Self-Efficacy Training to Speed Reemployment: Helping People to Help Themselves

The impact of training designed to boost general self-efficacy (GSE) on job-search activity and on reemployment was assessed among 66 persons unemployed for up to 18 weeks. Randomly assigned experimental participants attended 8 behavioral-modeling workshop sessions over 2 1 2 weeks. The manipulation check showed that training boosted GSE as intended. The workshop also increased job-search activity, confirming the hypothesis that raising GSE motivates intensification of effort. The treatment increased reemployment among participants low in initial GSE but not among those with high GSE. The greater plasticity of individuals low in GSE suggests that the practical utility of training is moderated by initial GSE. The authors conclude that individuals of low GSE should be given priority access to scarce behavioral-modeling training resources.