Women in Business

Self-efficacy is a bit of an abstract term and not used by many. It is a theory published by psychologist Alfred Bandura in 1977 as part of social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1977). “Self-efficacy is the confidence of an individual in their personal abilities to control and regulate the courses of action and their own behaviors in order to attain desired results” (Bandura, 1977; Sheetz, 2014). It is the personal conviction or confidence that we can successfully complete a task or a project to produce a desired outcome. Self-efficacy theory provides framework for the rationale of personal control over one’s life balance and success in the workplace. Self-efficacy is impacted by our past experiences (successes and failures). As women in business, self-efficacy takes on yet more of a complex dimension. Adding in the balance of a working mother and caretaker and the challenges faced by women leaders including lack of gender equality, learning ways to increase self-efficacy can improve how we approach our goals and life alchemy, and ultimately increase our health, success, and happiness.