Professional Self-Efficacy Expectations Scale (PSEES)

Abstract

The Professional Self-Efficacy Expectations Scale (BSW-5-Rev) is an economical, five-item instrument designed to measure domain-specific occupational self-efficacy expectations. It represents a refined adaptation and reanalysis of the original six-item BSW scale developed by Abele, Stief, and Andrä (2000). Conceptually, the BSW-5-Rev captures both motivational (“wanting”) and skill-related (“can do”) facets of occupational self-efficacy, differentiating it from narrower definitions. Factor analytic results support a robust single-factor structure.

The BSW-5-Rev was developed and validated across two distinct German-language versions: one tailored for students and one for employed persons, utilizing validation samples of 206 students and 228 employed individuals, respectively. The scale demonstrates satisfactory reliability and robust factorial, convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity, making it a valuable tool for research in vocational and organizational psychology.

Keywords

Occupational self-efficacy, Professional self-efficacy expectations, BSW-5-Rev, Students, Employed persons, Psychological assessment, Motivation, Abilities, German language scale

Authors

Dr. Jens Knispel, Veneta Slavchova (M.Sc.), PD Dr. Viktoria Arling

Purpose

The primary purpose of the BSW-5-Rev is to serve as an efficient and valid measurement tool for assessing occupational self-efficacy expectations within academic and applied research projects in the German-speaking context. Its streamlined 5-item format, adapted from the original BSW scale to remove problematic items and format issues, makes it particularly suitable for large-scale surveys where brevity and economy are essential.

The scale is also applicable for purposes of individual diagnostics. This includes use in personnel development contexts for assessing current capabilities versus desired outcomes (Ist-Soll-Standortbestimmung) and initiating self-reflection processes. However, for individual diagnostic use, the authors recommend supplementing the BSW-5-Rev results with additional methods, such as work samples, for a comprehensive assessment.

Construct

The BSW-5-Rev measures Berufliche Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung (Occupational Self-Efficacy Expectation), which is a domain-specific manifestation of the overarching psychological construct of Self-Efficacy, as initially conceptualized by Bandura (1977). Self-efficacy describes an individual’s expectation that they can successfully master challenges or difficult tasks through their own efforts, attributing success to internal competence rather than external factors.

Specifically, Occupational Self-Efficacy refers to the conviction, based on one’s own abilities, that one can successfully meet professional requirements (Anderson & Betz, 2001). The BSW-5-Rev adopts a broader theoretical perspective than classical self-efficacy theory, explicitly incorporating both a motivational component (the “will” or “Wollen”) and a skill-based component (the “ability” or “Können”). This dual focus allows the scale to capture a complete picture of an individual’s confidence in achieving professional or academic success, which is highly relevant across various application contexts, including career development and vocational rehabilitation.

Validity

The validity of the BSW-5-Rev is supported by comprehensive evidence across several dimensions, confirmed independently for both the student and employed person versions.

• Content and Factorial Validity: Content validity is confirmed by the theoretical grounding of the items, which cover both motivational and skill-based facets. Factorial validity is strongly supported by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), which established a robust unidimensional factor structure for the final five-item version in both validation samples, with excellent fit indices (e.g., CFI ≥ .98, SRMR ≤ .03 for the final models).

• Construct Validity (Convergent): The BSW-5-Rev showed expected moderate-to-strong positive correlations with conceptually aligned constructs. These included the Occupational Self-Efficiency Scale (OSES, r ≈ .71-.74), General Self-Efficacy (ASKU, r ≈ .53-.59), Proactive Coping (r ≈ .46-.52), Agency (r ≈ .45-.50), Resilience (r ≈ .47-.54), Internal Locus of Control, and Perseverance. These correlations confirm that the BSW-5-Rev measures a construct closely related to, yet distinct from, other self-efficacy measures and positive psychological traits.

• Construct Validity (Discriminant): The scale successfully demonstrated discriminant validity by showing expected negative correlations with impulsive behavior (Dringlichkeit, r ≈ -.20 to -.25) and External Locus of Control (r ≈ -.23 to -.24). Correlation with the social dimension of Communion was negligible for students, further confirming that BSW-5-Rev primarily measures a competence expectation distinct from social orientation.

• Criterion Validity: Evidence of criterion validity was found through associations with objective career outcomes. For students, higher BSW-5-Rev scores correlated positively with anticipated final grades. For employed persons, higher occupational self-efficacy was associated with greater overall work experience and longer current job tenure, as well as higher self-reported performance standards.

Reliability

The reliability of the BSW-5-Rev was assessed using multiple coefficients due to the limitations of traditional measures like Cronbach’s Alpha in short scales.

• Internal Consistency: Cronbach’s Alpha demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency, ranging from .73 (Employed Version) to .77 (Student Version).

• Omega Coefficients: Three additional reliability estimates (ω1, ω2, ω3) were calculated, confirming stability and reliability above the generally accepted threshold. The conservative, hierarchical ω3 (McDonald) coefficient, recommended for tau-congeneric measurement models, was .79 for the student version and .73 for the employed version. The stability of these coefficients across different estimation methods suggests dependable reliability, especially considering the minimal item count.

Factor Analysis

The BSW-5-Rev originated from a 6-item version of the German BSW scale (Abele et al., 2000). The development process involved two key modifications to enhance psychometric quality and applicability: 1) all items were revised to be positively formulated to mitigate method effects observed in previous studies, and 2) the response format was changed from a five-point to a four-point Likert scale to eliminate the neutral mid-category and simplify the scale for lower educational groups.

Initial Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on the modified 6-item versions revealed that Item 6, which conceptually intertwined motivation and the expectation of overcoming great difficulties, was problematic and degraded model fit. Upon removal of this item, the resulting 5-item structure (BSW-5-Rev) achieved excellent model fit across both student and employed samples, confirming a clear and robust unidimensional measurement model suitable for economical assessment.

Instrument

Test Type: Short self-report psychological scale (Questionnaire)

Format: 5 items, 4-point Likert scale (1 = stimmt gar nicht [strongly disagree] to 4 = stimmt genau [strongly agree]). All items are positively formulated.

Language Available: German (deutsch)

Population Group: Students and Employed Persons

Age Group: Adults (Validation sample mean ages: Students 24.79 years, Employed 38.64 years)

Population Details: Validation samples consisted of 206 students and 228 employed persons, recruited through convenience sampling via online social networks between November 2020 and January 2021. Both groups showed a tendency toward higher educational attainment.

Test Methodology: Primarily validated using Computer Assisted Self-Interview (CASI). Also deemed applicable for Paper-and-Pencil (PAPI, PASI), Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), and Paper-and-Pencil Telephone Interviewing (PATI). The scale is highly economical, requiring an average processing time of approximately 1 minute.

Keywords

Berufliche Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung, BSW, Psychometrics, CFA, Reliability, Validity, Psychological assessment, Likert scale, Short scale

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Dr. Jens Knispel, Veneta Slavchova (M.Sc.), PD Dr. Viktoria Arling, RWTH Aachen, Institut für Psychologie, Lehr- und Forschungsgebiet Gesundheitspsychologie, Jägerstraße 17-19, 52066 Aachen

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Status of Development: Tested (erprobt).

Permissions and Fees: Information regarding formal permissions and fees is not provided in the source content. The scale is suitable primarily for research purposes.

Test Year: The validation study was conducted between November 2020 and January 2021.

Reference’s

The following references were cited in the scale documentation:

• Abele, A., Stief, M., & Andrä, M. (2000). Die berufliche Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung (BSW): Entwicklung und Validierung eines Messinstruments. Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie, 44(2), 71-77.

• Ajzen, I. (2006). Behavioral control: Superordinate concept or separate construct? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36(10), 2419-2432.

• Anderson, S. L., & Betz, N. E. (2001). Sources of social and occupational self-efficacy expectations. Journal of Career Assessment, 9(1), 95-118.

• Arling, V., Knispel, J., & Zwingmann, J. (2016). Predictors of successful return-to-work in vocational rehabilitation: The role of self-efficacy and goal commitment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 94, 1-10.

• Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215.

• Carifio, J., & Rhodes, L. (2002). Construct Validities and Reliability of the Optimism-Pessimism Scale. Journal of Psychology, 136(2), 147-159.

• Eid, M., Geiser, C., & Schermelleh-Engel, K. (2013). Konstruktvalidität: Ein Lehrbuch zur Messung psychologischer Merkmale. Hogrefe.

• Greenglass, E. R., Schwarzer, R., & Taubert, S. (1999). The Proactive Coping Inventory (PCI): A multidimensional resource-oriented measure. International Journal of Stress Management, 6(4), 273-294.

• Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1-55.

• Kovaleva, A., Beierlein, C., Kemper, C. J., Kovaleva, I., & Rammstedt, B. (2012a). Impulskontrolle I-8. GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften.

• Kovaleva, A., Beierlein, C., Kemper, C. J., Kovaleva, I., & Rammstedt, B. (2012b). Internale/Externale Kontrollüberzeugung-4 (IE4). GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften.

• Niles, S. G., & Sowa, C. J. (1992). Mapping the nomological network of career self-efficacy. Journal of Career Development, 18(4), 289-301.

• Rigotti, T., Schyns, B., & Mohr, G. (2008). A short version of the Occupational Self-Efficacy Scale (OSES): Development and evaluation of a German scale. Journal of Career Assessment, 16(2), 239-253.

• Rosseel, Y. (2012). lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48(2), 1-36.

• Schwarzer, R., & Warner, L. M. (2013). The role of resilience in the stress and coping process. In S. T. Fiske, D. L. Schacter, & R. K. F. (Eds.), Annual Review of Psychology (Vol. 64, pp. 1-28). Annual Reviews.

Items of the professional self-efficacy expectations Scale (BSW-5-Rev)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The response format utilizes a four-point scale: ‘1’: stimmt gar nicht (strongly disagree), ‘2’: stimmt eher nicht (disagree somewhat), ‘3’: stimmt eher (agree somewhat), and ‘4’: stimmt genau (strongly agree).