Comparison of three theoretically derived variables in predicting career and academic behavior: Self-efficacy, interest congruence, and consequence thinking.

Abstract

This study explored the differential contribution of three alternative theoretically based variables, self-efficacy, interest congruence, and consequence thinking, in explaining career-relevant behavior in students considering science and engineering fields. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that self-efficacy was the most useful of the three in predicting grades and persistence in technical/scientific majors, both self-efficacy and congruence contributed to the prediction of range of perceived career options, and congruence alone offered significant incremental variance in explaining career indecision. The three theoretical variables were also interrelated. Implications for practice and the further evaluation of career theories are discussed.

Correlational Study of Organizational Commitment, Self-Efficacy and Psychological Barriers to Technological Change

“…Self-efficacy has consistently been found to be associated with work related performance in numerous studies, including those of coping with difficult career-related tasks (Stumpf, Brief, & Hartman, 1987), career choice (Lent, Brown, & Larkin, 1987) and adaptability to new technology (Hill, Smith, & Mann, 1987). People with strong self-efficacy beliefs exert greater efforts to master a challenge while those with weak self-efficacy beliefs are likely to reduce their efforts or even quit (Bandura & Schunk, 1981;Brown & Inouyne, 1978;Schunk, 1981;Weinberg, Gould, & Jackson, 1979).…”

Enhancing the First-Year University Experience: Linking University Orientation and Engagement Strategies to Student Connectivity and Capability

“…For example, student motivation and self-efficacy are important variables related to levels of engagement with university study (Lecompte et al, 1983;Ramsden, 2003). Regression analysis performed by Lent et al (1987) showed self-efficacy to be the most significant factor in predicting retention and academic performance. First-year students who attribute negative academic events to specific, unreliable, external causes generally receive higher grades than those who attribute negative events to stable internal causes (Peterson & Barrett, 1987), while students with motivation and an internal locus of control typically respond more positively to university (Fazey & Fazey, 2001).…”

Identifying events that impact self-efficacy in physics learning

“…Studies have shown that self-efficacy is able to predict a university student's persistence in science majors as well as science career choices [9,10,13,14,16]. Additionally, researchers have found that self-efficacy can predict achievement in science for high school students [24,25] and university students [8][9][10][11][12]. At Florida International University, an hispanic-serving institution in the southeastern United States, we have also found that a student's self-efficacy in physics at the beginning of an introductory physics course predicts the likelihood of a student passing that same course [26].…”

“…Since the 1980s an abundance of research has shown that science self-efficacy, or confidence in one's own ability to complete the actions necessary to perform a task [7], is related to success in particular fields [8][9][10][11][12], as well as a predictor of the career choice an individual will make [10,[13][14][15][16]. A few researchers in physics education have also shown a link between physics self-efficacy and success [17][18][19].…”