Abstract:
This article presents the findings of an exploratory investigation
into the sources of self-efficacy in consumer behavior - an area
virtually ignored in previous research. Ten depth interviews were
conducted with a relatively heterogenous sample of informants to
explore the nature of, and the extent to which consumers draw on
the sources of self-efficacy information proposed by Bandura
(1977): performance attainments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion,
and physiological and affective states.
The findings revealed various consumer task-related variables
that triggered informants' need to access efficacy beliefs. The data
demonstrated each source of efficacy put forward by Bandura
(1977), and provided evidence to support the significance of their
impact on an individual's sense of self-efficacy in the course of
consumption.
