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A significant research base has increasingly shown that one of the most important factors affecting student achievement in second language classrooms is the teacher. Consequently, over the recent decades, much attention has been paid to teacher-related variables in research. Nevertheless, few studies have dealt with the relationship between teachers' self-efficacy, metacognitive awareness and their professional development in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL). As such, the objective of this study is to test a path analysis model of the variables and specifically to examine the hypothesis that metacognitive awareness mediates the relationship between self-efficacy and professional development.

A quantitative correlational design was utilized to validate the research hypothesis. Then, data from 200 EFL teachers who were selected through available sampling was obtained using three questionnaires, namely metacognitive inventory by Cem Balcikanli, self-efficacy scale by Tschannen-Moran and Hoy and teachers' professional development inventory by Soodmand Afshar et al. The Pearson correlation coefficient of self-efficacy (r = 757, p < 0.000) revealed a significant positive relationship with metacognitive awareness, and the Pearson correlation coefficient of metacognitive awareness (r = 0.848, p < 0.000) showed a significant positive relationship with professional development.

The results showed the hypothetical model of the relationship among the research variables as well as verifying the mediator role of metacognitive awareness by multiple regression and path analysis. Then, the implications of metacognitive awareness, self-efficacy and professional development were put forward.

The majority of research on teacher professional development has focused appropriately on its relationship with components such as management training, teacher practice, reflective practice and academic achievement. In this line of research, the investigation of the potential links among self-efficacy, professional development and metacognitive awareness as interacting variables is scarce. More substantially, no prior exploration has been conducted concerning the mediating effect of metacognitive awareness in association with English teachers' self-efficacy and professional development.

Professional service firm (PSF) performance depends on the accumulation and application of specialist knowledge to find customised solutions to customer problems. However, available research has not examined whether knowledge acquired from external sources affects PSF outcomes by strengthening professionals’ beliefs rather than only by increasing technical competency. Drawing on self-efficacy theory, this study tests a model that links the quality of content acquired from external sources and the credibility of those sources to professionals’ self-efficacy and, in turn, to PSF outcomes (solution quality and firm performance). In particular, this paper aims to consider the case of professional content exchanged through professional social media.

A cross-sectional research design was applied. Data were collected from a sample of 208 accountants, auditors and lawyers who used professional social media and were analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling.

When accessing professional content from external sources, source credibility and content quality are significant antecedents of professionals’ self-efficacy, which, in turn, has positive effects on PSF outcomes (solution quality and PSF performance).

Self-efficacy plays a key role in the link between knowledge acquired from external sources (professional content) and PSF outcomes.

This study provides recommendations and actionable insights for PSFs, professionals and other actors who create and exchange professional content. Professional associations may also take an active role by contributing and sharing credible and high-quality content, using, for example, professional social media.

This paper advances the current understanding of the effects of professionals’ access to content from external sources on PSF outcomes. It provides an explanation of these effects based on the enhancement of professionals’ beliefs instead of their technical competencies, as indicated in previous research. In addition, it is the first research effort to consider professional social media as a communication channel to exchange content that affects the self-efficacy of PSF professionals.

This study aims to examine the relationship between work-family conflict (WFC) and personal self-efficacy among career persistent women in India. Further, this relationship was explained with the help of the mediating role of perceived managerial support.

Survey data were collected from 510 career persistent women working in the Information Technology (IT) sector in India. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and mediation was tested using Process- Macro.

Findings depicted a positive relationship between WFC and professional self-efficacy demand and self-efficacy challenges. Perceived managerial support was also found to be positively related professional self-efficacy. Furthermore, perceived managerial support was found to have a significant mediating effect in WFC and professional self-efficacy relationships.

Findings of the study may enhance the understanding of WFC in emerging economies, as most of the research has been done in the western context. Findings of the study are crucial, as it highlights the relationship between WFC and professional self-efficacy in the presence of perceived managerial support. Moreover, the paper uniquely discusses the role of WFC in professional self-efficacy among career persistent women in IT sector.

The purpose of this paper is to validate measures of professional self-efficacy for detecting and responding to child abuse and neglect presentations, and then evaluate a clinical training programme for health professionals in a tertiary-level hospital in Vietnam.

A prospective, cohort design was used and professional self-efficacy was measured immediately prior to, and shortly after, training 116 nurses and doctors in emergency settings. Longer-term follow-up was measured six months later.

Linear mixed modelling showed that there was a statistically significant improvement in efficacy expectations for both suspected and known cases of child abuse and neglect between the pre- and post-test measures at zero and six weeks. These improvements did not persist to the six-month follow-up.

The training succeeded in improving detection and clinical response to child abuse and neglect presentations but not faith in the provision of ongoing support for children and families.

Practice change in emergency settings in Vietnam can be achieved using a sustainable theoretically driven training programme.

Building the capacity of health professionals to respond to cases of child abuse and neglect relies on the strength of the community and support services within which the hospital is located.

Measures of self-efficacy expectations and outcome expectations for responding to child abuse and neglect presentations in emergency settings in Vietnam are now validated.

This paper aims to contribute to an understanding of how individual characteristics and perceived contextual conditions shape reflection in professional work, particularly in workplaces that provide a variety of work experiences related to changes. The authors examine the effects of personal initiative, self-efficacy and perceived psychological safety in work relations with colleagues and supervisors on individuals’ reflection at work.

A sample of 84 client advisors who had recently been affected by major changes in retail banking workplaces participated in the study. The participants completed a questionnaire consisting of instruments to map their self-rated personal initiative, self-efficacy beliefs, reflection at work and perception of psychological safety in work relations with colleagues and supervisors. The data were analysed by performing correlation analyses and hierarchical regression analyses.

The results revealed that both individuals’ personal initiative and self-efficacy significantly positively affect reflection at work. An individual’s perception of psychological safety – particularly among peers – positively predicts reflection.

This paper enriches the research on reflection in professional work, particularly against the backdrop of workplace changes. This is done by emphasising the power of individuals’ proactive role and initiative-taking work behaviour; positive beliefs in their own capabilities, e.g. managing the various opportunities involved in workplace changes; and their perception of a psychologically safe environment within a work group that is characterised by interpersonal trust, mutual respect and supportive cooperation.

This study was carried out in 2013 and aims to define the professional self-efficacy of preschool teachers (PTSE); define preschool teachers' perception of preschool excellence (PTPPE); and investigate the relationship between the two.

Scales for PTPSE and PTPPE were developed especially for this study. Preschool teachers (N = 202) participated during the 2013 school year. Structural equation modelling was performed to test the fit between the research model and the obtained data.

PTPSE scale (a = 0.91) comprised three subscales: pedagogy (a = 0.84), organisation (a = 0.85) and staff (a = 0.72). The PTPPE scale (a = 0.92) is also composed of three subscales: organisation and pedagogy (a = 0.88), staff (a = 0.84) and parents (a = 0.83). The goodness of fit measures were RMSEA = 0.045, CFI = 0.97, NFI = 0.89, df = 173, χ² = 242.94, p = 0.000, showing GFI = 1.4 (<3) as a good fit.

As the sample was relatively small, the results need to be replicated with larger samples. Therefore, the conclusions of this study are only partially applicable. Another limitation is that both the PTPSES and PTPPE were tested only in Israel and not in other environments.

Understanding self-efficacy of preschool teachers, preschool excellence and the relations between them could assist policymakers with decisions concerning continuing professional development (in service training) of preschool teachers.

Little is known about perceived self-efficacy of preschool teachers, their perception of preschool excellence or the relations between the two.

The first purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between principal self-efficacy and work experience. The second purpose of this paper is to re-study the structure of a multidimensional and hierarchical Principal Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES).

PSES was measured using the Brama-Friedman scale (PSES) (Brama and Friedman, 2007). During the 2010 school year, 123 principals participated. Exploration of PSES was based on Facet Theory (Guttman, 1959).

The findings show that the highest levels of the PSES were found with principals that were at their first year of leading the school. The levels of PSES drop significantly during the second year and up to the fifth year of work experience. The levels of PSES start to rise after the fifth year, and stabilize after ten years. Furthermore, the findings show that PSES is comprised of organizational leadership, educational, and pedagogical leadership and external and communal relations.

The sample was relatively small and mostly from the center school district of Israel. The second limitation was that the sample included only Jewish principals. Since 20 percent of the population in Israel is Arabs, further studies should include all minorities in order to enlighten the issue.

Understanding the relations between PSES levels and work experience could assist policy makers with decisions concerning continuing professional development (in-service training) of principals.

Little is known about the relations between perceived self-efficacy of principals and their work experience.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss two important behaviors related to job mobility in the IT profession, namely, changing jobs to move to another organization (turnover) and changing the profession entirely (turnaway), during a national crisis. Based on the theoretical foundation of the push–pull–mooring perspective, a research model is developed that includes professional self-efficacy (PSE), job insecurity (JI) and job satisfaction (JS) as important antecedents.

Using a positivist approach and a survey method, the authors analyzed data from IT professionals from different economic segments in Brazil. Data collection occurred in two distinctive moments of the largest crisis in modern Brazilian history – a pre-awareness moment (first half of year 2015) and a crisis-conscious moment (first half of year 2016).

The findings reveal that PSE negatively influences JI and positively influences JS, JI positively influences turnaway intention, and JS negatively influences both turnover intention and turnaway intention. The effect of the national crisis was observed in that it further accentuated the intention of IT professionals to leave the profession. Another effect was related to age, as older professionals are less willing to turn over but more willing to turn away.

Besides developing a parsimonious model to study both the intention to leave the organization and the intention to leave the profession, the study sheds light on how IT professionals react to economic crises and how the reaction varies by age.

The study puts to question the common belief that IT professionals are secure in the job market due to high demand for their skills and investments made by organizations to keep them on the job. Employers must pay attention to JI and turnover/turnaway intentions.

This study is among the few to study JI and aspects of the theory of human migration in IT. It is also possibly the first to discuss the effects of a national crisis on the mobility patterns of IT professionals.

As a kind of knowledge-intensive team coordinated across physical distance, it is necessary to construct a meta-knowledge driven transactive memory system (TMS) for the knowledge management of distributed agile team (DAT). This study aims to explore the comprehensive antecedents of TMS establishment in DATs and considers how TMS establishment is affected by herding behavior under the artificial intelligence (AI)-related knowledge work environment that emerges with technology penetration.

The data derived from 177 students of 52 DATs in a well-known Chinese business school, which were divided into 26 traditional knowledge work groups and 26 AI-related task groups to conduct a random comparative experiment. The ordinary least squares method was used to analyze the conceptual model and ANOVA was used to examine the differences in herding behavior between the control groups (traditional knowledge work DATs) and treatment groups (DATs engaged in AI-related knowledge work).

The results showed that knowledge diversity, professional knowledge, self-efficacy and social system use had significantly positive effects on the establishment of TMS. Interestingly, the authors also find that herding behavior may promote the process of establishing TMS of the new team, and this effect will be more significant when AI tasks are involved in team knowledge work.

By exploring the comprehensive antecedents of the establishment of TMS, this study provided a theoretical basis for knowledge management of DATs, especially in AI knowledge work teams. From a practical perspective, when the DAT is involved in AI-related knowledge works, managers should appropriately guide the convergence of employees’ behaviors and use the herding effects to accelerate the establishment of TMS, which will improve team knowledge sharing and innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate psychometric properties of the Self-Efficacy for Therapeutic Use of Self (SETUS) scales, a questionnaire based on the Intentional Relationship model, and to investigate the factor structure and internal consistency of the English version of three-part SETUS questionnaire in occupational therapy students.

The sample of this cross-sectional study included 155 students with age range 18–30 years, of which 95% were women. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was performed on the questionnaire scales, including the Self-Efficacy for Therapeutic Mode Use (SETMU), Self-Efficacy for Recognizing Interpersonal Characteristics (SERIC) and Self-Efficacy for Managing Interpersonal Events (SEMIE). The internal consistencies were calculated. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the strength of correlation among the scales.

The PCA confirmed that the items of each of the three proposed scales loaded strongly on one factor (self-efficacy for three factors of therapeutic mode use, recognizing interpersonal characteristics and managing interpersonal events). The Cronbach’s alpha for the SETMU, SERIC and SEMIE was 0.85, 0.95 and 0.96, respectively. The three scales significantly inter-correlated strongly (r ranging 0.74–0.83, all p < 0.001).

The SETUS questionnaire comprises three valid and reliable scales. It can be used by occupational therapy supervisors as a means to reflect on students’ self-efficacy in components of therapeutic use of self.