Role of Self-Efficacy and Task-Value in Predicting College Students' Course Performance and Future Enrollment Intentions

Predictive utility of self-efficacy and task-value beliefs was compared among 168 Korean female college students. The study assessed the constructs longitudinally and attempted consolidation of self-efficacy and expectancy-value theories. Self-efficacy perceptions were assessed at varying levels of measurement specificity. Exploratory factor analyses showed that self-efficacy items were reliably differentiated into separate factors of a priori specificity. These self-efficacy factors were positively correlated among themselves and, with an exception of problem-specific self-efficacy, also with the task-value factor. A correlation coefficient between any two self-efficacy factors tended to decrease, as these factors were associated with increasingly different measurement levels. Path analysis showed that students' midterm scores and enrollment intentions at T1 were better predicted by the task-value factor. However, the typically stronger links of self-efficacy to performance and of task value to intentions were observed with T2 variables.