Blazing New Trails - Connexions

Self-Efficacy and Principal Involvement in Character Education 219
could in part aid the administrator in selecting a character program most conducive to their
skills and abilities, determine the manner and degree to which school constituents are
involved, and determine which problems the administrators and staff of the school will choose
to address.
Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy was defined by Bandura (1997) as “beliefs in one’s capabilities to
organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (p. 3). The
self-efficacy construct also relates to “peoples’ judgments of their capabilities to organize and
execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances” (Bandura,
1986, p. 391). Leadership self-efficacy refers to individuals’ confidence in their ability to lead
successfully (McCormick, 2001). According to McCollum, Kaja, and Minter (2006),
“Essentially, self-efficacy is the belief and confidence an individual has in performing a
specific task” (p. 42). Pertinent to the current study which focuses on administrators’
perceived efficacy beliefs when implementing a character education program, McCollum et
al. (2006) stated, “Self-efficacy is known to be an important construct in predicting the
success of an individual on multiple types of tasks” (p. 42).
Principal Self-efficacy
Leadership self-efficacy refers to individuals’ confidence in their ability to lead a
group successfully, and is “critical to the leadership process because it affects the goals a
leader selects, leader motivation, development of functional leadership strategies, and the
skillful execution of those strategies” (McCormick, 2001, p. 30). McCormick (2001) wrote,
“Enhancing leadership self-efficacy should be an important objective for those responsible for
improving the quality of leadership in organizations” (p. 31).
Tschannen-Moran and Gareis (2004) noted, “One promising, but largely unexplored
avenue to understanding principal motivation and behavior is principals’ sense of efficacy” (p.
573). The relationship between principals’ efficacy beliefs and their leadership performance is
substantial. Tschannen-Moran and Gareis (2004) commented:
Principals’ efficacy beliefs influence the level of effort and persistence they put forth
in their daily work, as well as their resilience in the face of setbacks. It is not enough
to hire and retain the most capable principals – they must believe that they can
successfully meet the challenges of the task at hand. (p. 582)
Bandura (2000) explained, “When faced with obstacles, setbacks, and failures, those who
doubt their capabilities slacken their efforts, give up, or settle for mediocre solutions” (p.
120). In contrast, Bandura (2000) stated, “Those who have a strong belief in the capabilities
redouble their effort to master the challenge” (p. 120).
Concerning academic accountability, the principals’ sense of efficacy cannot be
underestimated. Tschannen-Moran and Gareis (2004) purported:
With the role of the school principal being increasingly defined in terms of academic
achievement and success as measured by high-stakes assessment results, a principal’s
sense of efficacy plays a critical role in meeting the expectations and demands of the
position. (p. 582)