[SCOPUS] A Study on General and Specific Programming Self-Efficacy with Antecedents from the Social Cognitive Theory

A Study on General and Specific Programming Self-Efficacy with Antecedents from the Social Cognitive Theory

Jungwoo Lee, Jun-Gi Park, Yoosun Hwang **1Jungwoo Lee, 2Jun-Gi Park, 3Yoosun Hwang, 1Yonsei University, jlee@yonsei.ac.kr 2Yonsei University, Warren.pak@gmail.com, 3Joongbu University, yshwang@joongbu.ac.kr

Abstract  Programming skill is becoming more and more important as the information revolution progresses into a knowledge-based smart society. Concept of self-efficacy, which has been known to be critical in raising general competences of work and life, can easily be extended into the learning of programming languages. A survey was conducted to study the mechanisms related to general and specific programming self-efficacy and their antecedents: mastery experience, vicarious learning, verbal persuasion and computer affect. Findings confirm the strong path from general programming selfefficacy towards specific programming self-efficacy indicating the generality of self-efficacy applicable across domains and disciplines. Among four antecedents of programming self-efficacy generally identified in the social cognitive theory literature, mastery experience and vicarious learning are found to be important in reinforcing the programming self-efficacy while verbal persuasion and computer affect seems to be not so strong in forming the self-efficacy towards programming. Further implications and limitations are discussed at the end.

Keyword  Social Cognitive Theory, Self-Efficacy, General Programming Self-Efficacy, Specific Programming Self-Efficacy, Mastery Experience, Vicarious Learning, Verbal Persuasion, Computer Affect

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Jungwoo Lee, Jun-Gi Park, Yoosun Hwang, "A Study on General and Specific Programming Self-Efficacy with Antecedents from the Social Cognitive Theory", JNIT: Journal of Next Generation Information Technology, Vol. 4, No. 8, pp. 423 ~ 432, 2013