Is General Self-Efficacy a Universal Construct?1
Abstract
Summary Perceived self-efficacy represents an optimistic sense of personal competence that seems to be a pervasive phenomenon accounting for motivation and accomplishments in human beings. The General Self-Efficacy scale, developed to measure this construct at the broadest level, has been adapted to many languages. The psychometric properties of this instrument is examined among 19,120 participants from 25 countries. The main research question is whether the measure is configurally equivalent across cultures, that is, whether it corresponds to only one dimension. The findings confirm this assumption and suggest the globality of the underlying construct. They also point to a number of cross-cultural differences that merit further investigation.
References
References
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.. Psychological Review, 84, 191– 215Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. . New York: Freeman.Bandura, A. (2000). Exercise of human agency through collective efficacy.. Current Directions of Psychological Science, 9, 75– 78Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective.. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1– 26Bentler, P.M, Bonnett, D.G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures.. Psychological Bulletin, 88, 588– 606Browne, M.W, Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternatives ways of assessing model fit.. In K.A. Bollen & J.S. Long (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 136-162). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Jöreskog, K.G, Sörbom, D. (1993a). Windows LISREL 8.12a. . Chicago: Scientific Software International.Jöreskog, K.G, Sörbom, D. (1993b). Testing structural equation modeling.. In K.A. Bollen & J.S. Long (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 294-317). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Schröder, K.E.E, Schwarzer, R, Konertz, W. (1998). Coping as a mediator in recovery from cardiac surgery.. Psychology & Health, 13, 83– 97Schwarzer, R. Ed. (1992). Self-efficacy: Thought control of action. . Washington, DC: Hemisphere.Schwarzer, R, Bäßler, J, Kwiatek, P, Schröder, K, Zhang, J.X. (1997). The assessment of optimistic self-beliefs: Comparison of the German, Spanish, and Chinese versions of the General Self-Efficacy scale.. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 46, 69– 88Schwarzer, R, Born, A. (1997). Optimistic self-beliefs: Assessment of general perceived self-efficacy in thirteen cultures.. World Psychology, 3, 177– 190Schwarzer, R, Born, A, Iwawaki, S, Lee, Y.-M, Saito, E, Yue, X. (1997). The assessment of optimistic self-beliefs: Comparison of the Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean versions of the General Self-Efficacy scale.. Psychologia: An International Journal of Psychology in the Orient, 40, 1– 13Schwarzer, R, Hahn, A, Jerusalem, M. (1993). Negative affect in East German migrants: Longitudinal effects of unemployment and social support.. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 6, 57– 69Schwarzer, R, Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalized Self-Efficacy scale.. In J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston (Eds.), Measures in health psychology: A user's portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 35-37). Windsor, UK: NFER-NELSON.Schwarzer, R, Jerusalem, M. Eds. (1999). Skalen zur Erfassung von Lehrer- und Schülermerkmalen. Dokumentation der psychometrischen Verfahren im Rahmen der Wissenschaftlichen Begleitung des Modellversuchs Selbstwirksame Schulen ‘Scales for the assessment of teacher and student characteristics’. . Berlin, Germany: Freie Universität Berlin.Schwarzer, R, Mueller, J, Greenglass, E. (1999). Assessment of perceived general self-efficacy on the Internet: Data collection in cyberspace.. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 12, 145– 161Schwarzer, R, Schmitz, G.S, Tang, C. (2000). Teacher burnout in Hong Kong and Germany: A cross-cultural validation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory.. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 13, 309– 326Sherer, M, Maddux, J.E. (1982). The Self-Efficacy Scale: Construction and validation.. Psychological Reports, 51, 663– 671Skinner, E.A, Chapman, M, Baltes, P.B. (1988). Control, means-ends, and agency beliefs: A new conceptualization and its measurement during childhood.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 117– 133Stigler, J.W, Smith, S, Mao, L.-W. (1985). The self-perception of competence by Chinese children.. Child development, 56, 1259– 1270Yan, W, Gaier, E.L. (1994). Causal attributions for college success and failure: An Asian-American comparison.. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 25, 146– 158Zhang, J.X, Schwarzer, R. (1995). Measuring optimistic self-beliefs: A Chinese adaptation of the General Self-Efficacy scale.. Psychologia, 38, 174– 181