Skip to main content
Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1027//1015-5759.18.3.242

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– 215 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. . New York: Freeman. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Bandura, A. (2000). Exercise of human agency through collective efficacy.. Current Directions of Psychological Science, 9, 75– 78 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective.. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1– 26 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Bentler, P.M, Bonnett, D.G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures.. Psychological Bulletin, 88, 588– 606 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Browne, 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. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Jöreskog, K.G, Sörbom, D. (1993a). Windows LISREL 8.12a. . Chicago: Scientific Software International. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • 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. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Schröder, K.E.E, Schwarzer, R, Konertz, W. (1998). Coping as a mediator in recovery from cardiac surgery.. Psychology & Health, 13, 83– 97 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Schwarzer, R. Ed. (1992). Self-efficacy: Thought control of action. . Washington, DC: Hemisphere. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • 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– 88 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Schwarzer, R, Born, A. (1997). Optimistic self-beliefs: Assessment of general perceived self-efficacy in thirteen cultures.. World Psychology, 3, 177– 190 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Schwarzer, 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– 13 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Schwarzer, 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– 69 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Schwarzer, 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. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • 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. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • 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– 161 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Schwarzer, 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– 326 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Sherer, M, Maddux, J.E. (1982). The Self-Efficacy Scale: Construction and validation.. Psychological Reports, 51, 663– 671 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Skinner, 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– 133 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Stigler, J.W, Smith, S, Mao, L.-W. (1985). The self-perception of competence by Chinese children.. Child development, 56, 1259– 1270 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Yan, W, Gaier, E.L. (1994). Causal attributions for college success and failure: An Asian-American comparison.. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 25, 146– 158 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Zhang, J.X, Schwarzer, R. (1995). Measuring optimistic self-beliefs: A Chinese adaptation of the General Self-Efficacy scale.. Psychologia, 38, 174– 181 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar