Path Analysis Examining Self-Efficacy and Decision-Making Performance on a Simulated Baseball Task

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between decision-making self-efficacy and decision-making performance in sport. Undergraduate students (N = 78) performed 10 trials of a decision-making task in baseball. Self-efficacy was measured before performing each trial. Decision-making performance was assessed by decision speed and decision accuracy. Path analyses examined the relationships between self-efficacy, residualized past performance, and current performance. The results indicated that self-efficacy was a significant and consistent predictor of decision speed (eight of nine trials), but not decision accuracy (four of nine trials). It was also found that experience does not have a meaningful effect on the relationship between self-efficacy and decision-making performance in sport.

Key words:

• cognitive
• confidence
• decision
• experience

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Teri J. Hepler

Please address correspondence concerning this article to Teri J. Hepler, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, 1725 State Street, Mitchell Hall, La Crosse, WI 54601