academic career at the time of the study were interviewed. Academic women were chosen because (a) they have entered a field that continues to be dominated by men and are thus pursuing a nontraditional career; and (b) they represent a range of fields or disciplines, and thus were able to provide a diversity of career-related skills and behaviors relevant to women's career development. In order to systematically sample the range of academic disciplines, a stratified random-sampling procedure was employed. A total of 50 women were selected from a list of all female faculty at a large midwestern university. Ten subjects were randomly chosen to represent each of the five levels of a science-related continuum suggested by Goldman and Hewitt (1976). The science-nonscience continuum was selected because it also directly relates to the degree of traditionality of the discipline; academic fields having greater emphasis on science are less likely to be pursued by women than are those with little or no emphasis on science (Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, 1973; Morlock, 1973; Patterson, 1973). Disciplines illustrative of the greatest emphasis on science include physics and chemistry, while those representing the least emphasis on science include art and English. This sample was not, however, intended to be representative of all professional women. An effort to capture the diversity of women's professional-level career experiences was made, but no attempt at adequately sampling the population of professional women was considered due to the explora~tory nature of the study. Subjects were first contacted by letter; the letter provided a brief introduction to the purposes of the study, asked if they would consent to an hour-long interview, and informed subjects that they would receive a follow-up phone call from the investigators. During the subsequent phone conversation a time for the interview was scheduled if the faculty member agreed to participate. Another mailing followed the phone conversation for subjects who had scheduled interviews: the letter confirmed the place, date, and time of the interview and summarized the major topics that would be covered so that participants had time to reflect on their responses prior to the interview. Faculty who declined to participate were replaced by another randomly selected subject from the same science level. Sixty-eight percent of the female faculty contacted were eventually interviewed. Interview Format. A semistructured interview format, derived from Flanagan's (1954) "critical incident" technique, was employed. Since the ultimate objective of the study was to identify important career-related

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behaviors or skills, the interview had to be relatively open-ended yet also produce rather specific, discrete, behavioral, career-related competencies. The one-hour time constraint, employed to encourage the participation of already overburdened women, also influenced the format choice. An advanced doctoral student in counseling psychology who had received extensive training in interviewing and counseling skills served as interviewer for all subjects. Each interview began with a request for a brief summary of the participant's career development and self-estimates of the subject's degree of "success" in her chosen career. Each subject was then asked to identify one or more "critical incidents," that is, incidents which were pivotal in her career development. For each incident identified, the interviewer asked the participant to elaborate on the ways in which the participant herself influenced the incident or situation, either positively or negatively. The object of this line of questioning was to employ the concrete situations identified by the faculty member to generate a list of specific behaviors or skills that facilitated or impeded success. The interviewer kept each respondent on task, and urged each person to be as concrete, specific, and behavioral as possible in her descriptions of situations. At the end of the interview each subject was asked for an overall summary of the behaviors that were crucial to her career success. The complete interview format is presented in Table I. All interviews were taperecorded. Participants were provided with a more complete description of the aims and purposes of the study after the interview. Data Compilation and Analysis. As a result of the review of relevant literature in the areas of career development, career counseling, and the psychology of women, an extensive list of career-relevant behaviors and skills were identified and compiled on index cards. In order to analyze the interview data, each interview tape was reviewed twice by the investigators. As with the literature review, career-related behaviors and skills were isolated and recorded on index cards. This activity resulted in a pool of 657 career-related competencies. Selected examples of the types of behaviors that were included in this initial pool of items are as follows: "Turned down a job offer that she wasn't totally satisfied with"; "Complained when salary inequities were discovered"; "Asked a professor for the academically related support she needed"; "Learned how to write well"; "Through volunteering for committee work, got herself known by people in national professional organizations"; and "Started a support group of other female students when she was in graduate school."

Phase II." Taxonomy Development and Refinement The purpose of the second phase of the project was to develop a classification system for the competencies important to women's career suc-

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Table I. Interview Format for the Critical Incidents Interview A.

Would you please briefly summarize your career development to this point? Describe your present position and what that involves.

B.

How satisfied are you with your career7 According to your own personal definition of success, how successful are you in your chosen career?

C.

Critical Incidents

What I'd like you to do now is to think back over your career and identify one or more incidents/situations/events/experiences that you feel were critical to your career development. By "critical incident" I mean something that importantly influenced where you are today, either positively or negatively. 1. For each incident ask the following: What was the specific incident/event/experience? Describe your behavior in that situation. How did you feel then? What were you thinking? Describe the behaviors of others in that situation. Describe the outcome of the situation. 2. Summarize the things that you did, that is, your behaviors or responses, that had an impact, positive or negative, on your career development. 3. Can you identify any behaviors or responses that were absent or inadequate in some way, that could have influenced the outcome of the situation? In other words, was there anything that you could have done differently to influence the situation positively7 D.

Summary

Please summarize the behaviors/skills and/or competencies that you feel have facilitated your achievements so far. Please surr,marize the areas in which you feel deficient; that is, identify the behaviors/skills/competencies in which you feel you have deficits, that have limited your options or affected your ability to pursue and reach your goals.

cess in p r o f e s s i o n a l - l e v e l , p a r t i c u l a r l y a c a d e m i c , careers. T h i s o b j e c t i v e was a c c o m p l i s h e d by h a v i n g r a t e r s e x a m i n e the p o o l o f b e h a v i o r a l c o m p e t e n c i e s g e n e r a t e d in t h e first p h a s e o f t h e r e s e a r c h a n d c o n s t r u c t i n g a t a x o n o m y o f c a r e e r c o m p e t e n c i e s to c l a s s i f y the i d e n t i f i e d b e h a v i o r s a n d skills. I n o r d e r to s p e c i f y t h e c a t e g o r i e s o f t h e t a x o n o m y , t h r e e c o u n s e l i n g p s y c h o l o g i s t s i n d e p e n d e n t l y r e v i e w e d t h e i t e m s in the d a t a p o o l , classified these items into related groupings, and then created a classification scheme, i n c l u d i n g c a t e g o r y labels, t h a t d e s c r i b e d the d a t a . A f t e r all t h r e e r a t e r s h a d d e v e l o p e d t h e i r s y s t e m s t h e c l a s s i f i c a t i o n s c h e m e s w e r e c o m p a r e d a n d integ r a t e d i n t o o n e t a x o n o m y c o n s i s t i n g o f e i g h t m a j o r c a t e g o r i e s as well as n u m e r o u s s u b c a t e g o r i e s . D i f f e r e n c e s a m o n g t h e raters w e r e few; t h e independently derived systems were very similar. In o r d e r to assess t h e utility a n d v a l i d i t y o f the n e w l y d e r i v e d taxo n o m y , t h e o r i g i n a l p o o l o f b e h a v i o r s a l o n g w i t h a d e s c r i p t i o n o f t h e taxo n o m y w e r e g i v e n to three o t h e r r a t e r s . T h e s e r a t e r s , a d v a n c e d d o c t o r a l s t u d e n t s in c o u n s e l i n g p s y c h o l o g y , w e r e a s k e d to assign e a c h i t e m to t h e app r o p r i a t e c a t e g o r y , a n d to i n d i c a t e i t e m s f o r w h i c h c a t e g o r y a s s i g n m e n t was p r o b l e m a t i c . P r o b l e m s in a s s i g n i n g i t e m s a r o s e e i t h e r b e c a u s e t h e i t e m

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could be appropriately assigned to more than one category or because no category provided seemed appropriate. After independently assigning items to categories, an overall interrater agreement of 53% was obtained. Therefore, agreement on the appropriate category for each item was achieved on little over half of the items. The percentage of agreements for each category ranged from 34% to 71%. Finally, the investigators worked with the raters in identifying problems in classification and assignment in order to refine the taxonomy. The categories for which interrater agreement was low were examined with particular care. No modification in the eight major categories of the taxonomy were made; minor changes were made in some of the subcategories, e.g., combining or eliminating subcategories. Stems for which there was disagreement over assignment were discussed; if a consensus regarding assignment was reached, the problematic item was placed in the appropriate category, but if disagreements continued the item was either eliminated or rephrased and then assigned to a category. Almost all items were ultimately assigned as a result of this process.

RESULTS Table II presents the final revision of the taxonomy of career competencies for professional women. As shown in the tables, the taxonomy contains eight major categories of career-related competencies. Each major category is further divided into two or more subcategories, and the subcategories are further defined and illustrated by examples from the interview data. The first two categories of the final taxonomy describe two general areas of competency that were mentioned as important by all or nearly all of the faculty women interviewed. Category 1, "Communication Skills," encompasses basic writing and speaking skills, i.e., the ability get across one's ideas. Included under this category are general verbal comunication skills, the ability to use words concisely and selectively, and the ability to speak well in front of groups via either prepared speeches or extemporaneously. Skills included under Category 2, "Interpersonal Skills," go beyond the Category 1 skills of expressing oneself effectively to include the ability to relate to individuals and groups. Expressing and responding to anger and criticism, the ability to establish rapport with individual colleagues and in groups, the ability to express attitudes and opinions, and the ability to confront and effectively respond to sexist behavior are all competencies found under this category. Competencies covered in these first two categories are basic to success in most or all professional careers and are thus most likely to generalize well to other professional occupations. Category 3, "Political Skills," includes behaviors and skills that aid faculty women in successfully negotiating the politics of academia. First

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Table II. A T a x o n o m y of Career Competencies for Professional Women

1. Communication Skills A. Verbal skills Ex. Expresses herself well Uses words effectively B. Public speaking skills Ex. Active in debating Thinks easily "on her feet" C. Writing skills Ex. Writes concisely Enjoys writing 2. Interpersonal[ Skills A. Handling negative responses from others Ex. Handles anger, criticism well Doesn't get defensive Uses h u m o r to de-fuse tense situations B. Expressing anger Ex. Able to calm herself down "Practices" before responding C. Relating to people Ex. Demonstrates a sense of h u m o r D. Relating to men as colleagues Ex. Exhibits tact, diplomacy Behaves "professionally" at all times E. Interpersonal assertiveness Ex. Expresses views, opinions F. Handling sexist behavior and attitudes Ex. Understands sexism G. Finding support Ex. Promotes women Works to support other women Established support groups 3. Political Skills A. Knowledge of the "system" Ex. Negotiates own salary Figures out "rules" and works with them B. Anticipating consequences of actions Ex. Anticipates consequences of actions Thinks ahead Looks at alternatives C_

Promoting oneself Ex. "Blows her own horn" Changes feminine response set for verbal modesty Ex. Develops strategies to get work known Tries to get to know people who have power

E.

F.

Visibility behaviors Ex. Goes to conferences Present papers Volunteers for committees Promoting women Ex. Encourages faculty support of women's professional activities Forms caucuses and political pressure groups Supports women students Supports women who challenge the system

4. Organizational Skills A. Chairing committees Ex. Asks for clear delegation of authority B. Taking initiative in groups Ex. Assumes leadership role if necessary C. Administrative skills Ex. Delegates responsibility Acquires administrative/ managerial skills 5. General-Career Planning and Management Skills A. Time management skills Ex. Takes time for herself Knows her own good working hours Uses "good" hours productively B. Decision-making skills Ex. Gets necessary information Looks at all relevant alternatires C. Organizational skills Ex. Sets priorities Plans work systematically D_ Other Ex. Able to say "NO" and not feel guilty about it 6. Career-Advancement Skills A. Initiative in creating and taking advantage of opportunities Ex_ Searches out assistance needed B. Risk-taking behavior Ex. Willing to try new things, even when afraid C. Protecting rights and pursuing valued goals Ex. Asks for help, information Complains when necessary Objects to discrimination or poor treatment

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E.

F.

Persistence/Tenacity Ex. Persists in the face of obstacles Doesn't take "no" for an answer Willingness to change one's situation to fit aspirations/goals Ex. Quits job when refused a deserved promotion Quits job when treated unfairly Prioritizing career Ex. Behaves in ways that reflect prioritization of career Performs national job search despite husband's objections

7, Job-specific skills A. Knowledge of subject matter B. Area-specific skills Ex. Dance skills for dance instructor Creative writing skills for English Professor C. Teaching skills Ex. Pedagogical skills Concerned about students Excited about subject Generates enthusiasm D. Writing skills Ex. Technical writing E. Research skills Ex. Methodological knowledge F. Quantitative skills Ex. Computer, statistical skills G. Publication skills Ex. Knows publication process H. Research creativity Ex. Develops innovative ideas I. Funding, grant-writing skills Ex. Knows funding sources 8. Adaptive Cognitive Strategies A. Positive self-talk Ex. Doesn't accept responsibility for problems that aren't her fault

B.

C.

D.

E.

F. G.

Presumes she can succeed Uses self-talk such as "1 know 1 am good and that 1 can do this" Coping with rejection, failure, setbacks Ex. Doesn't take things personally Learns from mistakes Accepts some mistakes as inevitable Realistic and internal selfappraisal Ex. Content at making small contributions to large problems Credits self for successful performance Judges own work objectively Doesn't allow herself to feel guilty when not working Reinterpreting situations productively Ex. Expects to enjoy herself during job interviews Views risks as potential sources of gain as well as potential failure Views unknown as intriguing vs. frightening Inhibiting negative self-talk Ex. Interrupts critical self-evaluation-when it is counterproductive Self-acceptance Ex. Relies on her own evaluation rather than other's opinions Coping with sex-role expectations Ex. Resists pressure to get married and raise children Re-evaluates traditional roles and expectations and makes her own choices Rejects guilt over career/ mother role conflict

and f o r e m o s t , a basic a w a r e n e s s or k n o w l e d g e o f h o w the system w o r k s s e e m s t o b e n e c e s s a r y , a c c o r d i n g t o t h e i n t e r v i e w e e s in this s t u d y . O t h e r skills p r e r e q u i s i t e t o t h i s t a s k are: t h e a b i l i t y t o a n t i c i p a t e t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f o n e ' s a c t i o n s , t h a t is, h a v i n g e n o u g h k n o w l e d g e a n d f o r e s i g h t to b e a b l e to p r e d i c t t h e s h o r t - a n d l o n g - t e r m e f f e c t s o f o n e ' s b e h a v i o r ; t h e a b i l i t y t o p r o m o t e o n e s e l f o r , as o n e i n t e r v i e w e e p u t it, i g n o r i n g t h e f e m i n i n e

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response set for verbal modesty; getting to know the right people, including developing strategies to get oneself and one's work known by people who hold power; visibility behaviors such as going to conferences and giving papers; and promoting women, i.e., encouraging faculty support of women's professional activities, supporting female graduate students, and joining women's political groups within and outside o f the university. "Organizational Skills" comprise Category 4. Most of the skills listed here are related to organizational and leadership behaviors specific to academic settings such as chairing committees, taking initiative or leadership in groups, and administrative skills, especially skills in delegating responsibility and "freeing up" one's time. Interestingly, behaviors and competencies included under this category were nmch more likely to be derived from the literature review than from the interviews. Interviewees rarely mentioned these types of skills. Category 5, "General Career-Planning and Management Skills," includes all those competencies relevant to the initial career choice and consequent implementation of career plans. Decision-making skills, i.e., behaviors relevant to all aspects of the decision-making process such as generating alternatives and information-gathering, are encompassed by this category, as are general "management" skills, e.g., time management and organizational skills. This subcategory of "organizational skills" differs from the major category of Organizational Skills previously described in that the subcategory 5 organizational skills refer to competent management of the requirements of one's own job, whereas the Category 4 Organizational Skills refer more directly to administrative and managerial competencies, i.e., supervising or working with others. Also included under Category 5 is the subcategory "other." The skill mentioned by almost all interviewees was the ability to say no - and not to feel guilty about it. This was evidently quite problematical for the faculty interviewed in this study, and was almost unanimously deemed a vital competency to acquire. "Career-Advancement Skills," Category 6, refers to behaviors which serve to move, facilitate, or advance one's career development in some way. This contrasts with the "management" skills identified under Category 5, i.e., those skills that enable the faculty woman to keep things functioning smoothly, but not necessarily to stimulate movement or growth. Many of the competencies falling within the overall category of Career-Advancement Skills" are related to initiating and taking advantage of opportunities, risktaking, and the willingness to change one's situation to fit one's aspirations or expectations, for example, quitting a comfortable job in order to make a risky but potentially more fulfilling career shift. Also included in this category are assertiveness skills related to protecting one's rights and pursuing goals, persistence in the face of obstacles, and behaviors indicative of prioritizing career pursuits. Behaviors in the latter category have largely to do with choices in dual-career situations.

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Category 7, "Job-Specific Skills," includes those competencies which are skills specific to the discipline or field in which the academic works. Of course subject-matter knowledge is necessary, as are skills that are idiosyncratic to the field. Here the distinction is made between knowledge and the ability to implement that knowledge. Dance instructors need not only a formal knowledge of dance technique, but, depending on the courses they teach, also may need a certain level of dance skills. Instructors of counseling need a knowledge of counseling theory, but also need to know how to counsel clients. In addition, the academic needs to know how to teach, write, and conduct research in her discipline. Other skills that the female faculty member may need include quantitative, i.e., statistical skills, publication skills, funding and grant-writing skills, and research creativity, or the ability to develop innovative ideas. The last category, "Adaptive Cognitive Strategies," refers to those cognitive behaviors that contribute to coping successfully with setbacks and failures, as well as what might be termed "psyching up" strategies. An especially crucial cognitive skill encompassed by this category and mentioned by many interviewees is the ability to realistically appraise one's performance and to depend on this realistic self-appraisal rather than to rely on the evaluations of others; a closely related cognitive ability is selfacceptance. The ability to reinterpret situations productively, that is, seeing the positive aspect of negative situations, is also included in this category, as are the ability to inhibit or ignore critical self-evaluations, and the ability to cope with sex-role expectations. This last cognitive strategy was repeatedly mentioned by women who were married and had children.

DISCUSSION The present study resulted in the identification of behaviors and skills necessary to women's successful pursuit of professional-level, especially academic, careers, and the classification of the identified pool of careerrelated behaviors and skills into a taxonomy of career competencies for professional women. The need for this research arose from previous research on self-efficacy theory. In order to advance research on Hackett and Betz's (1981) self-efficacy approach to women's career development, it was necessary to define empirically the career-relevant behavioral domains upon which self-efficacy research and intervention efforts should be focused. The taxonomy resulting from the present research consisted of eight major categories, each consisting of three or more subcategories. The first two categories, "Communication Skills" and "Interpersonal Skills," encompass competencies that are foundational to any professional career, e.g., communicating with and relating effectively to others.

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Categories 3, 4, and 7 apply more specifically to academic professional careers. Categories 3 and 4, "Political Skills" and "Organizational Skills," refer to behaviors related to negotiating the academic system, e.g., visibility behaviors such as attending professional conferences and presenting papers, and leadership skills such as chairing committees. "Job-Specific Skills" are included under Category 7 and refer to competencies specific to an academician's field of specialization. The fifth and sixth categories contain competencies having to do with a professional's overall career development. Specifically, the fifth category "General Career-Planning and Management Skills," includes all behaviors related to career choice and consequent implementation of career plans. "Career-Advancement Skills," Category 6, includes behaviors which serve to facilitate or advance one's career development. The last category, that of "Adaptive Cognitive Strategies," refers to those cognitive behaviors that contribute to coping successfully with various failures and setbacks, e.g., "positive self-talk" and "realistic and internal self-appraisal." In addition to the categories of career competencies in the taxonomy that may be relevant to any professional, male or female, results were also obtained that were especially relevant to women. In fact, one half of the categories contained career-related competencies relating directly to female professionals. For example, under the category of "Interpersonal Skills" there are subcategories having to do with relating to men as colleagues, handling sexist behavior, and finding support from other women. Likewise, under the "Political Skills" category there is a subcategory of competencies labeled "promoting women," which includes supporting women students, encouraging faculty support of women's professional activities, and forming women's caucuses and political pressure groups. As stated previously, the importance of this taxonomy lies in the fact that it is the first attempt at empirically identifying career-related behaviors and skills important to women's pursuit of professional-level careers. Until recently, most research on vocational behavior has addressed men's career development. Certainly some of this research is relevant to women as well yet, as evidenced by the present research, there are also issues and problems idiosyncratic to women's career-related behavior. The subcategories of the taxonomy that apply exclusively to women have already been mentioned, e.g., handling sexist behavior. However, even some items of the taxonomy which could ostensibly apply to both sexes are experienced differently by women than by men. For example, due to differential socialization experiences, availability of mentors, and other advantages, a career competency such as "knowledge of the academic system" may be acquired and experienced very differently by men than by women. Similarly, some of the competencies listed in the taxonomy may in actuality

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be very different tasks according to the sex of the academician. Chairing a committee composed primarily of men, for example, would require certain basic skills regardless of sex, but female committee chairs might face additional obstacles that men in the same position would not face. An example of this would be the tendency on the part of m a n y male professors to view women as less competent than men, a situation requiring a female chair to go to greater lengths to gain and maintain respect in a leadership role than her equally competent male colleagues. In addition to its importance in identifying crucial career competencies for professional women, the t a x o n o m y also provides empirical validation of the directions that should be taken in researching the role of selfefficacy expectations in women's career development. Research on this topic has already addressed such career-related behaviors as occupational choice (Betz & Hackett, 1981), career decision-making (Taylor & Betz, 1983), and mathematics (Betz & Hackett, 1983; Hackett & Betz, Note 1), to name just a few cases. However, the dependent variables focused upon in these investigations were derived rationally. The t a x o n o m y identifies empirically derived behavioral domains important to women's career development that can be used to guide further research and intervention efforts. Another research use of the t a x o n o m y is related to measurement. Selfefficacy assessment requires the identification of concrete, stimulus behaviors within general career-relevant behavioral domains. In other words, self-efficacy is measured by asking individuals to indicate whether they can perform a specific task or behavior. Thus, the t a x o n o m y provides not only the general behavioral domains upon which self-efficacy research should focus, but also the particular skills and competencies within the broader behavioral domains that allow self-efficacy assessment measures to be developed. The present research was exploratory in nature, a guide to future investigations and intervention efforts and, in fact, research based upon the taxonomy results has already begun. Betz and Hackett (Note 7) have operat~onalized one category of the taxonomy, that of "Career-Advancement Skills," in an attempt to develop a prototypical assessment procedure for these specific career-related self-efficacy expectations. Betz and Hackett (Note 7) view the development of these career-related self-efficacy assessment procedures as a necessary prerequisite to evaluating interventions designed to enhance women's self-efficacy expectations with respect to the career competencies identified in the taxonomy. Such interventions might include information giving, modeling, behavioral rehearsal, anxiety reduction, and other counseling-related strategies focused upon any of the career competencies or behavioral domains from the taxonomy. In employing the taxonomy, however, several cautions are in order. First, the sample was limited and biased. Only academic women were interviewed, and these women all came from the same university. Replication

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and validation of the findings of this study at other institutions would be heuristic. Second, and related to the first situation, this was not a representative sample of all occupations, or even all professional-level occupations. Women with positions in, for example, business and industry, would surely have emphasized different skills than academic women. Third, no effort was made to guarantee the representativeness of items within categories. Interviews were conducted with the goal of understanding the interviewee and accurately identifying important career-related competencies. The interviews were not designed to sample each respondent's career-development history in order to extract all career-relevant skills nor was an effort made, when deriving the taxonomy, to in any way weight the categories in terms of their relative importance. And last, although this taxonomy has been developed specifically to describe competencies important to women's career development, it is not suggested that many of the skills are not also applicable to men. For purposes of this research, however, the issue of generalizability to a male sample was not addressed. Finally, because the emphasis in this study has been on personal skills and competencies, it may be easy to lose sight of the fact that women's career development occurs in a social context, and that there are numerous external barriers in our society to women's successful pursuit of certain occupational goals (Harmon, 1977; U.S. Women's Bureau, 1975). Furthermore, career-related competencies, along with efficacy expectations regarding those career competencies, develop as a result of socialization experiences. Bandura (1977, 1982) does not consider self-efficacy to be a personality trait; efficacy expectations and behavioral competencies can be modified as a function of varions experiences. Thus, although women may be disadvantaged in their career pursuits due to their socialization and societal barriers to these pursuits, changes still can be effected. Ultimately, this line of research could lead to systematic interventions at all educational levels that are designed to promote career competencies as well as realistic career-related self-efficacy expectations with respect to these career competencies.

REFERENCE NOTES 1~. Hackett, G., & Betz, N. E. Mathematicsself-efficacy expectations, math performance, and the consideration o f math-related majors. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Education Research Association, New York, March 1982_ 2. Hacken, G. Mathematics self-efficacy and the consideration of math-related majors: A preliminary path model. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, August 1981. 3. Kerns, E. Chemistry self-efficacy and its relationship to the avoidance o f chemistry-related majors and careers. Undergraduate honors thesis, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, June 1981.

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4. Ayres-Gerhart, A. Self-efficacy expectations with respect to occupationally-specific behaviors. Paper presented as part of a symposium entitled "Applications of Self-Efficacy Theory to Women's Career Development," Divisions 17, 15, and 35, Eighty-ninth annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, August 1981. 5. Konitsney, D. A. Self-efficacy of perceived performance of leader behaviors under various group sex compositions: Toward an understanding of sex differences in leadership. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, December 1981. 6. Hardesty, S. A. The relationships of self-efficacy expectations and performance self-esteem to career salience and career choices. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, June 1981. 7. Betz, N. E., & Hackett, G. Behavioral competence and self-efficacy expectations with respect to career advancement skills. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C., August 1982.

REFERENCES Bandura, A. Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 1977, 84, 191-215. Bandura, A. Self-efficacy mechanisms in human agency. American Psychologist, 1982, 37, 122-147. Bandura, A,, & Schunk, D, H. Cultivating competence, self-efficacy, and intrinsic interest through proximal self-motivation. Journal o f Personality and Social Psychology, 1981, 41, 586-598. Betz, N. E., & Hackett, G. The relationship of career-related self-efficacy expectations to perceived career options in college women and men. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1981, 28, 399-410. Betz, N. E_, & Hackett, G. The relationship of mathematics self-efficacy expectations to the selection of science-based college majors. Journal of Vocational Behaviol; 1983, 23, 329-345. Carnegie Commission on Higher Education. Opportunities for women m higher education. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973. Condiotte, M. M., & Lichtenstein, E. Self-efficacy and relapse in smoking cessation programs. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1981, 49, 648-658. Fitzgerald, L. F., & Crites, J. O. Toward a career psychology of women: What do we know? What do we need to know? Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1980, 27, 44-62. Flanagan, J. C. The critical incident technique. Psychological Bulletin, 1954, 51, 327-358. Goldman, R. D., & Hewitt, B. N. The scholastic aptitude test "explains" why college men major in science more often than college women. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1976, 23, 50-54. Hackett, G., & Betz, N. E. A self-efficacy approach to the career development of women. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1981, I8, 326-339. Harmon, L. W. Career counseling for women. In E. Rawlings & D. Carter (Eds.), Psychotherapy for women: Treatment toward equality. Springfield, Illinois: C. C. Thomas, 1977. Kazdin, A, S. Imagery elaboration and self-efficacy in the covert modeling treatment of unassertive behavior. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1979, 47, 725-733. Morlock, L. Discipline variation in the status of academic women. In A. Rossi and A. Goldenwood (Eds.). Academic women on the move. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1973. Osipow, S. H. Theories of career development (3rd Ed_). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: PrenticeHall, 1983. Patterson, M. Sex and specialization in academe and the professions. In A. Rossi and A. Goldenwood (Eds.), Academic women on the move. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1973.

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Schunk, D. H, Modeling and attributional effects on children's achievement: A self-efficacy analysis. Journal o f Educational Psychology, 1981, 73, 93-105. Taylor, K. M., & Betz, N. E. Applications of self-efficacy theory to the understanding and treatment of career indecision, Journal o f Vocational Behavior, 1983, 22, 63-81. U.S. Women's Bureau. The myth and the reality Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975, Vetter, L. Career counseling for women. The CouHseling Psychologist, 1973, 4, 54-67.