Direct and indirect longitudinal relationships among self‐efficacy, job performance and career advancements

The present study examined the longitudinal relations among work self-efficacy beliefs, job performance and career success, defined as objective career advancements. We argued that job performance would mediate both the influence of worker's self-efficacy beliefs on career success and the influence of career success on subsequent self-efficacy beliefs. The participants were 976 employees of one of the largest companies in Italy, assessed at three time points (i.e., Waves 1, 2 and 3), spaced apart by 3 years. Job performance significantly mediated the relationship between self-efficacy beliefs and subsequent career success as well as the reverse influence of career success on subsequent self-efficacy beliefs. The posited conceptual model explained a significant portion of the variance in all endogenous variables and has implications for interventions intended to promote the development of individuals within organisations.