General self-efficacy in various domains of human functioning: evidence from five countries

Abstract

Based on social-cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997), this paper examined whether perceived self-efficacy is a universal psychological construct that accounts for variance within various domains of human functioning. Perceived self-efficacy is not only of a task-specific nature, but it can also be identified at a more general level of functioning. General self-efficacy (GSE) is the belief in one’s competence to tackle novel tasks and to cope with adversity in a broad range of stressful or challenging encounters, as opposed to specific self-efficacy, which is constrained to a particular task at hand. The study aimed at exploring the relations between GSE and a variety of other psychological constructs across several countries. Relations between general self-efficacy and personality, well-being, stress appraisals, social relations, and achievements were examined among 8796 participants from Costa Rica, Germany, Poland, Turkey, and the USA. Across countries, the findings provide evidence for associations between perceived general self-efficacy and the selected variables. The highest positive associations were with optimism, self-regulation, and self-esteem, whereas the highest negative associations emerged with depression and anxiety. Academic performance is also associated with self-efficacy as hypothesized. The replication across languages or cultures adds significance to these findings. The relations between self-efficacy and other personality measures remained stable across cultures and samples. Thus, perceived general self-efficacy appears to be a universal construct that yields meaningful relations with other psychological constructs.