The concept of self-efficacy is concerned with people''s beliefs in their ability to produce given attainment. It has been widely applied to study human conduct in various settings. This study, based on Albert Bandura''s social cognitive theory, proposes the employment of self-efficacy for investigating people''s ethical conduct related to computer use. Specifically, an ethical computer self-efficacy (ECSE) construct concerning software piracy is developed and validated. The measurement model of the construct was rigorously (...) tested and validated through confirmatory factor analysis. The results suggest that ECSE can be operationalized as a second-order factor model. The first order constructs are termed use&keep (do not use), distribution (do not distribute), and persuasion (persuade others not to commit piracy). These factors are governed by a second-order construct of ECSE. This construct could be useful to research a wide range of information ethics in the future. (shrink)

In the past, the conventional concentration of Internet banking (IB) research has been on technology development, but this is now shifting to user-focused research. It has been suggested that potential users of IB services in Malaysia may not adopt the system even if they are available, due to their perceptions of this application and their level of confidence in using it to solve their banking needs. This study therefore employs the extended technology acceptance model as the theoretical framework for assessing (...) the influences of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived reliability, and computer self-efficacy on IB adoption in Malaysia. This study scrutinizes the moderation effect of computer self-efficacy on perceptions–intention relationships. Based on data from a sample of 133 Internet-using bank customers collected through a field survey, it was found that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were strong determinants of behavioral intention to adopt IB, while perceived reliability has no direct relationship with intention. Computer self-efficacy significantly moderates the relationship of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use with intention. (shrink)

Visuospatial (VS) skills, or one’s ability to mentally manipulate spatial information about objects, are critical to STEM enrollment, retention, and achievement. Low level of VS skills may deter some people from joining the STEM workforce or complicate their learning experience. While there is plenty of evidence suggesting that VS skills can be improved through training, few accessible training programs exist as of now, particularly for younger students. The current study proposes a new direction of VS training focusing on the development (...) of visuospatial self-efficacy (VSSE), or one’s confidence that they can complete specific VS tasks. The collaborative, desktop/mobile Virtual Reality game called [hidden for peer review] (available for download at [hidden for peer review]) was designed to improve VSSE in middle school students. A total of 169 students across 11 classrooms in 3 middle schools in a mid-western city in the United States participated in the intervention. The participants in the experimental condition (n=96, 6 classrooms) played the intervention game during 4 sessions over the course of 2 weeks, while the participants in the control condition (n=73, 5 classrooms) engaged in typical class activities. The results revealed that the intervention significantly increased students’ VS self-efficacy but not their VS performance or STEM performance. The implications and significance of the findings are discussed along with suggestions for further research. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to make clear the relationships between student’s self-efficacy and learning experience of information education in case of junior high school. Two investigations were implemented in this study. The aim of first investigation was to grasp the present status of students’ feeling of effectiveness of their learning experience in information education. Also, the aim of second investigation was to verify the relationships between students’ self-efficacy and the abilities for information utilizing that (...) promoted in information education. The first investigation with a question: “What kind of a learning experience do you feel is useful in your life?” was conducted on 426 junior high school students. As a result, almost half of the students feel effectiveness of gaining computer-operating skills in “Information and Computer” class. Also, it is suggested that utilization of Internet could promote the feeling of effectiveness in current daily lives. In second investigation, the relationship between self-efficacy and abilities for information utilizing was examined by using multi-regression analysis on 544 junior high school students. As a result, abilities for information utilizing were affected from self-evaluation of “social position of abilities” and “positive attitude to activities” in self-efficacy. Also, self-efficacy was affected from “processing ability of information” and “creation ability of information” in abilities for information utilizing. By the results of these investigations, it is suggested that these two factors are formed as a gradual cycle which promote each other. From these results, some suggestions for improvement of classroom activities in information education were proposed. (shrink)

Concerns with improper collection and usage of personal information by businesses or governments have been seen as critical to the success of the emerging electronic commerce. In this regard, computer professionals have the oversight responsibility for information privacy because they have the most extensive knowledge of their organization's systems and programs, as well as an intimate understanding of the data. Thus, the competence of these professionals in ensuring sound practice of information privacy is of great importance to both researchers (...) and practitioners. This research addresses the question of whether male computer professionals differ from their female counterparts in their self-regulatory efficacy to protect personal information privacy. A total of 103 male and 65 female subjects surveyed in Taiwan responded to a 10-item questionnaire that includes three measures: protection, non-distribution, and non-acquisition. The findings show significant gender differences exist in the subjects' overall self-regulatory efficacy for information privacy, and, in particular, that female subjects in this study exhibited a higher level of self-regulatory efficacy than males for the protection and non-acquisition of personal privacy information. The identification of the factorial structure of the self-regulatory efficacy concerning information privacy may contribute to future research directed to examining the links between privacy efficacy and psychological variables, such as ethical attitude, ethical intention, and self-esteem. Studies can also be extended to investigate how different cultural practices of morality and computer use in men and women may shape the different development patterns of privacy self-efficacy. Understanding the different cultural practices may then shed light on the social sources of privacy competence and the appropriate remedies that can be provided to improve the situation. (shrink)

Technostress is evolving as an imperative area of academic research amid the “new normal” settings of working remotely. Research has investigated the relationships between technostress and job outcomes and proposed individual- and organizational-level approaches to manage it. However, insights into the influence of dynamic personality differences on this relationship are limited. This study ties the concept of self-efficacy to the transactional model of stress and coping, and investigates to what extent computer and social self-efficacy moderate (...) the relationships between technostress creators and frontline employee’s job performance. Findings shift the focus from the negative aspects of technostress and outcomes to both positive and negative aspects. This study’s contributions and implications for theory and practice are discussed. (shrink)

This study investigates factors that motivate users of social network sites to write responses to support-seeking posts on SNS. In particular, support-seeking message valence and support providers’ efficacy perceptions were examined. An online experiment with 209 participants revealed that participants reported lower support provision efficacy and impression management efficacy when responding to a negative post than a positive post. Message valence and efficacy perceptions impacted word count and emotion words in their responses. Theoretical and pragmatic implications (...) for supportive communication and computer-mediated communication were discussed. (shrink)

The present study aimed to examine the promotive and protective role of general self-efficacy and positive self-concept in the context of the effects of early familial risk factors on children’s development of emotional problems from early to middle childhood. A total of 293, 239, and 189 children from 25 childcare centers took part in the present study. Fourteen familial risk factors were assessed at T1 using an interview and a questionnaire that were administered to children’s primary caregivers. (...) These 14 familial risk factors were used to compute a familial risk factors score. Primary caregivers also reported on their children’s emotional problems at T2 and T3 and on their children’s general self-efficacy at T2. Children reported on their positive self-concept at T2. Results showed that early familial risk factors were positively associated with emotional problems in the short and long term, although the long-term effect was small and non-significant. Further, the pattern of effect sizes of both promotive and protective effects of general self-efficacy as well as positive self-concept was found to be consistent in the short term. However, in the long term, no consistent support for either the promotive or the protective role of general self-efficacy or positive self-concept was found. These results suggest that general self-efficacy and positive self-concept might contribute to promote mental health and to protect from undesired effects of familial risk factors in the short term. Possible reasons for a lack of long-term effects are discussed along with practical implications. (shrink)

This study presents the evaluation of a computer-based learning program for children with developmental dyscalculia and focuses on factors affecting individual responsiveness. The adaptive training program Calcularis 2.0 has been developed according to current neuro-cognitive theory of numerical cognition. It aims to automatize number representations, supports the formation and access to the mental number line and trains arithmetic operations as well as arithmetic fact knowledge in expanding number ranges. Sixty-seven children with developmental dyscalculia from second to fifth grade (mean (...) age 8.96 years) were randomly assigned to one of two groups (Calcularis group, waiting control group). Training duration comprised a minimum of 42 training sessions à 20 min within a maximum period of 13 weeks. Compared to the waiting control group, children of the Calcularis group demonstrated a higher benefit in arithmetic operations and number line estimation. These improvements were shown to be stable after a 3-months post training interval. In addition, this study examines which predictors accounted for training improvements. Results indicate that this self-directed training was especially beneficial for children with low math anxiety scores and without an additional reading and/or spelling disorder. In conclusion, Calcularis 2.0 supports children with developmental dyscalculia to improve their arithmetical abilities and their mental number line representation. However, it is relevant to further adapt the setting to the individual circumstances. (shrink)

Research from the fields of criminology and social psychology suggests that the deterrent effect of security countermeasures is not uniform across individuals. In this study, we examine whether certain individual characteristics (i. e., computer self-efficacy) or work arrangement (i. e., virtual status) moderate the influence of security policies, security education, training, and awareness (SETA) program, and computer monitoring on information systems misuse. The results suggest that computer savvy individuals are less deterred by SETA programs and (...) computer monitoring, while these countermeasures are also less influential (from a deterrence perspective) on employees that spend more working days outside the office. Implications for both the research and practice of information security are discussed. (shrink)

Belonging uncertainty, defined as the general concern about the quality of one’s social relationships in an academic setting, has been found to be an important determinant of academic achievement and persistence. However, to date, only little research investigated the sources of belonging uncertainty. To address this research gap, we examined three potential sources of belonging uncertainty in a sample of undergraduate computer science students in Germany (N= 449) and focused on (a) perceived affective and academic exclusion by fellow students, (...) (b) domain-specific academic self-efficacy beliefs, and (c) perception of one’s individual performance potential compared to that of fellow students in the field. Perceived affective and academic exclusion by fellow students and domain-specific academic self-efficacy beliefs were significant predictors of female students’ uncertainty about belonging in computer science. The perception of one’s individual performance potential in comparison to that of fellow students, however, was a relevant predictor of both male and female students’ belonging uncertainty in computer science. Our findings imply an expanded view of the theoretical concept of belonging uncertainty that goes beyond mere concerns of social connectedness. (shrink)

Python language has become the most popular computer language. Python is widely adopted in computer courses. However, Python language’s effects on the college and university students’ learning performance, motivations, computer programming self-efficacy, and maladaptive cognition have still not been widely examined. The main objective of this study is to explore the effects of learning Python on students’ programming learning. The junior students of two classes in a college are the research participants. One class was taught (...) Java language and the other class was taught Python language. The learning performance, motivations, and maladaptive cognition in the two classes were compared to evaluate the differences. The results showed that the motivations, computer programming self-efficacy, and maladaptive cognition on the learning performance were significant in the Python class. The results and findings of this study can be used in Python course arrangement and development. (shrink)

Students’ perceptions of learning are important predictors of their learning motivation and academic performance. Examining perceptions of learning has meaningful implications for instruction practices, while it has been largely neglected in the research of computational thinking. To contribute to the development of CT education, we explored the influence of students’ perceptions on their motivation and performance in CT acquisition and examined the gender difference in the structural model using a multigroup structural equation modeling analysis. Two hundred and eighty-five students from (...) a Chinese urban high school were recruited for the study. The analysis revealed that students’ perceptions of CT positively influenced their CT performance and learning motivation, and some motivational constructs, namely self-efficacy and learning goal orientation, also positively influenced their CT performance. Furthermore, in the male student group, perceptions of CT exhibited significant correlations with both self-efficacy and LGO. However, no significant correlation was found in the female student group. Implications for research and teaching practice in CT education are presented herein. (shrink)

This study explores the ethical attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions of a sampling of political science students in Taiwan. It investigates their intentions toward observing ethics in the area of digital rights, on topics such as the freedom of expression, freedom of association, equal access to information, confidentiality, security, and protection of intellectual property while using computers. Based on preliminary studies, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to 660 political science and public administration students throughout colleges in Taiwan. Data collected from (...) 440 valid samples have been analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the three sets of hypotheses made by the researchers in the framework of the theory of planned behavior. Findings show attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control of the respondents all have positive impacts on the personal observation of information ethics. In this regard, altruism, the secondary group, and the sense of security have greater influence than egoism, the primary group, and the consideration of self-efficacy. Implications of these findings and recommendations for cultivating computer ethics in Taiwan and elsewhere are discussed. (shrink)

The present study aimed to integrate findings from technology acceptance research with research on applicant reactions to new technology for the emerging selection procedure of asynchronous video interviewing. One hundred six volunteers experienced asynchronous video interviewing and filled out several questionnaires including one on the applicants’ personalities. In line with previous technology acceptance research, the data revealed that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use predicted attitudes toward asynchronous video interviewing. Furthermore, openness revealed to moderate the relation between perceived usefulness (...) and attitudes toward this particular selection technology. No significant effects revealed for computer self-efficacy, job interview self-efficacy, extraversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (shrink)

Massive Open Online Course is a new online education model that provides new opportunities and challenges for the development and reform of teaching in colleges and universities. This paper first builds a MOOC-based model of influencing factors of blended learning adaptability. Through investigation and research, it is found that the six influencing factors all have different ways and different degrees of influence on learning adaptability. Among them, learning motivation has a direct and significant impact on learning adaptability, and learning (...) class='Hi'>self-efficacy not only has a direct and significant impact on learning adaptability but also has an indirect impact on learning adaptability through learning motivation. Teacher teaching has indirect effects on learning adaptability through learning self-efficacy, learning motivation, and learning support. Learning support not only has a direct and significant impact on learning adaptability but also has an indirect impact on learning adaptability through learning motivation. MOOC platform has a direct and significant impact on learning adaptability. The quality of course content has a direct and significant impact on learning adaptability through the MOOC platform and learning motivation. The creative results of this research are mainly embodied in the combination of theory and practice, exploring and forming related results based on MOOC-based college students’ learning adaptability. According to the MOOC-based learning-adaptive intervention model, teaching practice is carried out to verify the effect of the intervention model from two aspects of student procedural performance and result performance. Finally, in view of the problems existing in traditional computer teaching in colleges and universities, combined with the design ideas and basic characteristics of MOOC, the teaching mode reform of computer courses is analyzed and discussed, and a MOOC-based computer engineering education teaching mode is proposed. (shrink)

ABSTRACT I argue that this examination and appreciation for the shift to abductive reasoning should be extended to the intersection of neuroscience and novel brain-computer interfaces too. This paper highlights the implications of applying abductive reasoning to personalized implantable neurotechnologies. Then, it explores whether abductive reasoning is sufficient to justify insurance coverage for devices absent widespread clinical trials, which are better applied to one-size-fits-all treatments. INTRODUCTION In contrast to the classic model of randomized-control trials, often with a large number (...) of subjects enrolled, precision medicine attempts to optimize therapeutic outcomes by focusing on the individual.[i] A recent publication highlights the strengths and weakness of both traditional evidence-based medicine and precision medicine.[ii] Plus, it outlines a tension in the shift from evidence-based medicine’s inductive reasoning style (the collection of data to postulate general theories) to precision medicine’s abductive reasoning style (the generation of an idea from the limited data available).[iii] The paper’s main example is the application of precision medicine for the treatment of cancer.[iv] I argue that this examination and appreciation for the shift to abductive reasoning should be extended to the intersection of neuroscience and novel brain-computer interfaces too. As the name suggests, brain-computer interfaces are a significant advancement in neurotechnology that directly connects someone’s brain to external or implanted devices.[v] Among the various kinds of brain-computer interfaces, adaptive deep brain stimulation devices require numerous personalized adjustments to their settings during the implantation and computation stages in order to provide adequate relief to patients with treatment-resistant disorders. What makes these devices unique is how adaptive deep brain stimulation integrates a sensory component to initiate the stimulation. While not commonly at the level of sophistication as self-supervising or generative large language models,[vi] they currently allow for a semi-autonomous form of neuromodulation. This paper highlights the implications of applying abductive reasoning to personalized implantable neurotechnologies. Then, it explores whether abductive reasoning is sufficient to justify insurance coverage for devices absent widespread clinical trials, which are better applied to one-size-fits-all treatments.[vii] ANALYSIS I. The State of Precision Medicine in Oncology and the Epistemological Shift While a thorough overview of precision medicine for the treatment of cancer is beyond the scope of this article, its practice can be roughly summarized as identifying clinically significant characteristics a patient possesses (e.g., genetic traits) to land on a specialized treatment option that, theoretically, should benefit the patient the most.[viii] However, in such a practice of stratification patients fall into smaller and smaller populations and the quality of evidence that can be applied to anyone outside these decreases in turn.[ix] As inductive logic helps to articulate, the greater the number of patients that respond to a particular therapy the higher the probability of its efficacy. By straying from this logical framework, precision medicine opens the treatment of cancer to more uncertainty about the validity of these approaches to the resulting disease subcategories.[x] Thus, while contemporary medical practices explicitly describe some treatments as “personalized”, they ought not be viewed as inherently better founded than other therapies.[xi] A relevant contemporary case of precision medicine out of Norway focuses on the care of a patient with cancer between the ventricles of the heart and esophagus, which had failed to respond to the standard regimen of therapies over four years.[xii] In a last-ditch effort, the patient elected to pay out-of-pocket for an experimental immunotherapy (nivolumab) at a private hospital. He experienced marked improvements and a reduction in the size of the tumor. Understandably, the patient tried to pursue further rounds of nivolumab at a public hospital. However, the hospital initially declined to pay for it given the “lack of evidence from randomised clinical trials for this drug relating to this [patient’s] condition.”[xiii] In rebuttal to this claim, the patient countered that he was actually similar to a subpopulation of patients who responded in “open‐label, single arm, phase 2 studies on another immune therapy drug” (pembrolizumab).[xiv] Given this interpretation of the prior studies and the patient’s response, further rounds of nivolumab were approved. Had the patient not had improvements in the tumor’s size following a round of nivolumab, then pembrolizumab’s prior empirical evidence in isolation would have been insufficient, inductively speaking, to justify his continued use of nivolumab.[xv] The case demonstrates a shift in reasoning from the traditional induction to abduction. The phenomenon of ‘cancer improvement’ is considered causally linked to nivolumab and its underlying physiological mechanisms.[xvi] However, “the weakness of abductions is that there may always be some other better, unknown explanation for an effect. The patient may for example belong to a special subgroup that spontaneously improves, or the change may be a placebo effect. This does not mean, however, that abductive inferences cannot be strong or reasonable, in the sense that they can make a conclusion probable.”[xvii] To demonstrate the limitations of relying on the abductive standard in isolation, commentators have pointed out that side effects in precision medicine are hard to rule out as being related to the initial intervention itself unless trends from a group of patients are taken into consideration.[xviii] As artificial intelligence (AI) assists the development of precision medicine for oncology, this uncertainty ought to be taken into consideration. The implementation of AI has been crucial to the development of precision medicine by providing a way to combine large patient datasets or a single patient with a large number of unique variables with machine learning to recommend matches based on statistics and probability of success upon which practitioners can base medical recommendations.[xix] The AI is usually not establishing a causal relationship[xx] – it is predicting. So, as AI bleeds into medical devices, like brain-computer interfaces, the same cautions about using abductive reasoning alone should be carried over. II. Responsive Neurostimulation, AI, and Personalized Medicine Like precision medicine in cancer treatment, computer-brain interface technology similarly focuses on the individual patient through personalized settings. In order to properly expose the intersection of AI, precision medicine, abductive reasoning, and implantable neurotechnologies, the descriptions of adaptive deep brain stimulation systems need to deepen.[xxi] As a broad summary of adaptive deep brain stimulation, to provide a patient with the therapeutic stimulation, a neural signal, typically referred to as a local field potential,[xxii] must first be detected and then interpreted by the device. The main adaptive deep brain stimulation device with premarket approval, the NeuroPace Responsive Neurostimulation system, is used to treat epilepsy by detecting and storing “programmer-defined phenomena.”[xxiii] Providers can optimize the detection settings of the device to align with the patient’s unique electrographic seizures as well as personalize the reacting stimulation’s parameters.[xxiv] The provider adjusts the technology based on trial and error. One day machine learning algorithms will be able to regularly aid this process in myriad ways, such as by identifying the specific stimulation settings a patient may respond to ahead of time based on their electrophysiological signatures.[xxv] Either way, with AI or programmers, adaptive neurostimulation technologies are individualized and therefore operate in line with precision medicine rather than standard treatments based on large clinical trials. Contemporary neurostimulation devices are not usually sophisticated enough to be prominent in AI discussions where the topics of neural networks, deep learning, generative models, and self-attention dominate the conversation. However, implantable high-density electrocorticography arrays (a much more sensitive version than adaptive deep brain stimulation systems use) have been used in combination with neural networks to help patients with neurologic deficits from a prior stroke “speak” through a virtual avatar.[xxvi] In some experimental situations, algorithms are optimizing stimulation parameters with increasing levels of independence.[xxvii] An example of neurostimulation that is analogous to the use of nivolumab in Norway surrounds a patient in the United States who was experiencing both treatment-resistant OCD and temporal lobe epilepsy.[xxviii]Given the refractory nature of her epilepsy, implantation of an adaptive deep brain stimulation system was indicated. As a form of experimental therapy, her treatment-resistant OCD was also indicated for the off-label use of an adaptive deep brain stimulation set-up. Another deep brain stimulation lead, other than the one implanted for epilepsy, was placed in the patient’s right nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum region given the correlation these nuclei had with OCD symptoms in prior research. Following this, the patient underwent “1) ambulatory, patient-initiated magnet-swipe storage of data during moments of obsessive thoughts; (2) lab-based, naturalistic provocation of OCD-related distress (naturalistic provocation task); and (3) lab-based, VR [virtual reality] provocation of OCD-related distress (VR provocation task).”[xxix] Such signals were used to identify when to deliver the therapeutic stimulation in order to counter the OCD symptoms. Thankfully, following the procedure and calibration the patient exhibited marked improvements in their OCD symptoms and recently shared her results publicly.[xxx] In both cases, there is a similar level of abductive justification for the efficacy of the delivered therapy. In the case study in which the patient was treated with adaptive deep brain stimulation, they at least had their neural activity tested in various settings to determine the optimum parameters for treatment to avoid them being based on guesswork. Additionally, the adaptive deep brain stimulation lead was already placed before the calibration trials were conducted, meaning that the patient had already taken on the bulk of the procedural risk before the efficacy could be determined. Such an efficacy test could have been replicated in the first patient’s cancer treatment, had it been biopsied and tested against the remaining immunotherapies in vitro. Yet, in the case of cancer with few options, one previous dose of a drug that appeared to work on the patient may justify further doses. However, as the Norwegian case presents, corroboration with known responses to a similar drug (from a clinical trial) could be helpful to validate the treatment strategy. (It should be noted that both patients were resigned to these last resort options regardless of the efficacy of treatment.) There are some elements of inductive logic seen with adaptive deep brain stimulation research in general. For example, abductively the focus could be that patient X’s stimulation parameters are different from patient Y’s and patient Z’s. In contrast, when grouped as subjects who obtained personalized stimulation, patients X, Y, and Z demonstrate an inductive aspect to this approach’s safety and/or efficacy. The OCD case holds plenty of abductive characteristics in line with precision medicine’s approach to treating cancer and as more individuals try the method, there will be additional data. With the gradual integration of AI into brain-computer interfaces in the name of efficacy, this reliance on abduction will continue, if not grow, over time. Moving forward, if a responsive deep brain stimulation treatment is novel and individualized (like the dose of nivolumab) and there is some other suggestion of efficacy (like clinical similarities to other patients in the literature), then it may justify insurance coverage for the investigative intervention, absent other unrelated reasons to deny it. III. Ethical Implications and Next Steps While AI’s use in oncology and neurology is not yet as prominent as its use in other fields (e.g., radiology), it appears to be on the horizon for both.[xxxi] AI can be found in both the functioning of the neurotechnologies as well as the implementation of precision medicine. The increasing use of AI may serve to further individualize both oncologic and neurological therapies. Given these implications and the handful of publications cited in this article, it is important to have a nuanced evaluation of how these treatments, which heavily rely on abductive justification, ought to be managed. The just use an abductive approach may be difficult as AI infused precision medicine is further pursued. At baseline, such technology relies on a level of advanced technology literacy among the general public and could exclude populations who lack access to basic technological infrastructure or know-how from participation.[xxxii] Even among nations with adequate infrastructure, as more patients seek out implantable neurotechnologies, which require robust healthcare resources, the market will favor patient populations that can afford this complex care.[xxxiii] If patients already have the means to pay for an initial dose/use of a precision medicine product out of pocket, should insurance providers be required to cover subsequent treatments?[xxxiv] That is, if a first dose of a cancer drug or a deep brain stimulator over its initial battery life is successful, patients may feel justified in having the costs of further treatments covered. The Norwegian patient’s experience implies there is a precedent for the idea that some public insurance companies ought to cover successful cancer therapies, however, insurance companies may not all see themselves as obligated to cover neurotechnologies that rely on personalized settings or that are based on precision/abductive research more than on clinical trials. CONCLUSION The fact that the cases outlined above rely on abductive style of reasoning implies that there may not be as strong a justification for coverage by insurance, as they are both experimental and individualized, when compared to the more traditional large clinical trials in which groups have the same or a standardized protocol (settings/doses). If a study is examining the efficacy of a treatment with a large cohort of patients or with different experimental groups/phases, insurance companies may conclude that the resulting symptom improvements are more likely to be coming from the devices themselves. A preference for inductive justification may take priority when ruling in favor of funding someone’s continued use of an implantable neurostimulator. There are further nuances to this discussion surrounding the classifications of these interventions as research versus clinical care that warrant future exploration, since such a distinction is more of a scale[xxxv] than binary and could have significant impacts on the “right-to-try” approach to experimental therapies in the United States.[xxxvi] Namely, given the inherent limitations of conducting large cohort trials for deep brain stimulation interventions on patients with neuropsychiatric disorders, surgically innovative frameworks that blend abductive and inductive methodologies, like with sham stimulation phases, have traditionally been used.[xxxvii] Similarly, for adaptive brain-computer interface systems, if there are no large clinical trials and instead only publications that demonstrate that something similar worked for someone else, then, in addition to the evidence that the first treatment/dose worked for the patient in question, the balance of reasoning would be valid and arguably justify insurance coverage. As precision approaches to neurotechnology become more common, frameworks for evaluating efficacy will be crucial both for insurance coverage and for clinical decision making. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This article was originally written as an assignment for Dr. Francis Shen’s “Bioethics & AI” course at Harvard’s Center for Bioethics. I would like to thank Dr. Shen for his comments as well as my colleagues in the Lázaro-Muñoz Lab for their feedback. - [i] Jonathan Kimmelman and Ian Tannock, “The Paradox of Precision Medicine,” Nature Reviews. Clinical Oncology 15, no. 6 (June 2018): 341–42, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-018-0016-0. [ii] Henrik Vogt and Bjørn Hofmann, “How Precision Medicine Changes Medical Epistemology: A Formative Case from Norway,” Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 28, no. 6 (December 2022): 1205–12, https://doi.org/10.1111/jep.13649. [iii] David Barrett and Ahtisham Younas, “Induction, Deduction and Abduction,” Evidence-Based Nursing 27, no. 1 (January 1, 2024): 6–7, https://doi.org/10.1136/ebnurs-2023-103873. [iv] Vogt and Hofmann, “How Precision Medicine Changes Medical Epistemology,” 1208. [v] Wireko Andrew Awuah et al., “Bridging Minds and Machines: The Recent Advances of Brain-Computer Interfaces in Neurological and Neurosurgical Applications,” World Neurosurgery, May 22, 2024, S1878-8750(24)00867-2, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wneu.2024.05.104. [vi] Mark Riedl, “A Very Gentle Introduction to Large Language Models without the Hype,” Medium (blog), May 25, 2023, https://mark-riedl.medium.com/a-very-gentle-introduction-to-large-language-models-without-the-hype-5 f67941fa59e. [vii] David E. Burdette and Barbara E. Swartz, “Chapter 4 - Responsive Neurostimulation,” in Neurostimulation for Epilepsy, ed. Vikram R. Rao (Academic Press, 2023), 97–132, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-91702-5.00002-5. [viii] Kimmelman and Tannock, 2018. [ix] Kimmelman and Tannock, 2018. [x] Simon Lohse, “Mapping Uncertainty in Precision Medicine: A Systematic Scoping Review,” Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 29, no. 3 (April 2023): 554–64, https://doi.org/10.1111/jep.13789. [xi] Kimmelman and Tannock, “The Paradox of Precision Medicine.” [xii] Vogt and Hofmann, 1206. [xiii] Vogt and Hofmann, 1206. [xiv] Vogt and Hofmann, 1206. [xv] Vogt and Hofmann, 1207. [xvi] Vogt and Hofmann, 1207. [xvii] Vogt and Hofmann, 1207. [xviii] Vogt and Hofmann, 1210. [xix] Mehar Sahu et al., “Chapter Three - Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Precision Medicine: A Paradigm Shift in Big Data Analysis,” in Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science, ed. David B. Teplow, vol. 190, 1 vols., Precision Medicine (Academic Press, 2022), 57–100, https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pmbts.2022.03.002. [xx] Stefan Feuerriegel et al., “Causal Machine Learning for Predicting Treatment Outcomes,” Nature Medicine 30, no. 4 (April 2024): 958–68, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-02902-1. [xxi] Sunderland Baker et al., “Ethical Considerations in Closed Loop Deep Brain Stimulation,” Deep Brain Stimulation 3 (October 1, 2023): 8–15, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdbs.2023.11.001. [xxii] David Haslacher et al., “AI for Brain-Computer Interfaces,” 2024, 7, https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.dnb.2024.02.003. [xxiii] Burdette and Swartz, “Chapter 4 - Responsive Neurostimulation,” 103–4; “Premarket Approval (PMA),” https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfpma/pma.cfm?id=P100026. [xxiv] Burdette and Swartz, “Chapter 4 - Responsive Neurostimulation,” 104. [xxv] Burdette and Swartz, 126. [xxvi] Sean L. Metzger et al., “A High-Performance Neuroprosthesis for Speech Decoding and Avatar Control,” Nature 620, no. 7976 (August 2023): 1037–46, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06443-4. [xxvii] Hao Fang and Yuxiao Yang, “Predictive Neuromodulation of Cingulo-Frontal Neural Dynamics in Major Depressive Disorder Using a Brain-Computer Interface System: A Simulation Study,” Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 17 (March 6, 2023), https://doi.org/10.3389/fncom.2023.1119685; Mahsa Malekmohammadi et al., “Kinematic Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation for Resting Tremor in Parkinson’s Disease,” Movement Disorders 31, no. 3 (2016): 426–28, https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.26482. [xxviii] Young-Hoon Nho et al., “Responsive Deep Brain Stimulation Guided by Ventral Striatal Electrophysiology of Obsession Durably Ameliorates Compulsion,” Neuron 0, no. 0 (October 20, 2023), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2023.09.034. [xxix] Nho et al. [xxx] Nho et al.; Erik Robinson, “Brain Implant at OHSU Successfully Controls Both Seizures and OCD,” OHSU News, accessed March 3, 2024, https://news.ohsu.edu/2023/10/25/brain-implant-at-ohsu-successfully-controls-both-seizures-and-ocd. [xxxi] Awuah et al., “Bridging Minds and Machines”; Haslacher et al., “AI for Brain-Computer Interfaces.” [xxxii] Awuah et al., “Bridging Minds and Machines.” [xxxiii] Sara Green, Barbara Prainsack, and Maya Sabatello, “The Roots of (in)Equity in Precision Medicine: Gaps in the Discourse,” Personalized Medicine 21, no. 1 (January 2024): 5–9, https://doi.org/10.2217/pme-2023-0097. [xxxiv] Green, Prainsack, and Sabatello, 7. [xxxv] Robyn Bluhm and Kirstin Borgerson, “An Epistemic Argument for Research-Practice Integration in Medicine,” The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine 43, no. 4 (July 9, 2018): 469–84, https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/jhy009. [xxxvi] Vijay Mahant, “‘Right-to-Try’ Experimental Drugs: An Overview,” Journal of Translational Medicine 18 (June 23, 2020): 253, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-020-02427-4. [xxxvii] Michael S. Okun et al., “Deep Brain Stimulation in the Internal Capsule and Nucleus Accumbens Region: Responses Observed during Active and Sham Programming,” Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry 78, no. 3 (March 1, 2007): 310–14, https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.2006.095315. (shrink)

Examining intrapersonal factors theorized to influence ethics reporting decisions, the relation of self-efficacy as a predictor of propensity for internal whistleblowing is investigated within a US and Canadian multi-regional context. Over 900 professionals from a total of nine regions in Canada and the US participated. Self-efficacy was found to influence participant reported propensity for internal whistleblowing consistently in both the US and Canada. Seasoned participants with greater management and work experience demonstrated higher levels of self- (...) class='Hi'>efficacy while gender was also found to be influential to self-efficacy. These individual traits, although related to self-efficacy, did not directly relate to propensities for internal whistleblowing. The findings demonstrate that self-efficacy could represent an important individual trait for examining whistleblowing issues. Internal whistleblowing is becoming an important organizational consideration in many areas of North America, yet there is relatively little research on the topic. Organizations seeking effective internal reporting systems should consider the influence of self-efficacy along with its potential reporting influence. By empirically testing an under-examined component of theory related to internal whistleblowing, this effort contributes to management literature, extending the knowledge beyond a US context, and provides recommendation for managing individual bias with internal reporting systems. (shrink)

The aim of this research is to find out the significant difference between successful seller and unsuccessful seller on self-efficacy and persuasion capability. Self-efficacy is people’ judgement about their capabilities to deal a problem at specific situation. Persuasion is a process communication that purposed for changing someone’s belief and behavior. The participants of research consists of 125 sellers, in which 80 are successful and 45 are unsuccessful. The data were taken by questionnaires. The processing technique is (...) using t-test with SPSS program 12.00 for Windows. The result of this research shows t(125) = -6.011, p<0,05, based on significant number 0,00. This shows the significant difference between successful seller and unsuccessful seller on self-efficacy. Furthermore, the number shows the level of self-efficacy on successful seller is higher compared to the level of self-efficacy on unsuccessful seller. On the other hand, the results of persuasion research shows t (125) = -7.501, p<0,05, based on significant number 0,00. This shows the significant difference between successful seller and unsuccessful seller on persuasion. The number also shows the level of persuasion on successful seller is higher compared to the level of persuasion on unsuccessful seller. (shrink)

The mechanism of how the COVID-19 global pandemic has affected the entrepreneurial intentions of college students remains unknown. To investigate the impact of the entrepreneurial environment on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions in the post-pandemic era, 913 college students were invited to complete a questionnaire. The data were analyzed with structural equation models. The conclusions revealed by the questionnaire are as followed: college students have retained some entrepreneurial intention in the post-pandemic era; the factors influencing the entrepreneurial intention (...) include sex, family entrepreneurial history, major, and education background; and entrepreneurial self-efficacy can play a major role to mediate the impact caused by the post-pandemic entrepreneurial environment on entrepreneurial intentions. The research conclusions provide important insights to improve college students’ entrepreneurial intentions in the post-pandemic environment. (shrink)

The aim if this study is to examine the self-efficiency and intention differences of entrepreneurial personality in students before and after entrepreneurial class. This research is important to be conduct because of the entrepreneur interest of the undergraduate student is considered at the low level. Otherwise, Indonesia has increasing jobless persons. This research was conducted at fifth until seventh semester student of department of electric engineering. From 116 participants, concluded that there is no significant self-efficacy and intention (...) difference to be entrepreneurial at students before and after entrepreneurial class. There are some causes of the insignificant result. For example are maturation effect, no role model for student, and the subject of this lecture is more theoretical than experiential learning to be an entrepreneurial one. The result of this study gives positive contribution for developing entrepreneurial spirit for students.  . (shrink)

Self-Efficacy in Action provides a practitioner-friendly overview of the concepts, vocabulary, practices, and contexts related to teacher self-efficacy. This book engages readers in the meaningful discussions of practices and purposes of teacher self-efficacy to advance professionalism.

The great numbers of service industrial is moving in insurance field have made insurance salespeople’s job more difficult and full challenge. This condition makes that insurance salespeople ought to have self efficacy. Self efficacy is a confidance about self capability to run his job with success, also to control the conditions around for attaining the success. Self efficacy can be influenced by perception of transformational leadership style from direct superior. The subject of this (...) research is 102 insurance salespeople in a private life insurance company. Data gathering by questionnaires and analized by product moment correlation, and regression analysis to analized the dimensions. The result have proven that the hypothesis in this research is accepted, that there is a very significant positive relationship between perception of transformational leadership style from direct superior to insurance salespeople’s self efficacy (r = 0,473; p (two tailed) = 0,000 and p (one tailed) = 0,000). The relationship between each dimension in perception of transformational leadership style from direct superior to self efficacy is discussed in this research.  . (shrink)

Due to the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, e-learning suddenly spread to different levels of education, including university. In Spain, students of sports sciences are prepared during a 4-year study program to work in different areas and with different populations. The aims of this study were to assess the effect of pandemic-driven online teaching on self-efficacy for the inclusion of people with disabilities in a group of university students enrolled in a compulsory course on adapted physical activity (...) ; compare the gains from SE before and after the APA course with a sample of students who followed the same course before the pandemic; and explore the influence on SE scores according to three demographic variables: gender, previous SE training, and previous experience with people with disabilities. The study involved a sample of 124 university students, distributed into two groups: prepandemic and pandemic. They voluntarily completed the Spanish version of the Scale of Self-Efficacy of Physical Education Teachers of Physical Education toward Children with Disabilities, obtaining pre- and postcourse measurements. Due to the sudden lockdown, two-thirds of the pandemic course was taught online, and changes in the teaching strategies and tasks had to be made. Similar gains were obtained in both groups for the three subscales of the SE scale : intellectual, physical, and visual disability. No significant differences were found for comparisons between groups and the interaction effect of the course taught, nor for the three demographic co-variables. This study shows that teaching strategies that encourage student participation and reflections on learning increase student SE, regardless of the teaching format. Moreover, the gains in SE are invariable to demographic co-variables. (shrink)

This article presents the psychological meaning of school-to-work transition. Transition to taking up new social roles entails numerous difficulties, and that is why young people see it as a crisis point. According to researchers one of the predictors of effective transition to the labour market is self-efficacy. This article presents the two obtaining approaches to the psychology of self-efficacy beliefs. Both specific and generalized self-efficacy belief are good predictors of human behaviour, which has been (...) repeatedly confirmed in the studies. The authors of this compilation have integrated the two dominating approaches into one theoretical model, taking account of the three levels of generality proposed by Rosch. By doing that, a theoretical model has been created which allows for organising self-efficacy beliefs relating to life roles into a three-level hierarchical structure. (shrink)

Previous studies on parenting adult children with ASD were scarce, and their intervention protocols mainly were derived from established work with children. Development of an applicable adult-oriented protocol and demonstration of its effectiveness is warranted. The present study outlined the development and evaluation of Core Autism Parenting Skills, which targets to enhance parenting self-efficacy intervention for adult children with ASD by addressing two intervention goals in parallel: acquisition of parenting skills and cultivating positive attributes. In CAPS, PSE is (...) operationalised into four parent roles: to observe, reinforce, empathise, and accompany, each with requisite attributes, skills, and prescribed training. Twenty-seven parents with adult children with ASD were recruited. They completed measures assessing their PSE, competence in the four parent roles, and emotional well-being at pre-training, post-training and 2-month follow-up. The intervention was well-received by the participants and reported significant improvements in PSE, parent role competence at post-training and 2-month follow-up. The applicability of PSE and parent role competence in constructing effective parenting intervention for adult children with ASD was supported. (shrink)

PurposeCOVID-19 pandemic is a significant threat toward the public health. However, the discussion of the mechanism of media literacy’s effect in fighting against pandemic is limited. Thus, this study aims to explore the mechanism with a sociocognitive perspective.MethodsA survey was administrated to 420 college students in China. PROCESS macro of SPSS was applied to analyze the data and test the moderated mediation effect.ResultsThe moderated mediation model of media literacy, proxy efficacy, self-efficacy, and official media use was tested (...) and supported. Official media use was a negative moderator on the association between media literacy and proxy efficacy.ConclusionThe study explored the media literacy’s role as a determinant of proxy efficacy and self-efficacy, which contributed to the sociocognitive theory. (shrink)

Teachers working in institutions like to affiliate themselves with their organizations taking into account their efficacy toward jobs along with encouraging students in studies. The main objective of the present study is to identify the teachers’ self-efficacy on collective self-efficacy, academic psychological capital, and students’ engagement which consequently affect brand-based equity. The population taken in this study is college students across China, deriving a sample size of 316. The sample has been selected on the basis (...) of the convenience sampling technique. Smart PLS 3.3.5 software has been used in the present study to analyze data for structural equation modeling. The findings of the study had shown that teachers’ self-efficacy does not have any impact on employee-based brand equity, however, significantly affects collective self-efficacy, academic psychological capital, and student engagement. Further, strong and moderate mediations have also been confirmed in the study for collective self-efficacy, academic psychological capital, student engagement between the relationships between teachers self-efficacy and brand based equity, however, collective self-efficacy and academic psychological capital could not find any mediating significance. The results have identified the significant role of teachers’ self-efficacy for collective self-efficacy, academic psychological capital, and student engagement. These empirical findings suggest policy implications for the retention of students in colleges across China. (shrink)

The study aims to build a model that predicts the behavior of the use of blended learning by English teachers of basic education in China in the environment of repeated lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines the relationships between ICT self-efficacy, organizational support for blended learning, attitudes toward blended learning, and the use of blended learning. Data were collected from 562 teachers using a survey questionnaire. Employing partial least squares structural equation modeling, a hypothesized model was tested (...) for path coefficients and predictive power. This study found that ICT self-efficacy and organizational support for blended learning are sound predictors of teachers' use of blended learning and that the former appeared to be a stronger determinant. In addition, attitudes toward blended learning can directly influence teachers' use of blended learning and mediate the relationship between ICT efficacy and the use of blended learning and between organizational support for blended learning and the use of blended learning. These three variables account for 54.7% of the variance in teachers' use of blended learning. (shrink)

Plagiarism is a problematic issue in universities across the globe (Curtis & Vardanega, 2016 ). This study explored the relationship between negative emotionality and positive attitudes toward plagiarism through the mediation of academic self-efficacy and self-control. Negative emotionality was examined as three components: stress, anxiety, and depression. Self-report surveys were completed by 454 university students to investigate the relationship between negative emotionality and positive attitudes toward plagiarism, as well as the mediating role of academic self- (...) class='Hi'>efficacy and self-control in this relationship. The hierarchical multiple regression found that negative emotionality significantly predicted positive attitudes toward plagiarism over and above age and gender (i.e., where male students and younger students were more likely to plagiarise). Furthermore, three mediation analyses showed that academic self-efficacy and self-control mediate the relationship between positive attitudes toward plagiarism and each component of negative emotionality. Considering these results, subsequent research should investigate whether implementing strategies that alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression could increase academic self-efficacy and self-control, which in turn, could then reduce positive attitudes toward plagiarism. (shrink)

Although previous research shows that general self-efficacy is related to employability, the mechanism of them is unclear. Thus, this study aims to explore the relationship between general self-efficacy and employability, examines the mediating role of achievement motivation and career aspirations among financially underprivileged college students in China. The analysis of 651 participants from six provinces indicates that general self-efficacy positively predicts employability through the mediating chain of achievement motivation and career aspirations. Based on these (...) findings, the researchers propose feasible suggestions for related issues of financially underprivileged college students and future research. (shrink)

First published in 1992. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

BackgroundThe prognosis of patients undergoing lung cancer treatment might be influenced by mental health status. Resilience is one of the important predictors to reflect the mental health status. It has been shown that patients with higher levels of social support, self-care self-efficacy, and positive coping have greater resilience. This study aimed to determine the mediating role of self-efficacy and positive coping in the relationship between social support and psychological resilience in patients with lung cancer.MethodThis is (...) a cross-sectional study that was conducted in in the oncology departments and thoracic surgical wards of four tertiary hospitals in Hunan Province, China, between November 2016 and November 2017. Three hundred and three patients who were undergoing treatment for lung cancer volunteered their participation in the study. Participants completed questionnaires, including the Chinese version of the Perceived Social Support Seale Scale, the Chinese version of Strategies Used by People to Promote Health Scale, and the Chinese version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale.ResultsMediation analysis indicated that self-care self-efficacy and social support partially mediate the effect of social support on resilience. Direct paths from social support to self-efficacy, self-efficacy to positive coping, positive coping to psychological resilience, self-efficacy to psychological resilience, and social support to psychological resilience were significant. The indirect paths from social support to self-efficacy and self-efficacy to psychological resilience were also significant. The chain mediation from social support to self-efficacy, self-efficacy to positive coping, and positive coping to resilience were significant.ConclusionSelf-efficacy and positive coping play an important role in the relationship between social support and resilience in patients receiving cancer treatment. Social support not only directly influenced psychological resilience but also indirectly influenced psychological resilience through self-efficacy and positive coping. (shrink)

With the continual development of artificial intelligence and smart computing in recent years, quantitative approaches have become increasingly popular as an efficient modeling tool as they do not necessitate complicated mathematical models. Many nations have taken steps, such as transitioning to online schooling, to decrease the harm caused by coronaviruses. Inspired by the demand for technology in early education, the present research uses a radial basis function neural network modeling technique to predict preschool instructors’ technology usage in classes based on (...) recognized determinant characteristics of technology acceptance. In this regard, this study utilized the RBFNN approach to predict preschool teachers’ technology acceptance behavior, based on the theory of planned behavior, which states that behavioral achievement, in our case the actual technology use in class, depends on motivation, intention and ability, and behavioral control. Thus, this research design is based on an adapted version of the technology acceptance model with eight dimensions: D1. Perceived usefulness, D2. Perceived ease of use, D3. Perceived enjoyment, D4. Intention to use, D5. Actual use, D6. Compatibility, D7. Attitude, and D8. Self-efficacy. According to the TAM, actual usage is significantly predicted by the other seven dimensions used in this research. Instead of using the classical multiple linear regression statistical processing of data, we opted for a NN based on the RBF approach to predict the actual usage behavior. This study included 182 preschool teachers who were randomly chosen from a project-based national preschool teacher training program and who responded to our online questionnaire. After designing the RBF function with the actual usage as an output variable and the other seven dimensions as input variables, in the model summary, we obtained in the training sample a sum of squares error of 37.5 and a percent of incorrect predictions of 43.3%. In the testing sample, we obtained a sum of squares error of 14.88 and a percent of incorrect predictions of 37%. Thus, we can conclude that 63% of the classified data are correctly assigned to the models’ dependent variable, i.e., actual technology use, which is a significant rate of correct predictions in the testing sample. This high significant percentage of correct classification represents an important result, mainly because this is the first study to apply RBFNN’s prediction on psychological data, opening up a new interdisciplinary field of research. (shrink)

This study was designed to estimate the associations between self-efficacy and professional identity. A total of 1,051 freshmen nursing students from the Be Resilient to Nursing Career program were recruited from four universities between September and November 2020. A latent profile and moderated meditation analysis were performed. Four profiles of self-efficacy were identified and named as Lowest, Med-low, Med-high, and Highest. The mediating role of resilience and the moderating effect of role models were also identified. Therefore, (...) self-efficacy, resilience, and role models may be three important factors to professional identity in FNSs and these relationships should be further validated in longitudinal or interventional studies. (shrink)

The learning process of both students and teachers can be predicted based on the learning mode. Therefore, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools must start using online learning and abandon more traditional teaching techniques. Thus, this study investigates the relationship between self-efficacy and academic resilience among 150 senior high school students. Thus, the researchers employed General Self-Efficacy and Resilience Scale. Finally, the statistical analysis reveals that the r coefficient of 0.78 indicates a high positive correlation between (...) the variables. The p-value of 0.00, which is less than 0.05, leads to the decision to reject the null hypothesis. Hence, a significant relationship exists between self-efficacy and resilience among senior high school students. (shrink)

This study investigates the relationship between self-efficacy and resilience among 150 first-year college students. This study used a correlational research design. Thus, General Self-Efficacy Scale and Resilience Scale were utilized to measure the variables. Furthermore, the statistical analysis reveals that the r coefficient of 0.48 indicates a low positive correlation between the variables. The p-value of 0.00, which is less than 0.05, leads to the decision to reject the null hypothesis. Hence, a significant relationship exists between (...) self-efficacy and resilience among first-year college students. Implications were discussed in the study. (shrink)

In this article, we investigate the role of self-efficacy in intentional habit building. We analyzed event sampling data from a habit building app we created that helps define and track habit data. We used hierarchical growth curve modeling and multilevel mediation to test our hypotheses. In a first study, N = 91 university students built new study habits over a period of 6 weeks in a controlled study. We found that the trait-like general self-efficacy predicted automaticity (...) but not the experience of motivational interference. In a second study with real user data, N = 265 idiographic habits have been analyzed. The specific SE associated with these habits – habit-specific self-efficacy – was measured during habit formation. We found that lagged HSE predicted automaticity and that lagged automaticity predicted HSE, indicating a positive feedback mechanism in habit building. Furthermore, we found that lagged HSE predicted less MI during habit performance. A multilevel mediation analysis showed significant effects of lagged HSE and aggregated HSE on MI, which were both partially mediated by automaticity. These results show the importance of defining the specificity of SE beliefs and how they interact with automaticity in the habit building process. (shrink)

Academic self-efficacy beliefs influence students’ academic and career choices, as well as motivational factors and learning strategies promoting effective academic success. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on the academic self-efficacy of university students in comparison to students at other levels. Furthermore, extant measures present several limitations. The first aim of this study was to develop a reliable and valid scale assessing university students’ self-efficacy beliefs in managing academic tasks. The second aim was to investigate (...) differences in academic self-efficacy due to gender, years of enrollment, and student status. The study involved 831 students enrolled in undergraduate programs. Indicators of academic experiences and performance were collected. A new scale measuring students’ academic self-efficacy beliefs was administered. Results from a preliminary Exploratory Factor Analysis were consistently supported by findings from a Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Multigroup CFA supported the presence of measurement invariance. Analyses revealed that the new scale has eight factors: “Planning Academic Activities,” “Learning Strategies,” “Information Retrieval,” “Working in Groups,” “Management of Relationships with Teachers,” “Managing Lessons,” “Stress Management,” and “Thesis Work.” Self-efficacy dimensions showed significant relations with academic experiences and students’ performance indicators, as well as differences due to gender, years of enrollment, and student status. Findings are discussed in terms of practical implications for the implementation of intervention programs aimed at fostering self-efficacy beliefs and academic success. (shrink)

This study investigated the role of entrepreneurial passion in recognition of opportunity, developing entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial intention, in the shaping of entrepreneurial actions in the presence of proactive personality. This study applied partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses on a sample of 346 university students from Jiangsu province, China. The output of the study showed that entrepreneurial passion positively and significantly influenced entrepreneurial alertness, entrepreneurial self-efficacy to entrepreneurial intention, and entrepreneurial behavior. (...) The findings also showed that a proactive personality positively and significantly moderated the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial behavior. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Self-efficacy is the assessment of one’s capacity to perform tasks. Previous research has demonstrated that self-efficacy impacts ethical behavior and attitudes but its effect on ethical cognition and perceptions has not been studied. For the present study, participants analyzed an ethical dilemma after either high or low self-efficacy was induced. Participants analyzed the dilemma using one of two cognitive problem-solving techniques versus a third, control group, and what participants wrote about the problem was (...) content-analyzed to determine how ethical cognition is impacted by self-efficacy. Additionally, perceptions of the ethical problem were examined. Results revealed that differences in self-efficacy did not lead to changes in ethical cognition, but they did lead to changes in perceptions of ethical problems. Implications of these findings are discussed. (shrink)

PurposeSelf-efficacy has been argued theoretically and shown empirically to be an essential construct for students’ improved learning outcomes. However, there is a dearth of studies on its causal effects on performance in mathematics among university students. Meanwhile, it will be erroneous to assume that results from other fields of studies generalize to mathematics learning due to the task-specificity of the construct. As such, attempts are made in the present study to provide evidence for a causal relationship between self- (...) class='Hi'>efficacy and performance with a focus on engineering students following a mathematics course at a Norwegian university.MethodThe adopted research design in the present study is a survey type in which collected data from first-year university students are analyzed using structural equation modeling with weighted least square mean and variance adjusted estimator. Data were generated using mainly questionnaires, a test of prior mathematics knowledge, and the students’ final examination scores in the course. The causal effect of self-efficacy was discerned from disturbance effects on performance by using an innovative instrumental variable approach to structural equation modeling.ResultsThe findings confirmed a significant direct effect of the prior mathematics knowledge test on self-efficacy, a significant direct effect of self-efficacy on performance, and a substantial mediating effect of self-efficacy between a prior mathematics knowledge test and performance. Prior mathematics knowledge and self-efficacy explained 30% variance of the performance. These findings are interpreted to be substantial evidence for the causal effect of self-efficacy on students’ performance in an introductory mathematics course.ConclusionThe findings of the present study provide empirically supports for designing self-efficacy interventions as proxies to improve students’ performance in university mathematics. Further, the findings of the present study confirm some postulates of Bandura’s agentic social cognitive theory. (shrink)

The aim of this research is to find the relationship between self efficacy and work performance of marketing employee refers to a person’s evaluation of his or her ability or competency to perform a task and reach a goal. Work performance is personal outcome that he or she performs in an organization. The participant for this study is 35 marketing employee of X Company. Using Pearson Correlation Product Moment, the result shows that there is a positive relationship between (...) marketing employee self efficacy and their work performance.  . (shrink)

Cryptocurrency could redefine the interplay of Internet-connected world markets by eliminating constraints set by traditional local currencies and exchange rates. It has the potential to revolutionise digital markets through the use of duty-free trading. This study investigates the factors which influence the behavioural intention to use cryptocurrency based on the Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM 3) during the COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2) pandemic. Data were collected through a cross-sectional questionnaire from 357 Pakistani business-educated adults, including investors who had a rudimentary understanding of (...) the technology and financial instruments. Partial least square (PLS)-based structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the developed theoretical framework based on the Technology acceptance model 3. The PLS model has explained 72.1% of what constitutes the behavioural intention to use cryptocurrency. Surprisingly, risk was not a major consideration. This might be due to the fact that the majority of respondents thought working with cryptocurrency was hazardous. Willingness to handle cryptocurrency risk, on the other hand, might be a stumbling block to acceptance. The most essential aspect of a cryptocurrency's success was the perceived usefulness. Moreover, the moderating role of experience was not substantiated in this study. However, perceived usefulness was identified as a partial mediator of subjective norm and the perceived ease to use. This study contributed to the literature through the application of TAM 3 (an extension of the technology acceptance models) to investigate the fundamental qualities a cryptocurrency should have in order to influence investor's behavioural intention to use it. These findings provide revolutionary insights for the present and future market players for investment planning and for improved cryptocurrencies development. (shrink)

This study was aimed at formulating a model to examine the potential value of perceived constructivist pedagogical practices in decreasing tendency to neutralize academic cheating through a psychological outcome of academic self-efficacy, in three academic learning settings: new learning environments, traditional face-to-face learning environments and distance learning environments. Data were collected from a sample of 289 undergraduate college students. Path analysis main results showed positive connections between the extent to which constructivist practices are present in the learning settings, (...) as perceived by the participants, and SE, which in turn reduced the tendency toward justifying academic cheating. Analysis of variance results showed that most of the constructivist dimensions were perceived by students enrolled in the NLE as relatively highly present compared with the other groups. Moreover, NLE students held more positive academic SE beliefs and were less inclined toward academic cheating justification than the other groups. Interpretation of these results and implications for future research are discussed. (shrink)

The effect of task difficulty on inter-task transfer is a classic issue in motor learning. We examined the relation between self-efficacy and transfer of learning after practicing different versions of a stick balancing task. Practicing the same task or an easier version led to significant pre- to post-test transfer of learning, whereas practicing a more difficult version did not. Self-efficacy increased modestly from pre- to post-test with easy practice, but decreased significantly with difficult practice. In addition, (...) self-efficacy immediately prior to the post-test was significantly lower after difficult practice than easy or intermediate practice. Self-efficacy immediately prior to the post-test, performance at the end of practice, and pre-test performance explained 75% of the variance in post-test performance. The mediating role of self-efficacy on transfer of learning offers an alternative explanation for recent findings on the superiority of easy-to-difficult transfer and may help clarify inconsistencies in earlier research. (shrink)