| Abstract: | The purpose of the current study was to examine self‐efficacy and issue characteristics as antecedents of issue categorization. A laboratory experiment using 277 participants manipulated self‐efficacy, scenario category (threat/opportunity), and scenario strength (weak/strong), and subsequently measured perceptions of threat and opportunity. Results indicate that high self‐efficacy participants categorized scenarios as more representative of opportunity and that self‐efficacy influenced the framing of opportunity scenarios, but not threat scenarios. Parallel results were found across both categorical and dimensional threat and opportunity measures. |
