Cross-cultural exploratory analysis of occupational engagement between Asian American and Caucasian American college students

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the cross-cultural validity of occupational engagement in Asian American college students and to examine its relationship to traditional Asian values and level of acculturation. Five hundred and seventy Asian American and Caucasian American college students completed a 57-item measure of occupational engagement. Exploratory factor analyses yielded a two-factor structure in each sample. In each sample, the respective two-factor structure of occupational engagement was shown to positively correlate with measures of academic achievement and subjective life satisfaction. For the Asian American sample, the construct of occupational engagement demonstrated a positive relationship with traditional Asian values and no significant relationship with level of acculturation. Results from the study yielded two newly developed measures of occupational engagement, the Occupational Engagement Scale-Asian American (OES-AA) and Occupational Engagement-Caucasian American (OES-CA). Subtle differences in the proportion of variance accounted for by each factor of the OES scales were observed, as well as cultural implications for differences found between the two scales. The researcher provides potential explanations for findings that include differences in the work values of Asian Americans and their pragmatic approach to decision-making.