The intersection between vocational interests and social, emotional and behavioral skills in school and work

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People differ in both vocational interests and skill mastery levels. Although there is preliminary evidence that interests and skills show specific and moderate relationships when examined over individuals, they are distinct constructs. At the level of the individual, however, people may have the interest, but not the required skill, and vice versa. In this study, we examine the relationships between vocational interests (assessed using LOLA) and skills (assessed using BESSI) in a student sample (N = 1318). For part of the sample, also self and peer ratings on indices of task, contextual, adaptive and learning performance are available. We examine in this subsample the validity of a set of specific skill-interest interactions to predict performance criteria. The discussion will focus on whether we should understand interests and skills as stand-alone effects, or whether they augment or may compensate each other for understanding various work behaviors.

Filip De Fruyt is Senior Full Professor of Differential Psychology and Personality Assessment at Ghent University, Belgium, where he holds the Institute Ayrton Senna Endowed University Chair. His research focuses on personality and vocational assessment, social-emotional skill development, employability, leadership, career advancement and talent development across cultures. A former Director of Studies at Ghent University and Past President of the European Association of Personality Psychology, he is also a founding member of EDULAB21, which supports and evaluates large-scale educational policies in Brazil. He serves on the editorial boards of several leading journals and was elected a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology in 2016. De Fruyt has (co-)authored more than 300 publications and, as of September 2026, has over 31,000 Google Scholar citations and an h-index of 89.

 The visit of prof. Filip De Fruyt is supported by TLU Centre of Excellence in Educational Innovation.