VOCATIONAL INTERESTS IN POLISH AND CZECH STUDENTS OF MANAGEMENT WITH REGARD TO GENDER Dominika Ochnik 1 , Ivana Blažková 2 1 University of Opole, Department of Psychology (POLAND) 2 Mendel University in Brno, Department of Regional and Business Economics (CZECH REPUBLIC) Abstract As the faculty of management creates new leaders for business and society, it is important to understand the vocational interests of upcoming leaders, especially that vocational interests are stronger predictor of future vocational success than personality or IQ. The aim of this study is to reveal gender and cultural differences in vocational interests of Polish and Czech students of Management. Vocational interests were measured by The Vocational Potential Inventory (Ochnik, Stala, Rosmus, 2016). The research has been conducted within 222 students of Management in Poland (N = 109) and the Czech Republic (N = 113). There were 154 female students (70%) and 68 male students (30%). Analysis of intensity showed that the profile of Polish and Czech students of management is similar except methodical interests. Both groups gained high scores in pro-social type, medium in leadership and creative type, and low in technical type. Nevertheless, Polish students had higher interests (medium level) compared to Czech students (low level). The two-way ANOVA analysis showed significant although small gender effects, revealing female students as more pro-social but with lower leadership and technical interests. Nationality effect was confirmed for more methodical Polish students compared to Czech students. The in-group differences have been showed. Czech female students were more pro-social compared to Czech male students but Polish female students scored lower in leadership and technical types of vocational interests compared to Polish male students. The research showed small but significant differences in vocational interests of Management students with regard to gender and cultural dimension. The results are explained in The Contextual Model of Vocational Interests. Keywords: vocational interests, students, Management, gender, cultural differences. 1 INTRODUCTION As the faculty of management creates new leaders for business and society, it is important to understand the vocational interests of upcoming leaders, especially that vocational interests are stronger predictor of future vocational success than personality or IQ (Stoll et al., 2017)[1] and job performance (Rounds & Su, 2014 [2]; Van Iddekinge et al., 2011[3]). There is strong evidence that vocational interests are differentiated by gender. Lippa (2001) [4] emphasized that the femininity-masculinity dimension is convergent with People-Things dimension (Prediger, 1999 [5]). Women scored higher in dimensions pertaining to interpersonal dimensions (social type), and men focused upon work with objects (realistic type). The discrepancy was acknowledged as the one which diversifies gender the most from among individual differences (Lubinski, 2000 [6]) and the one which is relatively stable. Women scored higher in vocational interests in the People dimension regardless of age (Holland, Fritzsche, & Powell, 1994 [7]) and in various decades (Fouad, 2007 [8]). The results of the meta-analysis indicate that gender differences in social interests intensify along with participants’ age (Su, Rounds, & Armstrong, 2009 [9]). Theoretical basis for the presented research is Contextual model of vocational interests (Ochnik, 2017 [10]), assuming instability of vocational interests, whose intensity may be shaped by broad cultural factors, such as gender dimension of culture and social expectations manifested in specific gender roles adopted by women and men of all ages. The most external dimension is culture, than Individual factors like personality or entrepreneurial attitude (Ochnik, 2018 [11]). The center of the model consist of social roles based on gender and age. The model introduced the concept of vocational social clock, showing the dynamics of vocational preferences due to age and gender, which are determined by social roles and cultural factors (Ochnik, 2017 [10]; Ochnik & Rosmus, 2016 [12]). Proceedings of EDULEARN19 Conference 1st-3rd July 2019, Palma, Mallorca, Spain ISBN: 978-84-09-12031-4 5226