Self-efficacy and academic performance in higher education: a case study

Elisa Figueiredo; Cecília Fonseca; Teresa Paiva

doi:10.31637/epsir-2024-960

Authors

Elisa Figueiredo Polytechnic of Guarda https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9598-0640
Cecília Fonseca Polytechnic of Guarda https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8543-331X
Teresa Paiva Polytechnic of Guarda https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1721-9813

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2024-960

Keywords:

Self-efficacy, General Self-efficacy, Social Self-efficacy, Students, Academic Performance, Age, Gender, Correlation

Abstract

Introduction: There is a large body of research showing that self-efficacy is a crucial predictor of student achievement. Based on this framework, this study aims to investigate the correlation between students' general self-efficacy (GSE) and Social self-efficacy (SSE) and academic performance, as well as the relationship between GSE and SSE with age and gender. Methodology: Our approach was quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional. The target population was all students enrolled during the academic year 21/22 at a Portuguese higher education institution. Results: The results indicate that students with a high level of GSE perform better than those with lower GSE and the level of GSE depends on age and gender. Although, no correlation was identified for SSE and student performance. Discussion: From the results it was possible to corroborate the following study hypothesis: students with a high level of GSE perform better than those with lower GSE, the level of GSE and SSE depends on age and gender. Although the hypothesis set students with a high level of SSE perform better than those with lower SSE was not supported. Conclusions: This investigation could support strategies to promote self-efficacy in students with the aim of improving their academic performance.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Elisa Figueiredo, Polytechnic of Guarda

Professor at the Department of Management and Economics of the School of Technology and Management (STM) at Polytechnic Institute of Guarda (IPG), Portugal. PhD in Organizational Psychology. Director of the degree in Human Resources Management at STM of the IPG. Guest lecturer on the Global Management Master's programme and on the International Human Resources Management Master's programme at ISCID-Co - International Business School of the Université Littoral Côte d'Opale (France). Member of the DIGIQUAL Observatory board (France) with the mission of promoting research in the areas of Human Resources Management, Well-being at Work, Health, Hygiene and Safety at Work, Digitalisation of HR and Change Management. Consultant and trainer in Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour.

Cecília Fonseca, Polytechnic of Guarda

Professor at Department of Exact and Experimental Sciences of the School of Technology and Management (STM) at Polytechnic Institute of Guarda (IPG), Portugal. PhD in Applied Mathematics. President of the Technical-Scientific Council of STM. Trainer in teacher training courses within lifelong education at IPG. Participation in mobility programmes across various European countries. Research related with dependence measures for spatial extreme events, data analysis for health and management areas.

Teresa Paiva, Polytechnic of Guarda

Professor in the area of Management and Marketing of the Polytechnic Institute of Guarda (IPG), PhD in Management, specialisation in Marketing, master's degree in Business Sciences, specialised in Strategic Management and Business Development and a degree in Economics. Has a postgraduate course in Direction of Incubators, Accelerators and Business Development Centres from the University of Salamanca. Is a certified trainer in Management and Entrepreneurship. Develops marketing, innovation, and entrepreneurship education research, with several scientific and technical publications. Has experience coordinating various scientific and applied research projects, co-financed by national and/or European funds and participates in projects co-financed by Europe.

References

Afable, T., Lamberto, J., Ng, T., Umandap, A., & Arcinas, M. (2022). SHS Students’ Engagement in Online Synchronous Collaborative Learning Activities: Correlations with Self-efficacy, Peer Social Support, Well-being and Academic Performance. 21st Century Learning and Innovations (CLI). http://dx.doi.org/10.11594/ijmaber.03.06.16 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11594/ijmaber.03.06.16

Akelaitis, A. V., & Lisinskiene, A.R. (2018). Social Emotional Skills and Prosocial Behaviour among 15-16-Year-Old Adolescents. European Journal of Contemporary Education, 7(1), 21-28. 10.13187/ejced.2018.1.21 DOI: https://doi.org/10.13187/ejced.2018.1.21

Alosaimi, D. (2021). Learning self-efficacy as predictor of nursing students’ performance of clinical skills. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 21(3), 120-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.12738/jestp.2021.3.009

Alrabai, F. (2018). The association between self-efficacy of Saudi learners and their EFL academic performance. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 8(10), 1351-1360. 10.17507/tpls.0810.14 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0810.14

Ballen, C., Wieman, C., Salehi, S., Searle, J., & Zamudio, K. (2017). Enhancing diversity in undergraduate science: Self-efficacy drives performance gains with active learning. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 16(4), ar56. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-12-0344 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-12-0344

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-295X.84.2.191

Bandura, A. (1986). The explanatory and predictive scope of self-efficacy theory. Journal of Clinical and Social Psychology, 4, 359-373. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC DOI: https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.1986.4.3.359

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W. H. Freeman. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC

Breitenbach, E., Adler, K., & Pazdernik, V. (2022). Writing Self-Efficacy and Performance Among Students in an Online Doctoral Program. International Journal of Innovative Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (IJITLHE), 3(1), 1-14. http://doi.org/10.4018/IJITLHE.304080 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/IJITLHE.304080

Bui, H., Fung So, K., Kwekc, A., & Rynned, J. (2017). The impacts of self-efficacy on academic performance: An investigation of domestic and international undergraduate students in hospitality and tourism, Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 20, 47–54. 10.5281/zenodo.8303197 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2017.02.002

Çankaya, E., Dong, X., & Liew, J. (2017). An examination of the relationship between social self-efficacy and personal growth initiative in international context. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 61, 88-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2017.10.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2017.10.001

Carmeli, A., Peng, A. C., Schaubroeck, J. M., & Amir, I. (2021). Social support as a source of vitality among college students: The moderating role of social self-efficacy. Psychology in the Schools, 58(2), 351-363. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22450 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22450

Castellanos, V., Latorre, D., Mateus, S., & Navarro, C. (2017). Modelo explicativo del desempeño académico desde la autoeficacia y los problemas de conducta. Revista Colombiana de Psicología, 26(1), 149-161. http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=80454273010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15446/rcp.v26n1.56221

Dadandı, İ. (2023). Academic self-efficacy, study skills and academic achievement: A serial mediation model. Research on Education and Psychology (REP), 7(2), 291-306. https://doi.org/10.54535/rep.1342022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.54535/rep.1342022

Dehbozorgi, N., Maher, M., & Dorodchi, M. (2021), Does Self-Efficacy Correlate with Positive Emotion and Academic Performance in Collaborative Learning? IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) | 978-1-6654-3851-3/21 10.1109/FIE49875.2021.9637471. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE49875.2021.9637471

Dent, L., Maloney, P., & Karp, T. (2018). Self-efficacy development among students enrolled in an engineering service-learning section. International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship, 13(2), 25-44. https://doi.org/10.24908/ijsle.v13i2.11483 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24908/ijsle.v13i2.11483

DeVellis, R. F. (2016). Scale Development: Theory and Applications (4th ed.). Sage Publications. https://www.columbusstate.edu/academic-affairs/_docs/eduf_syllabus.pdf

Diseth, Å. (2011). Self-efficacy, goal orientations and learning strategies as mediators between preceding and subsequent academic achievement. Learning and individual differences, 21(2), 191-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2011.01.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2011.01.003

Elias, S., & MacDonald, S. (2007). Using past performance, proxy efficacy, and academic self-efficacy to predict college performance. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37(11), 2518-2531. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00268.x

Ferrari, J. R., & Parker, J. T. (1992). High school achievement, self-efficacy, and locus of control as predictors of freshman academic performance. Psychological Reports, 1, 515-518. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC DOI: https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1992.71.2.515

Ferris, G. R., Treadway, D. C., Perrewé, P. L., Brouer, R. L., Douglas, C., & Lux, S. (2007). Political skill in organizations. Journal of Management, 33, 290-320. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206307300813

Gliem, J. A., & Gliem, R. R. (2003). Calculating, interpreting, and reporting Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient for Likert-type scales. Midwest Research to Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC

González-Benito, A., López-Martín, E., Expósito-Casas, E., & Moreno-González, E. (2021). Motivación académica y autoeficacia percibida y su relación con el rendimiento académico en los estudiantes universitarios de la enseñanza a distancia. RELIEVE - Revista Electronica de Investigation y Evaluación Educativa, 27(2), art. 2. http://doi.org/10.30827/relieve.v27i2.21909 DOI: https://doi.org/10.30827/relieve.v27i2.21909

Honicke, T., & Broadbent, J. (2016). The influence of academic self-efficacy on academic performance: A systematic review. Educational Research Review, 17, 63-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2015.11.002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2015.11.002

Hórreo, V., & Carro, R. (2007). Studying the impact of personality and group formation on learner performance. In International Conference on Collaboration and Technology, 287- 294. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC

Kale, E. (2020) Attachment styles and job performance in the hospitality industry: the mediating role of general self-efficacy, Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 19(1) 23-42, 10.1080/15332845.2020.1672244 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15332845.2020.1672244

Kaufmann, L., Ninaus, M., Weiss, E. M., Gruber, W., & Wood, G. (2022). Self‐efficacy matters: Influence of students’ perceived self‐efficacy on statistics anxiety. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1514(1), 187-197. 10.1111/nyas.14797 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14797

Komarraju, M., & D. Nadler (2013). “Self-efficacy and academic achievement: Why do implicit beliefs, goals, and effort regulation matter?” Learning and Individual Differences, 25, 67–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2013.01.005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2013.01.005

Latorre, M., Tena, R., Cruz, J., & Toscano, M. (2018). Percepción de autoeficacia y rendimiento académico en estudiantes de bachillerato. Caleidoscopio-Revista Semestral de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, 39, 33-46. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1183-1518

León Hernández, A., González Escobar, S., Barcelata Eguiarte, B., & González Arratia, N. (2019). Estrés, autoeficacia, rendimiento académico y resiliencia en adultos emergentes. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 17(1), 129-148. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC DOI: https://doi.org/10.25115/ejrep.v17i47.2226

Li, Y., & Wang, C. (2010). An empirical study of reading self-efficacy and the use of reading strategies in the Chinese EFL context. Asian EFL Journal, 12(2), 144-162. https://asian-efl-journal.com/PDF/June-2010.pdf#page=144

Lishinski, A., Yadav, A., Good, J., & Enbody, R. (2016). Learning to program: Gender differences and interactive effects of students' motivation, goals, and self-efficacy on performance. In Proceedings of the 2016 ACM conference on international computing education research (pp. 211-220). https://doi.org/10.1145/2960310.296032 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/2960310.2960329

Luszczynska, A., Gutiérrez-Donã, B., & Schwarzer, R. (2005). General self-efficacy in various domains of human functioning: Evidence from five countries. International Journal of Psychology, 40(2), 80-89. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207590444000041 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00207590444000041

Malinauskas, R., & Saulius, T. (2019) Social Self-Efficacy and Prosocial Behaviour Among Students of High and Youth Schools. European Journal of Contemporary Education, 8(3), 542-549. 10.13187/ejced.2019.3.542 DOI: https://doi.org/10.13187/ejced.2019.3.542

Malinauskas, R., Sniras, S., & Malinauskiene, V. (2018). Social self-efficacy training programme for basketball-playing students: a case study. Revista de Psicología del Deporte, 27(1), 165-185. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC

Mann, P. S. (2018). Introductory Statistics (9th ed.). Wiley. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC

Martínez, J. G., & Medina, A. R. (2019). Enfoques de aprendizaje, autorregulación y autoeficacia y su influencia en el rendimiento académico en estudiantes universitarios de Psicología. EJIHPE: European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 9(2), 95-107. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=7109636 DOI: https://doi.org/10.30552/ejihpe.v9i2.323

Min, W., Jun, G., & Feng, L. (2022). How Psychological Wellbeing and Digital Mental Health Services Intervene the Role of Self-Efficacy and Affective Commitment of University Students in Their Performance?. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, 946793. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.946793 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.946793

Nachar, N. (2008). The Mann-Whitney U: A Test for Assessing Whether Two Independent Samples Come from the Same Distribution. Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 4, 13-20. https://doi.org/10.20982/tqmp.04.1.p013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20982/tqmp.04.1.p013

Norman, G. (2010). Likert scales, levels of measurement and the “laws” of statistics. Advances in health sciences education, 15(5), 625-632. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-010-9222-y DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-010-9222-y

Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric Theory (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC

Ouweneel, E., Le Blanc, P., & Schaufeli, W. (2011). Flourishing students: A longitudinal study on positive emotions, personal resources, and study engagement. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 6(2), 142-153. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2011.558847 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2011.558847

Ouweneel, E., Le Blanc, P., & Schaufeli, W. (2013). Do‐it‐yourself: An online positive psychology intervention to promote positive emotions, self‐efficacy, and engagement at work. Career Development International, 18(2), 173-195. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-10-2012-0102 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-10-2012-0102

Paoloni, P. V. R., & Bonetto, V. A. (2013). Creencias de autoeficacia y rendimiento académico en estudiantes universitarios. Propuestas para favorecer aprendizaje y motivación.

https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/handle/11336/98923

Popa-Velea, O., Pîrvan, I., & Diaconescu, L. (2021). The Impact of Self-Efficacy, Optimism, Resilience and Perceived Stress on Academic Performance and Its Subjective Evaluation: A Cross-Sectional Study. International Journal Environment Research Public Health, 18(17), 8911. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18178911 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18178911

Ramalingam, V., LaBelle, D., & Wiedenbeck, S. (2004). Self-efficacy and Mental Models in Learning to Program. In Proceedings of the 9th Annual SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, 171-175. https://doi.org/10.1145/1007996.100804 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1007996.1008042

Rosales-Ronquillo, C., & Hernández-Jácquez, L. (2020). Autoeficacia académica y su relación con el rendimiento académico en estudiantes de nutrición. Revista Electrónica Educare, 24(3), 139-155. http://dx.doi.org/10.15359/ree.24-3.7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15359/ree.24-3.7

Sarteshnizi, P., Farsani, Z., & Rabiei, M. (2023). Mediating Role of Academic Performance and Job Search Self-Efficacy in Correlation between Career Optimism and Pessimism and Students’ Employability Perception. Positive Psychology Research, 9(2), 43-64. 10.22108/PPLS.2023.134500.2340

Satici, S. A., & Can, G. (2016). Investigating Academic Self-Efficacy of University Students in Terms of Socio-Demographic Variables. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 4(8), 1874-1880. 10.13189/ujer.2016.040817 DOI: https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2016.040817

Schickel, M., & Ringeisen, T. (2022). What predicts students’ presentation performance? Self-efficacy, boredom and competence changes during presentation training. Current Psychology, 41(9), 5803-5816. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01090-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01090-8

Sherer, M., Maddux, J., Mercadante, B., Prentice-Dunn, S., Jacobs, B., & Rogers, R. (1982). The Self-Efficacy Scale: Construction and validation. Psychological Reports, 51, 663-671. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC DOI: https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1982.51.2.663

Sherer, M., & Adams, C. (1983). Construct validation of the Self-Efficacy Scale. Psychological Reports, 53, 899-902. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC DOI: https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1983.53.3.899

Smith, H., & Betz, N. (2000). Development and validation of a scale of perceived social self-efficacy. Journal of career assessment, 8(3), 283-301. https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/106907270000800306

Skaalvik, E., Federici, R., & Klassen, R. (2015). Mathematics achievement and self-efficacy: Relations with motivation for mathematics. International Journal of Educational Research, 72, 129-136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2015.06.008 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2015.06.008

Tavakol, M., & Dennick, R. (2011). Making sense of Cronbach's alpha. International journal of medical education, 2, 53. 10.5116/ijme.4dfb.8dfd DOI: https://doi.org/10.5116/ijme.4dfb.8dfd

Wilson, K., & Narayan, A. (2016). Relationships among individual task self-efficacy, self-regulated learning strategy use and academic performance in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment. Educational Psychology, 36(2), 236-253. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2014.926312 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2014.926312

Zakariya, Y. (2021) Self-Efficacy Between Previous and Current Mathematics Performance of Undergraduate Students: An Instrumental Variable Approach to Exposing a Causal Relationship. Frontiers in Psychology ,11, 556607. https://acortar.link/LJSQjw DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.556607

Zimmerman, B. J. (1995). Self-efficacy and educational development. In A. Bandura (Ed.), Self-efficacy in changing societies (pp. 202-231). Cambridge University Press https://bit.ly/4cSnXSC DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511527692.009

Zimmerman, B. J. (2015). Self-regulated learning: Theories, measures, and outcomes. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (pp. 541-546). 10.1016/b978-0-08-097086-8.26060-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.26060-1

Zimmerman, B. J., Schunk, D., & DiBenedetto, M. (2017). The role of self-efficacy and related beliefs in self-regulation of learning and performance. In A. J. Elliot, C. S. Dweck & D. S. Yeager (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation: Theory and application (pp. 313-333). http://bit.ly/4cSnXSC