Structural Impacts on Formation of Self-Efficacy and Its Performance Effects

Ghulam Mustafa, Richard Glavee-Geo, Kjell Gronhaug and Hanan Saber Almazrouei
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Ghulam Mustafa: Department of International Business and Marketing, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 6025 Aalesund, Norway
Richard Glavee-Geo: Department of International Business and Marketing, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 6025 Aalesund, Norway
Kjell Gronhaug: Department of Strategy and Management, Norwegian School of Economics, 5045 Bergen, Norway
Hanan Saber Almazrouei: College of Business and Economics, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain 15551, UAE

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-24

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.

Keywords: organizational structure; formalization; centralization; self-efficacy; task performance; social cognitive theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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