Abstract Grounded in social cognitive theory, this study had two purposes. First, it developed and validated the Sources of Educational Technology Self-Efficacy Scale (SETSES) to measure preservice teachers’ perceptions of the four sources of self-efficacy—mastery experiences, vicarious information, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal—within educational technology coursework. Second, it integrated sources of self-efficacy with established social cognitive variables, including self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and interests, to propose and test a new social cognitive model explaining preservice teachers’ intentions for technology integration. Data were collected from 144 preservice teachers enrolled in an introductory educational technology course. Psychometric analyses demonstrated that the SETSES exhibited good validity and reliability, indicating strong psychometric properties. Path analysis and hierarchical regression revealed that the proposed Social Cognitive Model of Technology Integration had high explanatory power for intentions for technology integration and uncovered complex relationships among the social cognitive variables, with mastery experiences playing a central role as a source of self-efficacy. Together, the validated scale and the proposed model extend social cognitive theory and offer important implications for the design of educational technology courses aimed at strengthening preservice teachers’ self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, and intentions for technology integration.
Perkmen et al. (2026) studied this question.