Sarit Rashkovits
Yezreel Valley College, Israel
Title: Proactive personality and occupational self effi cacy of nursing versus information system students - The moderating role of gender
Biography
Biography: Sarit Rashkovits
Abstract
This study investigates the moderating role of the need to act against the norms in the link between proactive personality and students' Occupational Self- Efficacy (OSE). Women who choose a male dominant occupation or men who choose a female dominant occupation face a situation that actually requires acting against the existing norms. Hence, a three way interaction effect of proactivity, by gender, by gender occupational-dominancy on OSE was tested with a sample of 70 students in a male dominant occupation (information systems), and 127 students in a female dominant occupation (nursing). The results supported this three way interaction model: The effect of proactivity on OSE was significantly stronger for women than for men among the information systems students but not among the nursing students (see fi gure1) Furthermore, additional analysis indicated that there was no significant gender difference in the association between proactivity and OSE among the nursing Muslim students (who do not perceive nursing as feminine), but this association was significantly stronger for men than for women among the other nursing students (see figure2) Hence, the results show that the need to act against the norms moderated the proactive personality – OSE link.