Reliability and Validity of the Career Influence Inventory: A Pilot Study

The purpose of this psychometric study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Career Influence Inventory (CII), an instrument designed to assess perceived influences on career development and planning. The CII was administered to 564 undergraduates from several southwestern United States universities. Results of the exploratory factor analysis with an oblique rotation revealed that six constructs comprised the CII: parent, teacher, and friend influences, negative social events, high school academic experiences and self-efficacy, and ethnic-gender expectations. Findings indicate that the negative social events factor should be viewed as an emerging construct in comprehending career development and planning. The Cronbach's alphas for the six factors ranged from .74 to .91. The moderate correlations among most CII factors suggest the dynamic nature of career influences.