Pygmalion Training Made Effective: Greater Mastery Through Augmentation of Self-Efficacy and Means Efficacy* *

This article is based on the thesis submitted by Roni Sulimani as part of the requirements for his master’s degree in organizational behavior at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Management. Dov Eden served as thesis advisor.

The Lilly and Alejandro Saltiel Chair in Corporate Leadership and Social Responsibility and the Israel Institute of Business Research supported part of Dov Eden’s work on this experiment.

Abstract

Seven past field-experimental attempts to produce Pygmalion effects by training managers yielded meager results (Eden et al, 2000). The present effort bolstered the Pygmalion approach with special emphasis on means efficacy, defined as belief in the utility of the tools available for performing a job. Six randomly assigned anti-aircraft gunnery instructors received a one-day Pygmalion workshop with special emphasis on self-efficacy and means efficacy before beginning instruction in a new round of a course; eight control instructors received an interpersonal communication workshop. The trainees of the experimental instructors reported higher self-efficacy, means efficacy, and motivation, and obtained higher scores on written examinations and on performance tests than did the trainees of the control instructors. This is the first true-experimental confirmation of the effectiveness of Pygmalion training among instructors of adults and the first replication of the means-efficacy findings.

Citation

Eden, D. and Sulimani, R. (2013), "Pygmalion Training Made Effective: Greater Mastery Through Augmentation of Self-Efficacy and Means Efficacy* *

This article is based on the thesis submitted by Roni Sulimani as part of the requirements for his master’s degree in organizational behavior at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Management. Dov Eden served as thesis advisor.

The Lilly and Alejandro Saltiel Chair in Corporate Leadership and Social Responsibility and the Israel Institute of Business Research supported part of Dov Eden’s work on this experiment.

", Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (Monographs in Leadership and Management, Vol. 5), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 337-358. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-357120130000005025