The justification and applicability of career interest assessment tools from a cross-cultural perspective

The subject of the research is the validity and applicability of modern tools for assessing career interests in an intercultural context. The object of the study includes psychometric methods and scales such as RIASEC, SDS, and SII, used for career counseling in various cultural environments. The author examines in detail aspects of the topic such as structural validity, conceptual equivalence, and the influence of cultural factors on diagnostic outcomes. Special attention is given to the issues of localizing Western methods in non-Western countries, the challenges of translation and semantic adaptation of tests, as well as the impact of cultural norms on the interpretation of professional preferences. Examples of successful adaptation in East Asian and Arab countries are also analyzed. The study underscores the need for creating a culturally inclusive diagnostic model and provides practical recommendations for career counselors and HR specialists. The work relies on contemporary data from the fields of cross-cultural psychology and psychometrics. The study employed methods of theoretical analysis, comparative review, and case studies of tool localization. Data from cross-cultural psychometric research, including factor analysis and expert assessment of content validity, were used. The key findings of the conducted research highlight the necessity of adapting Western tools for assessing career interests to the conditions of non-Western cultures, as well as recognizing the limitations of universal models like RIASEC without considering the cultural context. A significant contribution of the author to the research topic is the identification of key methodological risks in cross-cultural testing and the formulation of practical recommendations for the localization of scales. The novelty of the study lies in the systematic analysis of the practice of using diagnostic tools in different countries and the justification of principles for creating culturally inclusive career guidance models. The work emphasizes the importance of semantic and structural equivalence in test adaptation, as well as the significance of developing local professional classifiers. The conclusions drawn contribute to a more accurate and fair assessment of career interests in a global context and can be applied in the practices of counseling, HR management, and educational policy.