Efficacy-Performance Spirals: An Empirical Test

This study examined the pattern of the relationships between self-efficacy and performance in an experiment involving 148 students who worked on a manufacturing task over four trials. Task feedback and task experience, two variables that may influence the occurrence of efficacy-performance spirals, were also investigated. Results indicated strong support for a significant relationship between self-efficacy and performance over time. However, the pattern of changes in self-efficacy and performance from trial-to-trial contained self-corrections, suggest-ing that the efficacy-performance relationship does not necessarily proceed in a monotonic, deviation-amplifying spiral. Task feedback and task experience affected the occurrence of self-corrections in the pattern of changes in self-efficacy and performance over time. Implications are drawn about the dynamic nature of self-efficacy. © 2000 Elsevier Sci-ence Inc. All rights reserved. Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory has gained widespread acceptance as a framework for analyzing behavior in organizations. Extant research has used a variety of methodologies to investigate the determinants of self-efficacy, the belief in one’s ability to master a task, and its mediating and moderating role in the relationship between certain organizational antecedents and their related outcomes. Across laboratory experiments, quasi-experiments, business simula-tions, and longitudinal field studies, the importance of self-efficacy as a central human cognition that mediates the relationship between situational factors and behavioral outcomes in organizations has been established (e.g., Bandura &amp