Principles of Organizational Behavior, 3rd Edition

6Cultivate Self-Efficacy for Personal and Organizational Effectiveness

ALBERT BANDURA

Department of Psychology, Stanford University

EDITORS' NOTE

Albert Bandura died at his home in Stanford on July 26, 2021, from congestive heart failure, at the age of 95. We are indebted to him for his profound impact on organizational sciences.

Human behavior is extensively motivated and regulated through the exercise of self-influence. Among the mechanisms of self-influence, none is more focal or pervading than belief in one's personal efficacy. Unless people believe that they can produce desired effects and forestall undesired ones by their actions, they have little incentive to act or to persevere in the face of difficulties. Whatever other factors may serve as guides and motivators, they are rooted in the core belief that one has to power to produce desired results. That belief in one's capabilities is a vital personal resource is amply documented by meta-analyses of findings from diverse spheres of functioning (Holden, 1991; Holden, Moncher, Schinke, and Barker, 1990; Multon, Brown, and Lent, 1991; Stajkovic and Lee, 2001; Stajkovic and Luthans, 1998). Perceived self-efficacy is founded on the agentic perspective of social cognitive theory (Bandura1997, 2006, 2008a). To be an agent is to influence intentionally one's functioning and life conditions. In this view, people are contributors to their life circumstances not just products of them.

CORE FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF PERCEIVED SELF-EFFICACY ...