ABSTRACT
According to Bandura's (1977, 1986) social cognitive theory, people's actions are not only influenced by their beliefs concerning the likely consequences of an act, but also by their expectations of personal mastery. Such expectations are referred to by Bandura (1977, 1986) as efficacy expectancies, and reflect people's beliefs concerning the likelihood that they will be able to perform a particular behaviour successfully. Self-efficacious thinking cannot be equated with the possession of the requisite skills to perform the behaviour. As noted by Bandura (1986, 1989a,b), successful performance of a behaviour depends not only on the availability of skills, but also on the belief that one will be able to utilise the skills effectively in the appropriate situation. In the absence of the belief that they can successfully perform a behaviour, people will be unlikely to be motivated to perform the behaviour. Moreover, if they do attempt to perform the behaviour, people with low levels of self-efficacy are unlikely to persist in their behavioural efforts.
