When you hear the word self-efficacy, you may think: another fashionable concept from speakers and psychologists. Yet it is popular for good reason. Self-efficacy is one of the most researched traits in psychology, and people who have a lot of it reap the benefits in many areas of life. Do you have it?
What is self-efficacy?
Self-efficacy is the belief in your own ability to succeed in a particular situation. That could be about completing a task, reaching a goal or solving a problem. The concept comes from psychologist Albert Bandura, who introduced it in 1977. Bandura
Characteristics of self-efficacy
People with a lot of self-efficacy often achieve more, are more often successful and deal well with unexpected challenges. Someone with a lot of self-efficacy:
- feels strongly committed to the tasks and goals he or she pursues
- sees challenges rather than problems
- therefore has more interest in what he or she does
- is resilient and copes well with setbacks
- keeps believing in their own strength
The difference with self-confidence
Self-efficacy resembles self-confidence, but there is a difference. Self-confidence is mainly about the feeling you have about yourself. Self-efficacy is more about doing: the confidence that you can handle a particular task or challenge. Self-confidence can, however, contribute to your self-efficacy.
Can you develop self-efficacy?
Yes. You develop self-efficacy throughout your life. It starts with the experiences you have as a child, and as an adult you keep learning too, at school and at work. According to Bandura, four sources feed your self-efficacy.
Your own experiences of success
The strongest source is experiencing for yourself that something works. Every task you complete successfully strengthens the belief that the next one will work too.
The example of others
When you see someone who resembles you complete a similar task, you are more likely to believe you can do it too.
Encouragement
What others say to you counts too. When someone encourages you and you then succeed, that gives extra confidence for the next time.
Your physical and emotional state
How you feel at a given moment affects how you judge your own ability. If you are very nervous about a presentation or an important pitch, you feel your self-efficacy drop. Fortunately, this can be trained, because it is about how you interpret that tension. You can see a pounding heart as a sign that things are going wrong, but also as a sign that you are sharp.
Examples of self-efficacy
Think of an entrepreneur who starts a business wholeheartedly and manages to overcome even the toughest challenges. Or of someone who takes a challenging job after their studies, because he or she believes they can succeed in it.
You see self-efficacy outside work too. For example, in a woman who is pregnant for the first time and trusts that she can handle it, however exciting or hard it becomes.
Can you measure self-efficacy?
Yes, with various questionnaires. A well-known one is the General Self-Efficacy Scale by Matthias Jerusalem and Ralf Schwarzer. In its current version, it consists of ten statements, such as "I can always manage to solve difficult problems if I try hard enough", which you rate on a scale from not at all true to exactly true. GSE-6
Self-efficacy and work engagement
Belief in your own abilities affects every facet of your life, just like work engagement. An engaged person has many of the same traits as someone with a lot of self-efficacy: dedication, energy and resilience. You can't really be engaged without a good dose of self-efficacy. Both are intangible, but very important for the success of people and organisations. That is why we dare to say that work engagement is the new self-efficacy.
Also read do you believe in your own abilities? and success through enthusiasm and the theory of work engagement.
