An examination of the dynamic relationship between self-efficacy and performance across levels of analysis and levels of specificity

This research used resource allocation theory to generate predictions regarding dynamic relationships between self-efficacy and task performance from 2 levels of analysis and specificity. Participants were given multiple trials of practice on an air traffic control task. Measures of task-specific self-efficacy and performance were taken at repeated intervals. The authors used multilevel analysis to demonstrate differential and dynamic effects. As predicted, task-specific self-efficacy was negatively associated with task performance at the within-person level. On the other hand, average levels of task-specific self-efficacy were positively related to performance at the between-persons level and mediated the effect of general self-efficacy. The key findings from this research relate to dynamic effects--these results show that self-efficacy effects can change over time, but it depends on the level of analysis and specificity at which self-efficacy is conceptualized. These novel findings emphasize the importance of conceptualizing self-efficacy within a multilevel and multispecificity framework and make a significant contribution to understanding the way this construct relates to task performance.     

Behavioral acculturation and enculturation and psychological functioning among Asian American college students

The purpose of this study was to examine Asian American college students' behavioral acculturation to U.S. cultural norms and behavioral enculturation to Asian cultural norms and their relationships to ratings on measures of cognitive flexibility, general self-efficacy, collective self-esteem, acculturative stress, and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. As hypothesized, the results indicated that both acculturation and enculturation were positively related to the membership dimension of collective self-esteem. Although not hypothesized, the results indicated that acculturation was positively related to cognitive flexibility, general self-efficacy, and the public dimension of collective self-esteem. In addition, enculturation was positively related to the private dimension and the importance of identity dimension of collective self-esteem.     

Job Control and Job Stressors as Predictors of Proactive Work Behavior: Is Role Breadth Self-Efficacy the Link?

Previous research showed that job stressors are positively related to proactive work behavior. This study examines if these relations can be generalized to supervisor-rated proactive behavior and if relations of job stressors (time pressure, situational constraints) and job control with proactive behavior can be explained by role breadth self-efficacy as an underlying mechanism. We used supervisor ratings of proactive behavior (personal initiative, taking charge) from 140 employees working in small and medium-sized companies. Multilevel path analyses supported a partial mediation model. Job control and time pressure were positively related to role breadth self-efficacy, and role breadth self-efficacy was positively related to proactive behavior. Job control had also a direct relation with proactive behavior. The relation between situational constraints and proactive behavior was not significant.     

大学生学习动机的测量及其与自我效能感的关系

以270名大学生为被试,对Amabile等人编制的学习动机量表进行修订以确定其对中国被试的适用性,此外还探讨了大学生学习动机与一般自我效能感及领域专门的自我效能感之间的关系。研究结果表明:(1)学习动机量表可以明确区分成用于测量内生和外生动机的两个分量表,前者包括挑战性和热衷性两个维度,后者包括依赖他人评价、选择简单任务、关注人际竞争和追求回报等四个维度。两个分量表的多种信效度指标都十分理想,表明可用于对中国被试的有关研究。(2)男生的内生动机总分显著高于女生,而在外生动机总分上性别差异不显著。具体来看,男女生在挑战性和依赖他人评价两个维度的得分存在显著差异,男生的挑战性高于女生,而女生比男生更依赖他人评价。(3)被试一般的和领域专门的效能感都与内生动机呈正相关,而与外生动机无关。具体来看,效能感与内生和外生动机各维度中的挑战性、热衷性和关注人际竞争呈正相关,与选择简单任务呈负相关。     

Prior Performance and Goal Progress as Moderators of the Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Performance

Over the last several years, the conventional view of self-efficacy as a positive influence on performance has been called into question. Researchers have identified a negative relationship between self-efficacy and performance when examined via within-person analyses, even in the presence of large positive between-person relationships. The current study proposes that the within-person relationship between self-efficacy and subsequent performance is moderated by one's degree of prior success or failure. Using a multitrial task, support was found for the proposed model. Following poor or substandard performances, self-efficacy was positively related to subsequent performance. However, following more successful prior performances, self-efficacy was negatively related to subsequent performance. Implications of these findings for theory and research on work motivation are discussed.     

Creating flexible work arrangements through idiosyncratic deals

A survey of 887 employees in a German government agency assessed the antecedents and consequences of idiosyncratic arrangements individual workers negotiated with their supervisors. Work arrangements promoting the individualization of employment conditions, such as part-time work and telecommuting, were positively related to the negotiation of idiosyncratic deals ("i-deals"). Worker personal initiative also had a positive effect on i-deal negotiation. Two types of i-deals were studied: flexibility in hours of work and developmental opportunities. Flexibility i-deals were negatively related and developmental i-deals positively related to work-family conflict and working unpaid overtime. Developmental i-deals were also positively related to increased performance expectations and affective organizational commitment, while flexibility i-deals were unrelated to either.     

ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS AT WORK:

This study focuses on those features of organizations and individuals that are associated with the development of romantic relationships among employees. Likelihood of romantic involvement was found to be negatively related to formalization and curvilinearly related to organizational size. Neither participativeness nor climate were associated with organizational romance. In addition, the data showed that women who were younger, newer, and of lower rank were most likely to enter into a relationship. Education was positively related to likelihood of romance for males, but not for females.     

The changing signs in the relationships among self-efficacy, personal goals, and performance

The common interpretation of the positive correlation among self-efficacy, personal goals, and performance is questioned. Using self-efficacy theory (A. Bandura, 1977), it was predicted that cross-sectional correlational results were a function of past performance's influence on self-efficacy, and using control theory (W. T. Powers, 1973), it was predicted that self-efficacy could negatively influence subsequent performance. These predictions were supported with 56 undergraduate participants, using a within-person procedure. Personal goals were also positively influenced by self-efficacy and performance but negatively related to subsequent performance. A 2nd study involving 185 undergraduates found that manipulated goal level positively predicted performance and self-efficacy positively predicted performance in the difficult-goal condition. The discussion focuses on conditions likely to affect the sign of the relationship among self-efficacy, goals, and performance.     

Goal orientation and self-efficacy in relation to memory in adulthood

The achievement goal framework (Dweck, 1986, American Psychologist, 41, 1040) has been well-established in children and college-students, but has rarely been examined empirically with older adults. The current study, including younger and older adults, examined the effects of memory self-efficacy, learning goals (focusing on skill mastery over time) and performance goals (focusing on performance outcome evaluations) on memory performance. Questionnaires measured memory self-efficacy and general orientation toward learning and performance goals; free and cued recall was assessed in a subsequent telephone interview. As expected, age was negatively related and education was positively related to memory self-efficacy, and memory self-efficacy was positively related to memory, in a structural equation model. Age was also negatively related to memory performance. Results supported the positive impact of learning goals and the negative impact of performance goals on memory self-efficacy. There was no significant direct effect of learning or performance goals on memory performance; their impact occurred via their effect on memory self-efficacy. The present study supports past research suggesting that learning goals are beneficial, and performance goals are maladaptive, for self-efficacy and learning, and validates the achievement goal framework in a sample including older adults.     

The Roles of Self-Efficacy and Task Complexity in the Relationships Among Cognitive Ability,Conscientiousness, and Work-Related Performance: A Meta-Analytic Examination

Although cognitive ability and conscientiousness have been found to predict work-related performance, less is known about whether and when certain mediating variables help explain these relationships. This study examined meta-analytically whether self-efficacy mediates the cognitive ability-performance and conscientiousness-performance relationships, and whether task complexity moderates the extent to which self-efficacy mediates these relationships. Results indicated that cognitive ability and conscientiousness positively relate to self-efficacy, but that the magnitude of these relationships varies with task complexity. Furthermore, results showed that self-efficacy mediates the relationships of cognitive ability and conscientiousness with performance on simple tasks, but not on complex tasks. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

An exploration into the influence of academic and social values, procrastination, and perceived school belongingness on academic performance

The results of a structural equation model showed that a tendency to procrastinate, assessed early in college students’ first term, was positively related to social values, assessed as concerns over social exclusion, but was negatively related to academic task values and grade goal-setting. The results suggest that procrastination may be a partial mediator of the influence of academic and social values on perceived school belongingness. In addition, the tendency to procrastinate had a direct negative relationship with self-regulatory self-efficacy and perceived school belongingness and was positively related to perceived stress near the end of the term. There was also a statistically significant negative total effect of procrastination on performance-approach and mastery-approach goal orientation and end-of-term grade point average (GPA). Statistically significant positive total effects of performance-approach and mastery-approach achievement goal orientations on GPA were found. However, while a statistically significant direct positive effect of performance-approach orientation on GPA was found, a direct relationship between mastery-approach orientation and GPA was not statistically significant.     

What Differentiates Employees' Job Performance Under Stressful Situations: The Role of General Self-Efficacy

The aim of this research is to verify the two-dimensional challenge–hindrance stressor framework in the Chinese context, and investigate the moderating effect of general self-efficacy in the stress process. Data were collected from 164 Chinese employee–supervisor dyads. The results demonstrated that challenge stressors were positively related to job performance while hindrance stressors were negatively related to job performance. Furthermore, general self-efficacy strengthened the positive relationship between challenge stressors and job performance, whereas the attenuating effect of general self-efficacy on the negative relationship between hindrance stressors and job performance was nonsignificant. These findings qualify the two-dimensional challenge–hindrance stressor framework, and support the notion that employees with high self-efficacy benefit more from the positive effect of challenge stressors in the workplace. By investigating the role of an individual difference variable in the challenge–hindrance stressor framework, this research provides a more accurate picture of the nature of job stress, and enhances our understanding of the job stressor–job performance relationship.     

大学生经济信心和心理健康的关系:生涯自我效能感的中介作用

采用经济信心问卷、生涯自我效能感量表、总体主观幸福感量表、贝克焦虑和抑郁量表,对237名大学生进行调查,考察大学生经济信心对其心理健康的影响,以及生涯自我效能感在两者之间可能的中介作用。结果表明,经济信心与生涯自我效能感和主观幸福感呈显著的正相关,与抑郁显著负相关,生涯自我效能感与主观幸福感显著正相关,与焦虑、抑郁显著负相关。大学生经济信心对其主观幸福感和抑郁具有显著的预测作用。大学生生涯自我效能感在经济信心与主观幸福感之间起到部分中介作用,其在经济信心和抑郁之间起到完全中介作用。此外,大学生生涯自我效能感传递了经济信心对焦虑的间接影响。     

Defending victims of cyberbullying: The role of self-efficacy and moral disengagement

Cyberbullying is a significant problem worldwide that affects adolescents' social relations, academic achievement, and mental health. As this form of bullying is typically viewed by a large audience it is important to understand the role of observers as they may hold a key for reducing bullying. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the socio-cognitive factors of defending self-efficacy (i.e., belief in one's capability to defend) and moral disengagement (i.e., justifications for aggressive behavior) associated with general cyber defending behavior and cyber defending response types: constructive and aggressive. Participants were 540 male and female students of diverse racial identity between the ages of 11 and 15 years who completed a questionnaire comprising multiple measures. Regression analyses revealed that at low levels of defending self-efficacy, moral disengagement was unrelated to general cyber defending behavior. However, at high levels of defending self-efficacy, moral disengagement was positively associated with general cyber defending. Further regression analyses revealed that the results for constructive cyber defending were the inverse of those obtained for aggressive defending. Defending self-efficacy was positively associated with constructive defending and negatively associated with aggressive defending. Moral disengagement was negatively associated with constructive defending and positively associated with aggressive defending. These results address the perplexing issue of why moral disengagement has been related to defending in some studies and not in others. As with most measures of defending, the general cyber defending measure confounds constructive and aggressive defending.     

Implicit theories in driving: Scale development,validation, and predictive role on violations and driving self-efficacy

Implicit theories focus on how ability may be perceived by individuals. There are two main beliefs: entity beliefs (i.e., driving ability is a gift) and incremental beliefs (i.e., driving ability is improvable through effort). Implicit theories have been studied in various domains (e.g., education, sport), but never in driving, even though they could improve the knowledge of drivers’ psychological characteristics. The first objective of the present study was to develop and validate a questionnaire measuring implicit theories in driving. The second objective was to assess the predictive role of implicit theories on violations and driving self-efficacy, and the moderating role of gender. In study 1, confirmatory factor analysis, analyses of gender invariance, and concurrent validity were assessed to validate the questionnaire named Implicit Theories in Driving Questionnaire (ITDQ). In study 2, the predictive role of implicit theories on violations and driving self-efficacy was evaluated using multiple regression analyses. Moderation analyses evaluated the moderating role of gender on the relationships between implicit theories and violations, along with driving self-efficacy. The ITDQ showed acceptable psychometric properties. The results highlighted that entity beliefs positively predicted aggressive violations and negatively predicted driving self-efficacy. Conversely, incremental beliefs negatively predicted ordinary violations and positively predicted driving self-efficacy. The ITDQ is a valid scale now available for assessing implicit theories in driving, that have been shown to influence self-reported driving behavior. Future research on implicit theories in driving may help to better understand the psychological characteristics of at-risk drivers and improve driver’s training, to reduce the number of road accidents.     

Longitudinal examination of the role of goal orientation in cross-cultural adjustment

In this longitudinal study, the authors introduced goal orientation theory to the study of cross-cultural adjustment. The authors examined relationships among dispositional goal orientation, domain-specific self-efficacy, and cross-cultural adjustment. Results indicated that a learning orientation was positively related to sojourners' academic and social self-efficacy, whereas a performance orientation was negatively related to sojourners' social self-efficacy. Sojourners' academic and social self-efficacy were positively related to academic and social adjustment, respectively. A learning orientation was positively related to academic and social adjustment, and the relationship was mediated by self-efficacy. A performance orientation was not related to adjustment. Finally, academic adjustment was positively related to grade point average. The authors discussed implications for research and practices.     

Goal orientation and ability: interactive effects on self-efficacy,performance, and knowledge

This study examined the direct relationship of goal orientation--and the interaction of goal orientation and cognitive ability--with self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge in a learning context. The authors argue that whether a particular type of goal orientation is adaptive or not adaptive depends on individuals' cognitive ability. Consistent with previous research, learning orientation was positively related to self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge, whereas performance orientation was negatively related to performance only. The interactions between goal orientation and ability also supported several hypotheses. As expected, learning orientation was generally adaptive for high-ability individuals but had no effect for low-ability individuals. In contrast, the effects of performance orientation were contingent on both individuals' level of cognitive ability and the outcome examined.     

初中生社会比较在成就目标与学业自我效能感之间的中介效应

采用成就目标定向、社会比较和学业自我效能感三个量表,以724名初中生为被试,对社会比较在成就目标与学业自我效能感之间的中介作用进行了考察。结果表明：（1）除对学习能力自我效能感产生直接影响外,掌握接近目标会通过上行比较、成绩接近目标会通过上行/下行比较间接地影响学习能力自我效能感;（2）掌握接近目标、成绩接近目标和成绩回避目标不仅会对学习行为自我效能感产生直接影响,还会通过下行比较对其产生间接影响。说明成就目标可以通过直接和间接两种不同的方式影响学业自我效能感。     

A meta-analytic examination of the goal orientation nomological net

The authors present an empirical review of the literature concerning trait and state goal orientation (GO). Three dimensions of GO were examined: learning, prove performance, and avoid performance along with presumed antecedents and proximal and distal consequences of these dimensions. Antecedent variables included cognitive ability, implicit theory of intelligence, need for achievement, self-esteem, general self-efficacy, and the Big Five personality characteristics. Proximal consequences included state GO, task-specific self-efficacy, self-set goal level, learning strategies, feedback seeking, and state anxiety. Distal consequences included learning, academic performance, task performance, and job performance. Generally speaking, learning GO was positively correlated, avoid performance GO was negatively correlated, and prove performance GO was uncorrelated with these variables. Consistent with theory, state GO tended to have stronger relationships with the distal consequences than did trait GO. Finally, using a meta-correlation matrix, the authors found that trait GO predicted job performance above and beyond cognitive ability and personality. These results demonstrate the value of GO to organizational researchers.     

Exchange fairness and employee performance: An examination of the relationship between organizational politics and procedural justice

Data obtained from a manufacturing firm and a newspaper firm in India were used to examine the relationship between organizational politics and procedural justice in three separate studies. Study 1 constructively replicated research on the distinctiveness of the two constructs. Confirmatory factor analyses in which data from the manufacturing firm served as the development sample and data from the newspaper firm served as the validation sample demonstrated the distinctiveness of organizational politics and procedural justice. Study 2 examined the antecedents of the two constructs using data from the manufacturing firm. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results revealed formalization and participation in decision making to be positively related to procedural justice but negatively related to organizational politics. Further, authority hierarchy and spatial distance were positively related to organizational politics but unrelated to procedural justice. Study 3 examined the consequences of the two constructs in terms of task and contextual performance using data from the newspaper firm. Results of SEM analysis revealed procedural justice but not organizational politics to be related to task performance and the contextual performance dimensions of interpersonal facilitation and job dedication.