Structural impacts on formation of self-efficacy and its performance effects

Ghulam Mustafa, Richard Glavee-Geo, Kjell Gronhaug, Hanan Saber Almazrouei

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The role of organizational structure as an important contextual variable has long been recognized in affecting a host of employee attitudes and behaviors, but there is a dearth of theoretical and empirical research that examines the ways in which organizational structure influences the occurrence of self-efficacy and its performance effects. This study addresses this gap by exploring how the two core structural components-formalization and centralization-separately and jointly affect employee self-efficacy and how they interact with self-efficacy to influence employee task performance. The study further examines the extent to which structure weaves its influence on individual performance through perceptions of self-efficacy. Data from 120 Pakistani public sector employees were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and polynomial regression to assess the hypothesized relationships. The empirical analysis shows that formalization is positively associated with self-efficacy while centralization has a negative association, and such an improvement/attenuation in self-efficacy is partly transformed into performance improvements. The findings further reveal that self-efficacy and performance relationship is diminished under conditions of high formalization and high centralization. We discuss implications for theory and practice and delineate directions for future research.

Original languageEnglish
Article number860
JournalSustainability (Switzerland)
Volume11
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 7 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Centralization
  • Formalization
  • Organizational structure
  • Self-efficacy
  • Social cognitive theory
  • Task performance

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science (miscellaneous)
  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Building and Construction
  • Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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