Applications of Self-Efficacy Theory to Understanding Career Choice Behavior

This paper reviews the literature on applications of Bandura's (1977, 1982) self-efficacy theory to the career domain. After a description of the' utility of the self-efficacy construct in understanding the mechanisms affecting women's disadvantaged status in the labor force and the usefulness of career self-efficacy in building models predicting the occupational choice behavior of men and women, a review of the research on career self-efficacy is provided. Investigations of self-perceptions of efficacy in relation to occupational choices provide support for the major hypotheses derived from self-efficacy theory.