Heinecke-Müller Michaela, Miczka Julia, Arasa Josephine N, Quaiser-Pohl Claudia
Institute of Psychology, University of Koblenz, Universitätsstraße 1, 56070, Koblenz, Germany.
Department of Psychology, United States International University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.
BMC Psychol. 2025 Sep 10;13(1):1008. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-03416-2.
Competence and control beliefs are core self-evaluations with increasing value as predictors (e.g., in clinical, organizational, environmental, and educational psychology), and they are assumed to have a universal core that is shared across cultures. The Inventory for Self-Efficacy and Externality (I-SEE, Greve et al., https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532706XID0104_02 ), which has already been translated and transferred from Germany to several cultures, has not yet been analyzed with regard to its cross-cultural applicability. While a recently updated German short form shows promise for transcultural application, further research into the culturally specific meaning of the construct is needed.
A total of 1,084 participants from Germany, Kenya, and Poland completed a 32-item personality test designed to assess self-efficacy (self-concept of own competence and internality) and externality (social and fatalistic). The factor structures were compared via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modeling (ESEM).
Two factors emerged consistently and altogether represented the content of internal and external control beliefs. The theoretically proposed measurement model, which identified four distinct factors, was not replicated. Inconsistencies between the subsamples were evident in the areas of control related to others, chance and religiosity. Structural equivalence could only be partially supported, whereas metric and scalar equivalence were not confirmed.
The intra- and intercultural usability of the measure are questioned, while potential advancements are given with the social and fatalistic aspects of the underlying construct. Given the greater significance of these control beliefs in non-Western cultures, a more detailed examination of their allocation (internal, external, or both) is warranted. An embedment in a more comprehensive, transculturally applicable personality theory is discussed.
能力信念和控制信念是核心自我评价，作为预测指标（如在临床、组织、环境和教育心理学中）其价值不断增加，并且假定它们具有跨文化共享的普遍核心。自我效能感与外部性量表（I-SEE，格雷夫等人，https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532706XID0104_02）已从德国翻译并传播到多种文化中，但尚未对其跨文化适用性进行分析。虽然最近更新的德语简版显示出跨文化应用的前景，但仍需要对该构念的文化特定意义进行进一步研究。
来自德国、肯尼亚和波兰的1084名参与者完成了一项32项人格测试，旨在评估自我效能感（对自身能力和内控性的自我概念）和外部性（社会性和宿命性）。通过探索性因素分析（EFA）和结构方程模型（ESEM）比较因素结构。
一致出现了两个因素，共同代表了内控信念和外控信念的内容。理论上提出的识别四个不同因素的测量模型未得到重复验证。在与他人、机遇和宗教信仰相关的控制领域，子样本之间存在明显不一致。结构等效性只能得到部分支持，而度量等效性和标量等效性未得到证实。
该测量方法在文化内部和文化之间的可用性受到质疑，而潜在的进展在于基础构念的社会性和宿命性方面。鉴于这些控制信念在非西方文化中具有更大的重要性，有必要对其分配（内控、外控或两者兼有）进行更详细的研究。讨论了将其纳入更全面、跨文化适用的人格理论中。
