The Role of Self-Efficacy in Female Post-Secondary Leadership

This qualitative study explored the relationship between leadership development of female academics and self-efficacy. Although self-efficacy has become one of the key variables employed to understand and facilitate people's career development, less attention has focused on studying the relationship between self-efficacy and female academics' career paths into leadership positions. The conceptual framework of this study was based upon Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory from which the construct of self-efficacy was developed. Multiple iterations of semi-structured interviews were conducted with three female faculty members who held leadership positions in social science disciplines and STEM fields. Three significant findings were identified: (1) self-efficacy influences leadership development in multi-faceted and dynamic ways; (2) Bandura's four sources of self-efficacy shape women's senses of self-efficacy which then influence leadership development, and; (3) self-efficacy influences multiple areas of occupational behaviour, including persistence, optimism, motivation, and adaptive career behaviours