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The Impact of Vocational and Social Efficacy on Job Performance and Career Satisfaction

October 29, 2004 

"While one may argue that social skills have always been important in the workplace, two trends heighten their importance even further.  First, team-based work structures are becoming more prevalent in organizations (Lawler, Mohrman & Ledford, 1998), thus, requiring individuals to raise their frequency of skillful interactions with others in order to accomplish group tasks (Guzzo & Shea, 1992).  Second, the considerable increase of service-oriented jobs has resulted in most Americans working in this sector.  This article is built on the premise that an individuals (work) performance is not only dependent on the motivation to enact certain behaviors but is also regulated by beliefs that one can successfully execute these actions (Wood & Bandura, 1989b).  Furthermore, and in accord with current reconceptualizations of the job performance concept (Borman & Motowidlo, 1993; Welbourne, Johnson, & Erez, 1998), we explore the impact of social efficacy beliefs on various dimensions of job performance. 

 Research has emphasized the importance of accounting for individual difference variables in organizational research (George, 1992; Hogan, 1991; House, Shane, & Herold, 1996; Mischel, 1990; Pervin, 1989).  Despite various appeals (e.g., Guion, 1983; Hogan & Shelton, 1998) however, only few works have attempted to demonstrate the validity of social skills as a predictor of job performance.

 In general, researchers have confirmed the importance of self-regulatory mechanisms in motivational processes and performance attainments (e.g., Bandura, 1997; Carver & Scheier, 1985, Kanfer, 1990; Locke & Latham, 1990).  Indeed, the fact that self-efficacy is associated with a wide range of performance outcomes in a variety of contexts has been clearly established in individual (Bandura, 1997), as well as meta-analytic investigations (Stajkovic & Luthans, 1998a). 

 Although a focal concept in organization science, job performance, per se, has received little previous theoretical attention (Campbell, 1990).  Fortunately, recent work has been instrumental in furthering the development of the performance concept.

 The current study seeks to answer one rather straightforward question: notably, how does task and social efficacy interact to predict performance and career satisfaction?  By definition, social efficacy, as a term used comparably with social skill reflects an individual's ability to interact successfully with others and generally foster positive interpersonal relationships (Guion, 1998).  What has yet to be determined, however, is the impact that this variable has on the often-researched task efficacy - performance relationship.  In an effort to expand the criterion domain, we included career satisfaction to determine whether the relationships found for performance were comparable to other outcomes.

 Surveys were mailed to the residences of 600 graduate school (MBA) alumni who received degrees from a large Southeastern University.  Participation was voluntary and anonymity guaranteed.  A total of 223 surveys were returned for an overall response rate of 37%.  Due to missing data, the sample size was reduced to 222.  Ages ranged from 24 to 70 (M = 41.44, SD = 11.82) while the sample consisted of 167 males (76%) and 53 females (24%).  Tenure in one's current position ranged from less than one to 50 years (M = 9.01, SD = 8.83).

 In addition to collecting demographic information, participants provided their perceptions of affective disposition (NA and PA), job tension, affective commitment, general and self-efficacy, three aspects of performance (dedication, interpersonal, and output focused), and career satisfaction.  Affective disposition was measured using the 20-item Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS, Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988).  Job tension was measured with House and Rizzo's (1972) five-item subscale of the Anxiety-Stress Questionnaire.  Commitment was measured using Allen and Meyer's (1990) eight-item index of affective attachment.  Task efficacy and social efficacy were measured using a scale developed by Scherer et al. (1982).  To capture aspects of both task and contextual performance, participants were asked to rate work output, interpersonal and dedication dimensions of performance.  We assessed career satisfaction using a four-item scale developed by Turban and Dougherty (1994). 

 Given the self-report nature of our performance and career satisfaction measures, we were interested in determining whether distinct variables existed or if the data reflected a general and pervasive view of one's contribution at work.  Hence, we examined the underlying factor structure of our three performance measures and our index of career satisfaction to determine whether unique constructs existed.

 Using LISREL 8 (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1993), we conducted confirmatory factor analyses to examine the discriminant validity of our dependent measures.  Regression analyses indicating predictors of performance and career satisfaction indicated that NA, PA and general efficacy were significant predictors and the relationships were in their expected direction.  Finally, those with low tenure, high positive affectivity, high commitment, and high task efficacy were most satisfied with their careers in general. 

 One contribution of the current study pertains to the substantiation of task and social efficacy as related, yet largely independent constructs.  Additionally, the effect of each of these two variables was isolated and applied to predicting both career satisfaction and job performance measures in conjunction with a series of control variables.

 The results of this study are understandable in that mastering a job task may be easier than mastering an individual or group of people.  In comparison to social skill, task skill may indeed be more quantifiable, teachable, and amenable to the ways that self-efficacy can be improved through enactive mastery experiences, or modeling exercises (vicarious learning.  This study found that high social efficacy is not enough to ensure desirable job performance or satisfaction levels for individuals in organizations; some degree of task efficacy is needed also.

 The current investigation has a number of strengths that warrant mention.  First, we were able to capture the views of individuals employed in a wide range of occupations.  Second, we were able to control for a number of variables that have demonstrated significant relationships without dependent variables in prior research.  Finally we were able to substantiate that our dependent variables (e.g., performance measures and career satisfaction) were unique constructs through the use of structural equation modeling (Hochwarter, Kiewitz, Gundlach, & Stoner, 2004, p. 27-40)."

Reference:  Hochwarter, W.A., Kiewitz, C., Gundlach, M.J., Stoner, J. (2004). The impact of vocational and social efficacy on job performance and career satisfaction.  Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 2004, 10, (3).

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Created: 2007-11-13, Updated: 2009-02-17