Self or Group? Cultural Effects of Training on Self-Efficacy and Performance

Abstract

The author gratefully acknowledges the comments and suggestions of Elaine Mosakowski and Anne Tsui on an earlier draft of this paper. Requests for reprints and other correspondence should be addressed to the author at the Graduate School of Management, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 92717. The author would like to thank Bao Ji Ming, Luo Xing-jian, Zou Qiming, and Zhang Yong-lin for their assistance in collecting data in the People's Republic of China as well as Susan Peterson for her assistance in collecting the data in the United States. This paper examines the theoretical and empirical relationship of training and individualism-collectivism to self-efficacy (a person's estimate of his or her ability to perform a task) and performance in studies of managers from Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China, and the United States. A laboratory experiment and a six-month field experiment were used to test hypotheses predicting that for individualists, self-focused training would have a stronger impact on self-efficacy and performance than would group-focused training and, for collectivists, group-focused training would have a stronger impact on self-efficacy and performance than would individual-focused training. The results show consistent support for the hypotheses at both a cultural and an individual level of analysis. A general model of self-efficacy and culture in an organizational environment is discussed.'