Measuring Agency Through Psychological Constructs in Lower-Income Settings

Clare Clingain, Aletheia Amalia Donald and Maria Hernandez-de-Benito

No 11401, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Psychological constructs related to agency—such as the ability to set goals or feel in control—are increasingly recognized as determinants of economic outcomes and well-being. Yet validated measures are scarce outside Western, educated, industrial, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) contexts. This paper introduces four scales measuring goal-setting capacity, locus of control, generalized livelihoods self-efficacy, and agricultural self-efficacy, tested through representative and specialized surveys in Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. All the scales demonstrate strong psychometric properties, although locus of control shows weaker internal reliability. Five-point Likert scales outperform three-point alternatives. Using these tools, the paper documents significant associations between all four agency constructs and subjective well-being, labor supply, earnings, food security, and intra-household decision-making. Generalized livelihoods self-efficacy shows the strongest and most consistent associations across outcomes. For women, agency's links to labor supply and intra-household decision-making are stronger and hold across more contexts than they do for men. Across constructs, the relationship with expected life satisfaction tends to be larger than with current life satisfaction, suggesting that agency may be particularly relevant for predicting aspirations. These scales are recommended for descriptive surveys and impact evaluations related to well-being, economic livelihoods, and empowerment.

Date: 2026-06-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/0992185 ... 9e1-71c807cfd354.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found (https://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099218506012639611/pdf/IDU-7ec4d5d3-ea71-4e8f-b9e1-71c807cfd354.pdf [302 Found]--> http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099218506012639611/pdf/IDU-7ec4d5d3-ea71-4e8f-b9e1-71c807cfd354.pdf [301 Moved Permanently]--> https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099218506012639611/pdf/IDU-7ec4d5d3-ea71-4e8f-b9e1-71c807cfd354.pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11401

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().