Vietnamese Young Graduate Employees’ Evaluation of Sources of Self-efficacy at Work

Abstract

Background:Self-efficacy at work is considered to be one of the factors affecting employees’ quality of work life and professional development. Understanding the sources of employees’ self-efficacy at work is essential, especially in the context of Viet Nam’s Doi Moi (Renovation) policy that has led to wide-reaching socio-economic changes in Viet Nam, including the workplace over the past 30 years.Methods:This article is based on a quantitative study of 166 Vietnamese graduates with less than 2-year working experience at their organizations, followed by 11 interviews. The study seeks to demonstrate their evaluation of the sources of self-efficacy at work.Findings:The results show that “physiological and emotional states”, “vicarious experiences” and “verbal persuasion” have a significantly positive correlation with self-efficacy at work while no remarkable association is observed for “mastery experiences”. In addition, the content of the interviews further clarifies the above-mentioned results.Conclusion:The findings suggest the important role of cultural-social factors and the characteristics of the workforce in Viet Nam in interpreting employee’s self-efficacy.