Making use of professional development: Employee interests and motivational goal orientations

•Professional development examined using vocational interests and goal orientation.•Continuing education (CE) outcomes of various healthcare professionals examined.•Vocational interests and congruence differentially predict CE behavioral outcomes.•Work-specific goal orientation differentially relates to CE behavioral outcomes.•Work goal orientation mediates between vocational interests and CE outcomes.

Vocational interests and goal orientation (GO) are examined for their potential influences on employees' decisions to engage in professional development and to apply the knowledge and skills gained from development activities in their jobs. Specifically, professional development, in the form of continuing professional education (CE), was examined for a variety of practicing healthcare professionals (N = 183), including physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals in the Midwest United States. Aspects of vocational interest theory (interests and congruence) and GO theory predicted CE outcomes (voluntary participation in CE beyond professional requirements and the application of CE learning at work). Further, employee GO mediated between interests and the application of CE learning at work, providing evidence of a work-specific motivational process linking interests with performance-related behavioral outcomes.