Occupational Role Development: The Changing Determinants of Outcomes for the Individual
研究追踪了医师助理从毕业前一个月到入职五个月的职业角色发展过程，发现角色结果的决定因素随时间变化，并识别出四种因果模式。
This research examined the development of an occupational role from one month before the role incumbent's graduation from training to five months into the first job. Kahn et al.'s (1964) theory of ""expectation-generated role stress" provided a conceptual framework for the development of a causal model of role development. A national sample of 181 physicians' assistants (PAs) and their supervising physicians reported by questionnaire on actual and expected PA task performance and participation in decision making at three points during the period of interest. Task data were used to derive three measures of objective role ambiguity and conflict. In addition, PAs provided data on perceived role ambiguity and conflict and attitudes about work, A path analytic technique was applied to the model to examine changes over time. Results suggest that, during the first months of employment, the role occupant passes through different stages of development, during which the determinants of outcomes change. This notion of changing causal structure was supported by the identification of four casual patterns of outcomes, the changing strength of prediction models, and the changing effects of discrepancies between pre-job expectation and on-the-job reality. Role-development stages are discussed in terms of rational and emotional processes, and implications for theory, research, and practice are proposed.