Keywords
academic performance
vocational pursuits
qualitative analysis
quantitative analysis
career indecision
Abstract
The majority of research examining the impact of self-efficacy on performance across a variety of settings has provided evidence to validate the claim that agency beliefs facilitate human achievement. However, such inquiries have focused within a single domain of functioning. The present study explores the influence of agency beliefs on academic success and the counteraction of the lack of decisiveness in the case of career choice, also known as career indecision. The first part of the paper is conceptual and provides the reader with the theoretical background behind both constructs. The quantitative analysis supported the existence of a bi-directional relationship between the study variables. The last section of the paper is devoted to the qualitative investigation and discussion of the implications prompted by our examination and reveals several noteworthy conclusions: the inability of the participants to extend their agency beliefs from one domain of functioning to another domain without initial guidance and the lack of a clear vision of a future career path stemming from insufficient career counselling.
References
Artino, A. (2012). Academic self-efficacy: from educational theory to instructional practice. “Perspectives on Medical Education” 2.
Bandura, A. (1991). Self-regulation of motivation through anticipatory and self-regulatory mechanisms: Perspectives on motivation. “Nebraska symposium on motivation” 38.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman. Bandura, A., Locke, E. (2003). Negative Self-Efficacy and Goal effects Revisited. “Journal of Applied Psychology” 88.
Betz, N., Voyten, K. (1997). Efficacy and outcome expectations influence career exploration and decidedness. “The Career Development Quarterly” 46.
Chartrand, J., Martin, W., Robbins, S., McAuliffe, G., Pickering, J., Calliotte, J. (1994). Testing a level versus interactional view of career indecision. “Journal of Career Assessment” 2. Creed, P., Prideaux, L., Patton, W. (2005). Antecedents and consequences of career decisional states in adolescence. “Journal of Vocational Behaviour” 67.
Damasio, A., Tranel, D., Damasio, H. (1991). Somatic markers and the guidance of behaviour: Theory and preliminary testing [In:] Levin, H., Eisenberg, M., Benton, A., eds., Frontal lobe function and dysfunction. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gati, I., Krauz, M., Ospiow, S. (1996). A taxonomy of difficulties in career decision-making. “Journal of Counselling Psychology” 76.
Germeijs, V., De Boeck, P. (2002). A measurement scale for indecisiveness and its relationship to career indecision and other types of indecision. “European Journal of Psychological Assessment” 18.
Lane, J., Lane, A. (2001). Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance. “Social Behaviour and Personality: an International Journal” 29.
Lent, R., Brown, S., Larkin, K. (1984). Relation of self-efficacy expectations to academic achievement and persistence. “Journal of Counselling Psychology” 31.
Lunenburg, F. (2011). Self-efficacy in the Workplace: Implications for Motivation and Performance. “International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration” 14.
Oldham, A. (2016). Predictive Abilities of Past Performance Versus Self-efficacy, Across Contexts and Goal Types. “Honours College Capstone Experience”. Owensboro: Western Kentucky University.
Reddan, G. (2015). Enhancing student’s self-efficacy in making positive career decisions. “Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education” 16.
Schwarzer, R., Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalised Self-Efficacy Scale [In:] Weinman, J., Wright, S., Johnston, M., eds., Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs. Windsor: NFER-NELSON.
Schwarzer, R., Warner, L. (2013). Perceived self-efficacy and its relationship to resilience [In:] Prince-Embury, D., Saklosfske, D., eds., Resilience in Children, Adolescents, and Adults. Translating Research into Practice. New York: The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality.
Wheeler, K. (1983). Comparisons of self-efficacy and expectancy models of occupational preferences for college males and females. “Journal of Occupational Psychology” 56.
Wise, J., Trunnell, E. (2001). The Influence of Sources of Self-Efficacy Upon Efficacy Strength. “Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology” 23.
All texts published in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences are available in the full version on the website of HSS.
Open Access – CC BY 4.0
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. The articles are published under the terms of the Creative Commons licence (CC-BY 4.0), including the following fields of exploitation comprising:
1) the right to publish the Work in print in book and digital form and to distribute it in book and digital form, including by displaying, playing, broadcasting, making it publicly available by the Publisher and third parties,
2) the right to record and reproduce all or part of the Work on paper and in the form of a digital record and in any other possible way by the Publisher,
3) the right to enter the Work into computer memory and save the Work in the IT systems of the Publisher and other entities distributing digital content,
4) the right to archive the Work and make copies of the Work on electronic media by the Publisher, without quantitative restrictions,
5) the right to digitise the Work and to perform conversions/transformations of the Work in electronic form into other digital formats by the Publisher and third parties,
6) the right to distribute the Work, including via the Internet or other ICT networks by the Publisher and other third parties, in a way that allows viewing, reading, copying the content of the Work in electronic form, i.e. all elements belonging to it, whereby copying shall be understood as the saving of the Work made available to an interested person on a medium of their choice,
7) the right to store the Work in the database of the Publisher and other entities distributing the Work in any form, as well as its processing in the database of the Publisher and third parties,
8) right to translate and publish the Work in one of the modern languages in any form by the Publisher and third parties.
The full text of the license is available at the following link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en