Individual Self-Efficacy About Group Performance and Group Decision Making

In recent years, organizations and businesses have increasingly used groups to make decisions across a wide variety of settings. This trend has led to a need to make group performance more accurate and effective. Despite the increased research relating to group performance in recent years, there is still incomplete understanding of the factors leading to effective group development and group decision making . Only in recent times have researchers begun to explore the relationship between self-efficacy and group performance as a possible a factor leading to effective group performance. Current understandings of group performance largely focus on the collective beliefs and views of the ability -of the group to perform a specific task. In addition, instruments that were developed to measure this relationship were also based on the aggregation of individual group members to create a group average score. This conception, however, does not take into · account individuals\u27 beliefs and views of their ability to perform in group settings. Recently researchers have begun to develop instruments that are more sensitive to the relationship between individual self-efficacy in groups and group performance. In this study, group performance will be analyzed in terms of individuals\u27 perceptions of their effectiveness in groups in contrast to groups\u27 perceptions of their potency. Furthermore, this study will examine the role of the individual group member in group performance. Finally, this study will also examine the effect of task competence and of the group development variables of forming and feedback on group decision making. In preparation for the actual research study, this thesis will discuss the background literature on self-efficacy and its relationship to group performance and group development, and provide information about the current state of research on self- efficacy in group performance (i.e., definition, conceptualization, and assessment). It will examine current instruments for assessing the relationship between self-efficacy and group performance and utilize a new instrument for assessing this relationship. It will provide background literature review that led to a new conceptualization of individual self-efficacy about group performance and differentiate this concept from current research of self-efficacy in group performance. A method section will be provided, which includes the design of the study, participation, procedure, and measurements. Finally, the results section will detail the analysis of this study followed by a discussion in which the author will explore implications of the research findings for practitioners, the limitations of this study, and suggestions for future researchers