1 Self-efficacy Beliefs of Athletes, Teams, and Coaches

The self-efficacy construct is one of the most influential psychological constructs thought to affect achievement strivings in sport (Feltz, 1988). Gould and his colleagues found that self-efficacy and team efficacy were chief among that factors that US Olympic athletes reported to influence their performance at the Nagano Olympic games (Gould, Greenleaf, Lauer, & Chung, 1999). Bandura (1977, 1986, 1997) defined self-efficacy as the belief one has in being able to execute a specific task successfully (e.g., a pitcher striking out a batter) in order to obtain a certain outcome (e.g., self-satisfaction or coach recognition). Since the first publication of the self-efficacy concept (Bandura, 1977), there have been over 60 research articles published on self-efficacy related specifically to sport performance (Moritz, Feltz, Mack, & Fahrbach, in press). This chapter provides an overview of the self-efficacy concept and its measurement, a review of relevant research on athletes, athletic teams, and coaches, and future directions for research in this field. Self-efficacy Theory Bandura’s (1977) theory of self-efficacy theory was developed within the framework of social cognitive theory. Although, originally, the theory was proposed to account for th