Application of social learning theory to employee self-management of attendance.

Training in self-management was given to 20 unionized state government employees to increase their attendance at the work site. Analyses of variance revealed that compared to a control condition (n?=?20), training in self-regulatory skills taught employees how to manage personal and social obstacles to job attendance, and it raised their perceived self-efficacy that they could exercise influence over their behavior. Consequently, employee attendance was significantly higher in the training than in the control group. The higher the perceived self-efficacy, the better the subsequent job attendance. These data were significant at the .05 level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-management training for improving job performance: A field experiment involving salespeople.

In a control-group field experiment using a reversal design, 30 insurance salespeople were randomly assigned to an experimental group that received self-management training. A multivariate analysis of variance and subsequent repeated-measures analyses of variance revealed that, compared with a control condition (n= 30), training in self-management skills significantly improved job performance as assessed through both objective and subjective measures. Performance improvement continued with time, and increases were sustained across a 12-month period posttraining. Subsequent training of the control group produced similar increases in self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, and job performance. Potential mediating effects of self-efficacy and outcome expectancies on the self-management-performance relationship were explored and partially supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assertiveness training as an intervention technique for low performance self-esteem women.

20–58 yr old women were given assertiveness training in 1 of 12 treatment groups. Outcome measures included the Performance-Self-Esteem Scale (PSES) and self-ratings of job performance. Follow-up data at 9–12 mo were available for 79.3% of the original sample. The PSES scores increased significantly in the training sample from pretesting to follow-up but not in a control group of 20 women. Perceived situational support for assertive behavior was not related to increases in PSES scores but was related to increases in self-ratings of job performance (p?     

Longitudinal field investigation of the moderating and mediating effects of self-efficacy on the relationship between training and newcomer adjustment.

A longitudinal field study examined the moderating and mediating effects of self-efficacy on the relationship between training and the adjustment of newcomers during their 1st year of employment. The results provided some support for the hypothesis that initial self-efficacy moderates the relationship between training and adjustment. Training was more strongly related to posttraining self-efficacy, ability to cope, job performance, and intention to quit the profession for newcomers with low levels of initial self-efficacy. Some support was also found for the hypothesis that posttraining self-efficacy mediates the relationship between training and adjustment; however, evidence of complete mediation was found only for ability to cope. Posttraining self-efficacy partially mediated the relationships between training and job satisfaction, organizational and professional commitment, and intention to quit the organization and the profession. Research and practical implications of these findings for the training and the socialization of newcomers are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal attributions of hyperactive children: Implications for teaching strategies and self-control.

The combined influence of attribution and self-control training on the short- and long-term maintenance of strategic behavior, impulsivity, and beliefs about self-efficacy was assessed in 77 underachieving, hyperactive children. During 4 sessions, children in a self-control condition received self-management training and instructions in the use of interrogative and clustering rehearsal strategies. Children in a self-control plus attribution condition received the same instructions plus training designed to enhance general and program-specific beliefs about the importance of effort in improving performance. Children in a control condition were given strategy training but received no self-control or attribution instructions. Analysis of short-term treatment effects showed that children who received attribution training used more complex strategies, demonstrated higher personal causality scores endorsing effort, and displayed reduced impulsivity. Ten months following training, children in the self-control plus attribution condition persisted in their use of acquired strategies, maintained beliefs about the importance of effort, and displayed more mature memory knowledge. Severely hyperactive children, who had received the attributional boost, showed decreased hyperactivity in the classroom and improved self-control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of task experience and individual factors on training-emphasis ratings.

This study included 2 sets of analyses examining the impact of task experience and individual factors on task ratings of training emphasis. Aerospace ground equipment mechanics in the US Air Force completed surveys 8 and 12 mo after formal training. Mechanics rated how much formal training they would recommend for a sample of tasks. In the cross-sectional analyses, with tenure constant at 12 mo, an individual's breadth of experience (number of tasks performed) and level of self-efficacy were found to have significant effects on training-emphasis ratings. The change analyses examined factors influencing changes in ratings of training emphasis from 8 to 12 mo on the job. Results indicate that mechanics whose breadth of experience or self-efficacy perceptions increased over time tended to increase their ratings of training emphasis. Implications for understanding the task analysis rating process are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward an integrative theory of training motivation: A meta-analytic path analysis of 20 years of research.

This article meta-analytically summarizes the literature on training motivation, its antecedents, and its relationships with training outcomes such as declarative knowledge, skill acquisition, and transfer. Significant predictors of training motivation and outcomes included individual characteristics (e.g., locus of control, conscientiousness, anxiety, age, cognitive ability, self-efficacy, valence, job involvement) and situational characteristics (e.g., climate). Moreover, training motivation explained incremental variance in training outcomes beyond the effects of cognitive ability. Meta-analytic path analyses further showed that the effects of personality, climate, and age on training outcomes were only partially mediated by self-efficacy, valence, and job involvement. These findings are discussed in terms of their practical significance and their implications for an integrative theory of training motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Collective efficacy versus self-efficacy in coping responses to stressors and control: A cross-cultural study.

This study examined how cultural differences and efficacy perceptions influence the role of job control in coping with job demands. Perceiving higher control mitigated the effects of demands on psychological health symptoms and turnover intentions only among American bank tellers reporting high job self-efficacy. Among American tellers reporting low job self-efficacy, perceived control exacerbated the effects of demands. However, in a matched Hong Kong sample, collective efficacy interacted in the same way with control and demands as job self-efficacy had in the American sample. These differences appear to be explained by the individual attributes of idiocentrism and allocentrism that are linked to the societal norms of individualism and collectivism, respectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning how to recover from job stress: Effects of a recovery training program on recovery, recovery-related self-efficacy, and well-being.

This quasi-experimental study evaluated the effects of a recovery training program on recovery experiences (psychological detachment from work, relaxation, mastery experiences, and control during off-job time), recovery-related self-efficacy, and well-being outcomes. The training comprised two sessions held one week apart. Recovery experiences, recovery-related self-efficacy, and well-being outcomes were measured before the training (T1) and one week (T2) and three weeks (T3) after the training. A training group consisting of 48 individuals and a waitlist control group of 47 individuals were compared (N = 95). Analyses of covariance revealed an increase in recovery experiences at T2 and T3 (for mastery only at T2). Recovery-related self-efficacy and sleep quality increased at T2 and T3, perceived stress and state negative affect decreased at T3. No training effects were found for emotional exhaustion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Proxy Efficacy: Implications for Self-Efficacy and Exercise Intentions in Cardiac Rehabilitation.

Objective: To examine relations among proxy efficacy, exercise self-efficacy, and exercise in cardiac rehabilitation. Participants and Study Design: Twenty-nine cardiac rehabilitation outpatients (24 men and 5 women) enrolled in a 12-week hospital-based program. Measures of proxy efficacy and exercise self-efficacy, obtained in Week 3, were used to predict program attendance and exercise self-efficacy at Week 10. Late program (i.e.. Week 10) exercise self-efficacy and proxy efficacy were also used to predict postprogram exercise intentions. Results: Early program proxy efficacy and attendance predicted late program exercise self-efficacy (adjusted K2 = .71, p     

The relative success of a self-help and a group-based memory training program for older adults.

This study evaluates self-help and group-based memory training programs to test for their differential impact on memory beliefs and performance. Self-help participants used a manual that presented strategies for name, story, and list recall and practice exercises. Matched content from that same manual was presented by the trainer in 2-hr weekly group sessions for the group-based trainees. Relative to a wait-list control group, most memory measures showed significant gains for both self-help and group-based training, with no significant training condition differences, and these gains were maintained at follow-up. Belief measures showed that locus of control was significantly higher for the self-help and group-based training than the control group; memory self-efficacy significantly declined for controls, increased for group-trained participants, and remained constant in the self-help group. Self-efficacy change in a self-help group may require more opportunities for interacting with peers and/or an instructor emphasizing one’s potential for memory change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancing role breadth self-efficacy: The roles of job enrichment and other organizational interventions.

Role breadth self-efficacy (RBSE) refers to employees' perceived capability of carrying out a broader and more proactive set of work tasks that extend beyond prescribed technical requirements. A newly developed scale of RBSE was internally consistent and distinct from the related concepts of proactive personality and self-esteem. In an initial cross-sectional study (n?=?580), work design variables (job enrichment, job enlargement, and membership of improvement groups) were the key organizational predictors of RBSE. These investigations were repeated in a second cross-sectional study (n?=?622) and extended by examining change over time (n?=?459). The longitudinal analysis showed that increased job enrichment and increased quality of communication predicted the development of greater self-efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-management of cystic fibrosis: short-term outcomes of the Cystic Fibrosis Family Education Program

This study tested the efficacy of the Cystic Fibrosis Family Education Program, a cystic fibrosis self-management program, on improving participants' knowledge, self-efficacy, self-management behavior, health, and quality of life. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest nonequivalent comparison group design was employed. Participants made up 104 patient-primary caregiver dyads from the intervention site cystic fibrosis center and 95 from the usual care comparison center. The intervention, a self-paced print curriculum based on social cognitive theory, targeted behavioral capability, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations and was implemented as an integral part of medical care. Parents, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescents received separate materials on respiratory, nutrition and malabsorption, communication, and coping issues. Significant intervention effects were found on the knowledge scores for caregivers, adolescents, and children; caregiver and adolescent total self-management scores; Child Behavior Checklist total score; one parent coping scale score; the modified NIH score; NIH pulmonary factor 1; and the Brasfield total score. Significant interaction effects were evident in the self-efficacy scores for caregivers and children.     

L'auto-observation et la fixation d'objectifs comme déterminants du transfert des apprentissages en formation appliquée.

Evaluated the simple and combined effects of goal setting and self-monitoring interventions on transfer of training following a course on note taking, and explored the moderating role of self-efficacy in enhancing the effects of the interventions. Following attendance in a training course, 69 college students were randomly assigned to 1 of the following groups: goal setting, self-monitoring, both goal setting and self-monitoring, or control. The actual notes taken by Ss prior to the training were compared to those taken 5 wks later. The behavioral self-monitoring manipulation was the only one which had a significant impact on transfer of training. Goal setting did not enhance performance even when combined with self-monitoring. Self efficacy was a significant predictor of note taking performance but did not moderate the effectiveness of the interventions. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The double meaning of control: Three-way interactions between internal resources, job control, and stressors at work.

The Job Demand-Control model postulates that job control attenuates the effects of job demands on health and well-being. Support for this interactive effect is rather weak. Conceivably, it holds only when there is a match between job control and individual characteristics that relate to exercising control options, such as locus of control, or self-efficacy. This three-way interaction was tested in a sample of 96 service employees, with affective strain and musculoskeletal pain as dependent variables. As hypothesized, job control attenuated the effects of stressors only for people with an internal locus of control. For people with an external locus of control, job control actually predicted poorer well-being and health as stressors increased. For self-efficacy, the corresponding three-way interaction was significant with regard to affective strain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects on teachers' self-efficacy and job satisfaction: Teacher gender, years of experience, and job stress.

The authors of this study sought to examine the relationships among teachers' years of experience, teacher characteristics (gender and teaching level), three domains of self-efficacy (instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement), two types of job stress (workload and classroom stress), and job satisfaction with a sample of 1,430 practicing teachers using factor analysis, item response modeling, systems of equations, and a structural equation model. Teachers' years of experience showed nonlinear relationships with all three self-efficacy factors, increasing from early career to mid-career and then falling afterwards. Female teachers had greater workload stress, greater classroom stress from student behaviors, and lower classroom management self-efficacy. Teachers with greater workload stress had greater classroom management self-efficacy, whereas teachers with greater classroom stress had lower self-efficacy and lower job satisfaction. Those teaching young children (in elementary grades and kindergarten) had higher levels of self-efficacy for classroom management and student engagement. Lastly, teachers with greater classroom management self-efficacy or greater instructional strategies self-efficacy had greater job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory self-efficacy and performance differences in young and old adults: The effect of mnemonic training.

We evaluated the hypothesis that mnemonic training would result in higher memory self-efficacy and better memory performance in young and old adults. Forty-eight young adults (17- to 19-year-olds) and 45 old adults (60- to 78-year-olds) received either training in the method of loci or no training and were given either performance feedback or no feedback on a serial-word recall task. Ss were tested at pre- and posttraining and were asked to rate their self-efficacy strength (SEST) and self-efficacy level (SEL) at each test session. Young adults recalled more than old adults and had higher self-efficacy scores. Training with feedback improved recall performance in both age groups but failed to increase SEST or SEL. When SEL scores were used to derive a measure of prediction inaccuracy, no age differences were observed. We conclude that efficacy expectations and attributions for memory performance may influence mnemonic training outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of coping skills training on generalized self-efficacy and locus of control.

A number of studies have shown that mastery experiences strengthen self-efficacy expectancies that are specific to the mastery situation. In this study I assessed the effects of cognitive–behavioral coping skills training on generalized expectancies concerning self-efficacy and locus of control in test-anxious college students. Compared with a waiting-list control group, the trained subjects exhibited significant decreases on trait and state measures of test anxiety and a higher level of academic performance on classroom tests, as well as changes in specific self-efficacy expectancies relating to test-anxiety management and academic performance. Consistent with generalization predictions derived from self-efficacy theory, the coping skills group also exhibited decreases in general trait anxiety and increased scores on a trait measure of generalized self-efficacy. Locus of control was unaffected by the program, and changes in general self-efficacy were unrelated to changes in locus of control, suggesting the possibility that different parameters of experience are related to changes in the two types of generalized expectancies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of employee participation in the development of pay incentive plans: A field experiment.

Ss were part-time workers who clean buildings in the evenings. 3 autonomous work groups with 10, 9, and 8 Ss developed their own pay incentive plans to reward good attendance on the job (Condition A). These plans were then imposed by the company on other work groups with 13 and 26 Ss (Condition B). Of 2 control groups, 1 (N = 17) talked with Es about job attendance problems but received no additional experimental treatment, and the other (N = 34) received no treatment. A significant increase in attendance followed only Condition A. Possible reasons cited: (a) participation caused Ss to be more committed to the plan, (b) Ss who participated in the development of their plan were more knowledgeable about it, and (c) participation increased Ss' trust of the good intentions of management with respect to the plan. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)