Self-efficacy toward service, civic participation and the business student: Scale development and validation

Abstract

This paper presents the development and validation of new measurement tools to explore self-efficacy toward service and toward civic participation. We developed and administered a survey to 851 students in an AACSB-accredited college of business at a comprehensive public university located in the Midwest. Traditional scale development methodologies plus confirmatory factor analysis and simultaneous factor analysis in several populations were used to analyze both a primary sample and a holdback sample. Results strongly support the validity and reliability of the survey instrument. Future use for the instrument includes verification of the effectiveness of pedagogies designed to increase self-efficacy toward service and motivation for civic participation in business students.