When self-efficacy negatively relates to motivation and performance in a learning context.

TLDR

While training literature promotes manipulating self‑efficacy to boost motivation, self‑regulation theory suggests its effect depends on goal processes, and in planning‑heavy contexts self‑efficacy may actually reduce motivation, a pattern that between‑person studies may mask. The study examined how self‑efficacy relates to motivation and performance by surveying 63 undergraduates before five exams. Participants completed repeated self‑efficacy and motivation questionnaires prior to each of five class exams. Within individuals, higher self‑efficacy predicted lower motivation and poorer exam performance, whereas across individuals it correlated positively with performance.

Abstract

Recent reviews of the training literature have advocated directly manipulating self-efficacy in an attempt to improve the motivation of trainees. However, self-regulation theories conceive of motivation as a function of various goal processes, and assert that the effect of self-efficacy should depend on the process involved. Training contexts may evoke planning processes in which self-efficacy might negatively relate to motivation. Yet the typical between-persons studies in the current literature may obscure the effect. To examine this issue, 63 undergraduate students completed a series of questionnaires measuring self-efficacy and motivation before 5 class exams. Self-efficacy was negatively related to motivation and exam performance at the within-person level of analysis, despite a significant positive relation with performance at the between-persons level.