Self-Efficacy

Nature of Self-Efficacy

Because self-efficacy pertains to specific tasks, people may simultaneously have high self-efficacy for some tasks and low self-efficacy for others. For example, a manager may have high self-efficacy for the technical aspects of his or her role, such as management accounting, but low self-efficacy for other aspects, such as dealing with employees' performance problems.

Self-efficacy is more specific and circumscribed than self-confidence (i.e., a general personality trait that relates to how confidently people feel and act in most situations) or self-esteem (i.e., the extent to which a person likes himself or herself), and therefore it is generally more readily developed than self-confidence or self-esteem. Self-efficacy is a much stronger predictor of how effectively people will perform a given task than either self-confidence or self-esteem.

How Self-Efficacy Affects Performance and Well-Being

A high degree of self-efficacy leads people to work hard and persist in the face of setbacks, as illustrated by many great innovators and politicians who were undeterred by repeated obstacles, ridicule, and minimal encouragement. Thomas Edison, believing that he would eventually succeed, reputedly tested at least 3,000 unsuccessful prototypes before eventually developing the first incandescent lightbulb. Abraham Lincoln exhibited high self-efficacy in response to the numerous and repeated public rebukes and failures he experienced before his eventual political triumph. Research has found that self-efficacy is important for sustaining the considerable effort that is required to master skills involved in, for example, public speaking, losing weight, and becoming an effective manager.

When learning complex tasks, high self-efficacy prompts people to strive to improve their assumptions and strategies rather than look for excuses, such as not being interested in the task. High self-efficacy improves employees' capacity to collect relevant information, make sound decisions, and take appropriate action, particularly when they are under time pressure. Such capabilities are invaluable in jobs that involve, for example, dealing with irate customers when working in a call center or overcoming complex technical challenges in minimal time. In contrast, low self-efficacy can lead to erratic analytical thinking, which undermines the quality of problem solving—a key competency in an increasingly knowledge-based society.

In a dynamic work context, in which ongoing learning and performance improvement are needed, high self-efficacy helps individuals react less defensively when they receive negative feedback. In areas in which self-efficacy is low, people often see a negative outcome as confirming the incompetence they perceive in themselves. This can set up a vicious circle whereby ambiguous results are considered evidence of perceived inability, further lowing an individual's self-efficacy, effort, and subsequent performance. When people have low self-efficacy, they tend to blame the situation or another person when things go wrong. Denial of any responsibility for poor performance inhibits the chance that an individual will learn how to perform more effectively in the future.

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