Explicating Computer Self-Efficacy Relationships: Generality and the Overstated Case of Specificity Matching

摘要

Computer self-efficacy is known to operate at multiple levels, from application-specific subdomains like spreadsheets to a judgment of ability for the entire computing domain (general computer self-efficacy, GCSE). Conventional wisdom and many recent studies contend that the level of self-efficacy (specific to general) should match the level of its related constructs to maximize predictive power (Bandura, 1997; Chen, Gully, & Eden, 2001; Pajares, 1996). This thinking claims, for example, that GCSE should be used with a general attitude like computer anxiety (and vice versa). This study examines whether such a limitation is theoretically and empirically sound given that SE judgments generalize across domains.