Relationship between conscientiousness and learning in employee training: Mediating influences of self-deception and self-efficacy.

TLDR

A field study of 97 employees in an introductory Windows 3.1 training course tested a model in which self‑deception and task‑specific self‑efficacy mediate the link between conscientiousness and learning, and four alternative models were also estimated. The data confirmed that conscientiousness predicts learning through self‑deception (negative path) and self‑efficacy (positive path), and the four alternative models were not supported.

Abstract

A field study of 97 employees tested a model of the mediating influences of self-deception and task-specific self-efficacy in the relationship between conscientiousness and learning. The setting was an introductory Windows 3.1 software training course. Findings indicated that, as hypothesized, self-deception and self-efficacy mediated the relationship between conscientiousness and learning. Specifically, conscientiousness was positively related to self-deception, which was negatively related to learning, and conscientiousness was positively related to self-efficacy, which was positively related to learning. In addition, 4 alternative models were estimated. The results of the tests of the 4 alternative models were not supported by the data, further substantiating the validity of the hypothesized model.