Self or Group? Cultural Effects of Training on Self-efficacy and Performance.

Earley, P. Christopher

This paper examines the theoretical and empirical relationship of training and individualism-collectivism to self-efficacy (a person's estimate of his or her ability to perform a task) and performance in studies of managers from Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China, and the United States. A laboratory experiment and a six-month field experiment were used to test hypotheses predicting that for individualists, self-focused training would have a stronger impact on self-efficacy and performance than would group-focused training and, for collectivists, group-focused training would have a stronger impact on self-efficacy and performance than would individual-focused training. The results show consistent support for the hypotheses at both a cultural and an individual level of analysis. A general model of self-efficacy and culture in an organizational environment is discussed.

HONG Kong (China); CHINA; UNITED States; TRAINING; SELF-efficacy; INDIVIDUALISM; PERFORMANCE; CROSS-cultural studies; COLLECTIVISM (Social psychology); TRAINING of executives; ORGANIZATIONAL sociology; METHODOLOGY; TASK performance; EMPLOYEE training; PSYCHOLOGY

Administrative Science Quarterly, 1994, Vol 39, Issue 1, p89

0001-8392

Academic Journal

10.2307/2393495