"SELF-EFFICACY, LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORAND SUCCESS: EVIDENCE FROMCHINESE BUSINESS MANAGERS AbstractSelf-efficacy was first introduced by Bandura in 1977. This research attempts toexamine the manner in which self-efficacy and its perceptions among mangersimpacts their behaviour and performance. For the purpose of the study,exploratory research was undertaken which comprised of conductinginterviews in order to gather qualitative data. The study considered a samplesize of 10 males occupying a managerial position across different sectors likemanufacturing, automotive etc. The responses were analysed through themethod of content analysis which helped in grouping the themes emerging outof the data collected. The research assisted in an understanding of theperceptions of self-efficacy among mangers and established that theleadership abilities supported self efficacy development process of managerswhich consequently had a bearing on their job-related performance. Theconverse was also found to be true that is, self-efficacy too played a role inenhancing the leader skills and thus, their performance abilities. Further, it wasfound that the individuals possessing high levels of self-efficacy tend topersevere to fulfil the target set by them even when faced with the failures.Thus these outcomes helped in recommending that the leadership behaviourand performance influence each other. While an extension of Self-efficacy pathmodel was recommended wherein it was suggested that performance too havea potential to impact and influence the self-efficacy perceptions. Thus, theseresults can be utilized while designing of the various leadership skills programin order to attain better results in enhancing the talents among managers andthereby enhancing and developing their performance. 2 Table of ContentsDeclaration ............................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.Acknowledgement .................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.Abstract .............................................................................................................. 2Table of Contents ............................................................................................. 3CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 61.1 Research Background ....................................................................................... 61.2 Problem Statement ............................................................................................ 91.3 Research Question .......................................................................................... 101.4 Research Aim and Objectives ........................................................................ 11CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................. 122.1 Chapter Overview ............................................................................................. 122.2 Leadership ........................................................................................................ 132.2.1 Leadership as a concept .................................................................................... 132.2.2 Leadership style .................................................................................................. 132.2.3 Significant role leadership plays in organizational change .................. 152.3 Self-Efficacy and Behavior .............................................................................. 172.3.1 Self - Efficacy: A concept ........................................................................... 182.3.2 Self-efficacy in Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) ................................. 192.3.3 Self-efficacy and Behavioral Propositions ....................................................... 212.4 Self-efficacy and Leadership Success .......................................................... 222.4.1 Self-efficacy and Leadership Success ............................................................. 222.4.2 Self-efficacy, Self-Confidence and Leadership Success ............... 242.5 Chapter summary ............................................................................................. 25CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODS ............................................................ 263.1 Chapter Overview ............................................................................................. 263.2 Research Philosophy ....................................................................................... 263.3 Research Approach ......................................................................................... 283.4 Research Design .............................................................................................. 293.4.1 Quantitative vs qualitative methods.................................................................. 293.4.2 Primary Data Collection ..................................................................................... 303.4.3 Secondary Data Collection ................................................................................ 343.4.4 Data Analysis ....................................................................................................... 343 3.5 Limitations ........................................................................................................ 353.6 Ethics ................................................................................................................. 363.7 Reliability and Validity ..................................................................................... 36CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DATA ANALYSIS ........................................... 384.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 384.2 Awareness of self-efficacy .............................................................................. 384.3 Evidence re self-efficacy and leadership behavior ...................................... 414.4 Evidence re self-efficacy and its impact on leader performance ............... 434.5 Evidence re self-efficacy and managing failures ......................................... 474.6 Evidence re self-efficacy development and leadership............................... 48CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ........................................... 525.1 Discussion ........................................................................................................ 525.2 Conclusions ...................................................................................................... 54List of References ........................................................................................... 59List of Appendix .............................................................................................. 64Appendix 1: Interview Questions ......................................................................... 64Appendix 2: Ethic Approval .................................................................................. 65Appendix 3: Consent Form and Participant Information Sheet ....................... 654 List of Figures:Figure I: Lewin's leadership styles (Lewin, et al., 1939) Error! Bookmark notdefined.Figure II: Triadic relationship of Social Cognitive Theory21Figure III: Self-efficacy path influences on behaviour (Bandura, 1977) 23Figure IV: Research Methodology (Saunders, 2016) 28Figure V: Deductive Process 30Figure VI: Sample Demography 33Figure VII: Understanding of Self-efficacy among managers 40Figure VIII: Self-efficacy Path behavior of participant 3 43Figure IX: self-efficacy path behavior for participant 244Figure X: Factors affecting self-efficacy development process43Figure XI: Extension of self-efficacy path behavior model 545 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION1.1 Research Background Bandura, in 1977, initially presented self-efficacy as a concept of believing inone?s individual abilities and resources towards meeting the demands andexpectations with respect to a particular task. He defined it as an individualconclusion of “how fine can one implement a course of action required to dealwith prospective situation” (Bandura, 1982). Subsequently, this concept hasplayed a role in stimulating a diverse body of empirical research i.e. to sayempirical research in a span of last three decades has produced a largenumber of findings which have exhibited and confirmed a positive correlationbetween self-efficacy and behavioral results in experimental, organizationaland educational backdrops. It would not be wrong to say that in thesepreceding three decades, job-related results have attracted an enormousattention and been a fundamental area of concern owing to their constructiveand adverse effects which have a direct impact on the organizationalproductivity (Chi & Pan, 2012).In present times, the organizations are under constant pressure to maintaintheir productivity by building up their competitive advantage in the form of theirhuman workforce. If a business organization desire to tackle the externalchallenges posed by globalization, evolving competition, growing workforcesand innovative tools & technologies, it is no longer sufficient to modify merelyapproaches, systems and structures (Senge, 1999) owing to the fact thatorganizations overall, are outcomes of the means by which personneldeliberate and interact.6 Thus, today the business leaders, function in an increasingly demanding andever changing work backdrops on both the professional and personal fronts,therefore, to be effective and maintain their position in an organization theyneed to possess, exhibit and demonstrate right skills, behavior andcompetencies. Leader are aware that the capability to drive uninterrupteddevelopment and transformation in an organization no longer serves as anadvantage rather has become a necessity for survival (Kotter, 1996). Thecontemporary leaders face several challenges which involve; constantlyevaluating the methods to perform a specific task better, reaching toemployees in order to make them share and contribute to their objectives andsimultaneously working jointly to accomplish those objectives (Paglis, etal .2002). The continued development, being an essential for the organizationto survive, to be attained by means of intense and quick change, leaders areobligated to have a vibrant vision which considers the various elements whichcan have an impact on organizational success (Rosenberg, 2003). Leader whoare effective at leading constant development in the organization they areheading are probably the ones successful at preserving and maintainingpersonnel with extraordinary performance by way of motivating them. Thiscorrelation substantiates and warrants an outlay in an enquiry towardsanalysis in order to appreciate and comprehend the factors to motivate anemployee to come forward and succeed and accomplish the kind ofsustainable and tangible outcomes an organization requires in order tocontinue being competitive in the market. It is instinctively known to theexperienced leaders that personnel possessing greater self-belief and apositive confidence in their own capabilities tend to achieve greater than thosepeople who are deprived of them.7 In outlook, leaders vary in the way they capture opportunities to take part inresponsibility sharing and leadership roles (Barclay, et al, 2007). Inquintessence, the leaders with self-efficacy tend to set a goal and deemthemselves to be capable of achieving it. Therefore, such business leaderstend to have a desire to control their work and accordingly contribute more incrafting and formulating the decisions associated with their job. Thus, theexercise wherein one purposely controls his thinking, behaviors and feelings toensure the accomplishment of pre-determined goals is known asself-leadership (Wing 2006). According to Chan and Drasgow (2001),individuals who happen to possess characteristics of self leadership tend toendure in unfavorable circumstances by guiding their strengths and personallykeeping themselves motivated simultaneously striving to renovate theirthought and intellectual patterns. The self-fulfilling prophecy theory articulatesthat individual?s conduct is coherent with their expectancies, and this conductconsequently will impact the results obtained from it (Merton, 1948). A study tothe extent of psychology has proposed that one?s individuality form andefficacy might provide as benchmarks of leadership effectiveness particularlyin driving the efforts towards an attempted change (Atkinson & Millar, 1999). The reason as to why certain leaders seem to be more effective as comparedto others, has remained elusive despite several studies that had been done inthe past to understand the characteristics of leadership which would bring animprovement in the performance of an organization. Causes for thiselusiveness is owing to the gap which exists in between the practitioners andacademics on leadership as a concept. Moreover, discovering universallyapplicable predictors of an effective leader has been exaggerated while lessemphasis was given on circumstantial considerations and the context ofleadership occurrences (Gordon & Yukl, 2004). 8 Hence, in general, owing to the influence that self-efficacy exerts onjob-related performance, extension of this theory to the leadership researchrealm emerges to be reasonable. Accordingly, in this report, an analysis iscarried out in relation to self-efficacy and leadership literatures andobservation were made to see if the proposition that greater leaderself-efficacy attitudes leads to a higher performance in a leadership role, istrue. Following the literature review, given the propositioned significancegained by self-efficacy as a personal element in the leadership development,theory of self-efficacy will be expanded to ascertain the aspects and practicesinvolved in the establishment of leadership and self-efficacy perceptions.Ultimately, postulations and propositions will be put forward to be examined. 1.2 Problem StatementIn modern times, changes are fundamental necessity for any organization tosucceed and therefore, the business organizations are faced with the task ofdecreasing expenditures and at the same time becoming effective at lowcosts. An opportunity of building an agile organization can be created byimproving the prospect of achievement of the attempts to accept and inculcatechange in the organization. Thus, it is essential for the organizationalemployees to embrace different approaches and behaviors to ensure thedesired changes are accomplished (Armenakis & Bedeian, 1999). The volumeof prevalent literature committed to this theme of managing and leading thechange is illustrating significance that the theme has gained with contemporaryleaders as they are keen to know as to how to pursue new prospects andopportunities in a more effective and efficient manner along with whatapproaches to adopt in order to ensure success in captivating their advantagefor their organization.Today businesses cannot establish in advance, a threeor five-year strategy with what it has as a known. Rather it can put that as a9 benchmark and subsequently recognize what the business faces in today?sdynamic environment, therefore if the workforce is not agile, the forcesconstantly altering the game will not let the organization to produce theoutcomes as outlined and expected by the business.In this ever changing era, the business leaders must change their approachescontinuously. This can be achieved by gaining an understanding self-efficacy?srole plays in developing leadership abilities, thereby leaders can carefullyadvance their performance by attending to several sources that support toimprove self-efficacy.In light of above, it can be suggested that China is no more insulated fromsuch developments. China, one of the major and fastest-growing economy onthe globe, constantly offers lucrative investment and business opportunities tothe companies globally. Nevertheless, to conduct business in China one has tonavigate through the intricacies which arise from its exclusive cultural,historical and political contexts. Thus to develop collaborative relationshipswith other stakeholders Chinese business and leaders essentially shoulddemonstrate the agility in order to constantly adapt their approaches to matchthe country?s dynamic setting.1.3 Research QuestionIn order to successfully achieve the research aim, as outlined above, theresearch question has been formulated as below:Do the business managers understand the concept of self-efficacy andperceive it to positively impact the process of developing their leadershipbehaviour and enable them to perform effectively in the ever changingbusiness environment?10 1.4 Research Aim and ObjectivesDrawing upon the above background research and problem statement, thisresearch aims to investigate the subject of self-efficacy and its significantimpact on the leadership behaviour among business managers in China.To fulfil the above aim and to be able to answer the research question, thefollowing objectives have been devised:i. To explore impacts of self-efficacy on leadership behaviour and leadersuccess in existing relevant literatureii. To examine how awareness of self-efficacy?s effect on leadershipbehaviour among Chinese leaders iii. To investigate impact of self-efficacy on leadership behaviour and successin the Chinese leaders.11 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW2.1 Chapter OverviewTaking the discussion forward, this section attempts to review the existingliterature that is related to the research theme. Therefore, the review wouldinclude subjects covering leadership, organizational change and major factorsinfluencing and making changes a success in an organizational set up andself-efficacy theory. Further, it would evaluate the relationship betweenself-efficacy and leadership behavior.As discussed above, in an organization in today?s times, the requirement forleadership success is management of change.With the marketplace involvingunpredictable customers and offices crammed up with employees facingidentity crisis, therefore, leaders need more tolerance, composure &time-to-think along with the capability to perfectly join the dots of opportunity inorder to be successful (Llopis, 2014). Therefore, leadership today is stressedto remain forward owing to the rapidly changing requirements to contend in themarketplace. Accordingly, any ineffective efforts to remain proactive andmaintain organizational promptness will result into an enormously highcost. Under these circumstances organizational leaders have to adopt anddevelop themselves into transformational leaders as against another style ofleadership, transactional leadership, in both behavior and attitude in order toremain effective in the work. 12 2.2 Leadership 2.2.1 Leadership as a conceptThere have been numerous studies defining the leadership as a concept.Leaders are entrusted with the task of aligning the employees or followers withthe organization?s vision and ensure that all efforts are directed towardsachieving this vision (Villanueva & Sanchez, 2007). In other words, it can be said that leadership comprises of change and approaches to manage change(Yun et al, 2006). This definition is supported by Donaldson and Grant-Vallone(2002) as they noted that leadership is an association of actions that engrossindividuals in change leadership. Therefore, it is implied from the abovenarrative of leadership that there are certain elements which are fundamentalto it, which are resource, authority and purpose. 2.2.2 Leadership styleFrom the above discussion around leadership, it is well established thatleadership refers to an individual?s capability to encourage, facilitate andinfluence his followers to contribute to ensure the effectiveness and success oftheir organizations (Kane et al. 2002). This process of encouraging andinfluencing people can be attributed as to be the different styles of leadership,traditionally comprising of autocratic, laissez faire and democratic leadershipas termed by Kurt Lewin et al, (Lewin, et al., 1939) as demonstrated below infigure 1.13 FIGURE I: LEWIN'S LEADERSHIP STYLES (LEWIN, ET AL., 1939)Nonetheless, Lewin's leadership theories laid emphasis on behaviors thatleaders exhibit with respect to other colleagues of the team. Some contemporary leadership researchers have a belief that thetransformational style of leadership can nurture the creativity of employeessuccessfully (Shin and Zhou, 2003; Jaussi and Dionne, 2003). This can beowing to the reason that transformational leaders, in contrast to Lewin?s styles,attempt to encourage organizational change by virtue of their belief, desire andkeenness. Such leaders have a very clear vision for their organization andalong with possessing the necessary skill-set to motivate employees, they alsotry to think in a new manner to ensure that a creative and innovative resolutionis developed for a particular problem. Thus, a transformational leader tends tobe charismatic and possess the capability to persuade the workforce to unitewith the cause of the organization. Transformational leaders, it is noted, byway of invoking workers? higher level values and beliefs tend to motivate theirgroups to produce results beyond the level expected by them (Bushra et al.,14 2011; Chi and Pan, 2012). In certain ways, such a leader at times, might actlike an autocratic leader i.e. not inviting much of an idea from the team as he isplanning to gather followers who back and support his cause. At other times, the style appropriate to situational factors is adopted by theleader to motivate and influence the employees. This is because leadershipapproach, in contemporary times, is constructed on the contingency theorieswhich define leadership as situational, with particular qualities and behaviorproving to be additionally beneficial in certain context as opposed to universaltraits for leadership. For instance, the path goal theory of leadership is basedon the model of contingency leadership established from components ofbeginning arrangement and consideration and extracting components fromexpectancy theory of motivation (Barclay et al. 2007). As the name suggests,path goal theory in concept influences and guides leader?s behavior to providesupport and set a direction to ensure that goals achieved are in accordancewith that of organizations.Thus, there are various styles that leaders may adopt in order to ensure theaccomplishment of the vision by way of sharing the same with followers andworking in collaboration with them.2.2.3 Significant role leadership plays in organizational changeAny organization that can exhibit the characteristics of being adaptable,receptive and completely consumer focused would be able to survive andaddress the economic challenges of the 21st century effectively (Atkinson &Millar, 1999). Therefore, organizations must try and build a culture wherein thepersonnel are motivated to see themselves as "company owners" and feelauthorized to adopt an approach that best meets the organizational needs. Anattempt has been made to set up the necessary framework essential for15 "