Self-efficacy scale could help reduce workplace stress

New research into how workers manage stressful situations has the potential to assist leaders with promoting a mentally healthy workplace.

A new tool, designed to assess an employee’s beliefs about how they manage challenging and stressful situations in the workplace, has been developed by academic researchers at the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) Norwich Business School, the Department of Psychology at Sapienza University of Rome, Uninettuno Telematic International University and the Centre for Advances in Behavioural Science at Coventry University.

In a workplace setting, employees require an ability to manage negative emotions as well as accomplishing tasks and managing interpersonal relationships.

Self-efficacy — or the belief in one’s capabilities to achieve a goal or an outcome — is a key variable for understanding how people manage themselves and their behaviour at work, given its influence on motivation, wellbeing, and personal achievement and fulfilment.

In the past, self-efficacy has mainly been assessed in relation to job tasks, without delving into emotions and interpersonal aspects. This research therefore aimed to fill the gap by developing and testing a new work self-efficacy scale to assess individuals’ perceived ability not only in managing tasks, but also negative emotions, being empathic and being assertive.

“Our scale can be used for monitoring employees’ personal resources in relation to their perceived capabilities in managing the different aspects of working life. It can be used during the appraisal as a self-reflective tool and for designing tailored training,” said research co-author Dr Roberta Fida, lecturer in organisational behaviour at the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) Norwich Business School.

“The scale could be also used in the recruitment process, providing useful information to understand how potential employees may adjust to the work environment.”

A total of 2892 Italian employees participated in the research studies, which found that the more employees perceived themselves as having the capacity to manage their tasks and fulfil their goals (task self-efficacy) the better they performed and the less likely they were to engage in counterproductive behaviours at work.

In addition, the more workers perceived themselves as capable of managing their negative emotions in stressful and conflict situations (negative emotional self-efficacy), the less likely they were to report physical symptoms or experience negative emotions relating to their job.

Meanwhile, employees who perceived themselves as able to understand their colleagues’ moods and states (empathic self-efficacy) were reportedly more likely to make greater effort in their working lives, as well as providing more assistance to their colleagues.

Interestingly, employees who perceived themselves as capable of speaking up for their rights and ideas (assertive self-efficacy) appeared more likely to engage in counterproductive work behaviours.

“Our research showed that if we look at assertive self-efficacy without taking into account the other self-efficacy dimensions, it seemed that it can be related to counterproductive behaviours such as daydream rather than work; steal something belonging to the employer,” said Fida.

“However, it is important to highlight that this result is only partial. Indeed, when employees with high assertive self-efficacy also have high self-efficacy in managing tasks, managing negative emotions and being emphatic they do not misbehave and they actually show high extra-role behaviour such as helping others who have heavy workloads.”

While the researchers did not test the relationship between levels of self-efficacy and the type of work environment in which employees are operating, a previous study suggests that those who have higher levels of self-efficacy cope more effectively in a stressful environment.

“Self-efficacy does have a protective role, in that the more employees believe in their capability to cope with stressful interpersonal situations at work, the less they perceive incivility from co-workers and supervisors, and the less they experience burnout,” said Fida.

“This research contributes in making even clearer the importance for leaders to gain an all-around understanding of their employees, with the aim of providing the best support for each employee according to their needs.

“Leaders should look at them not just in relation to their technical skills but also to their ‘soft competencies’ related to managing negative emotions and interpersonal relationships.”

‘Possunt, quia posse videntur: They can because they think they can. Development and Validation of the Work Self-Efficacy Scale: Evidence from Two Studies’, by Claudio Barbaranelli, Roberta Fida, Marinella Paciello and Carlo Tramontano, is published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior.

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