Cultural Differences in Self-Efficacy
Cultural Differences in Self-Efficacy
Introduction Bandura (1997) defined self-efficacy as “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to produce given attainments” (p. 3). Self-efficacy refers to the judgments of what one can do with whatever skills one possesses rather than the judgments of the skills themselves. In self-efficacy theory, people evaluate their skills and abilities and convert their beliefs about their capabilities into purposive action (Bandura, 1997). As people enact their self-efficacy beliefs, they demonstrate a degree of control over (a) the activities they choose to pursue, (b) the persistence they display in the pursuit of goals, and (c) their reactions to challenges and failures (Bandura, 1997). In academic settings, specific skills are needed to master difficult tasks, and important factors like educational opportunities, quality of teaching, and learning ability influence student success. Thus, enhancing self-efficacy is important way to help students achieve positive academic outcomes. Although considerable research has been devoted to the study of self-efficacy in educational settings, most of the students under study were from Western cultures and were usually in American settings (Klassen, 2004). Therefore, culturally attentive studies are necessary to investigate students’ self-efficacy in a range of social and cultural settings. We cannot assume that self-efficacy functions in the same way with all Asian students or with any other ethnic group of students because they have different culture from Western countries. Different perspectives on the self-enhancement motive were proposed across cultures. According to the cultural-self perspective, the motive is pervasive in individualistic cultures (the West) but absent in collectivistic cultures (the East) (Kitayama, Markus, Matsumoto, & Norasakkunkit, 1997). Kitayama et al. (1997) found that
Introduction Bandura (1997) defined self-efficacy as “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to produce given attainments” (p. 3). Self-efficacy refers to the judgments of what one can do with whatever skills one possesses rather than the judgments of the skills themselves. In self-efficacy theory, people evaluate their skills and abilities and convert their beliefs about their capabilities into purposive action (Bandura, 1997). As people enact their self-efficacy beliefs, they demonstrate a degree of control over (a) the activities they choose to pursue, (b) the persistence they display in the pursuit of goals, and (c) their reactions to challenges and failures (Bandura, 1997). In academic settings, specific skills are needed to master difficult tasks, and important factors like educational opportunities, quality of teaching, and learning ability influence student success. Thus, enhancing self-efficacy is important way to help students achieve positive academic outcomes. Although considerable research has been devoted to the study of self-efficacy in educational settings, most of the students under study were from Western cultures and were usually in American settings (Klassen, 2004). Therefore, culturally attentive studies are necessary to investigate students’ self-efficacy in a range of social and cultural settings. We cannot assume that self-efficacy functions in the same way with all Asian students or with any other ethnic group of students because they have different culture from Western countries. Different perspectives on the self-enhancement motive were proposed across cultures. According to the cultural-self perspective, the motive is pervasive in individualistic cultures (the West) but absent in collectivistic cultures (the East) (Kitayama, Markus, Matsumoto, & Norasakkunkit, 1997). Kitayama et al. (1997) found that