Investigating novice teacher decisional capital and its relationship to professional learning community and sense of efficacy

Purpose This study examines the links between decisional capital and teacher sense of efficacy/collective efficacy for early career teachers. We hypothesize that decisional capital will have a positive relationship with these measures of efficacy, and also that decisional capital will partially mediate the relationship between professional learning community and teacher sense of efficacy/collective efficacy. Design/methodology/approach We surveyed novice teachers (N = 343) using established measures of professional learning community, decisional capital, collective efficacy and teacher sense of efficacy. We performed a path analysis to estimate the direct and indirect effects of professional learning community and decisional capital on efficacy measures. Findings We find that decisional capital has a positive and statistically significant direct relationship with both collective efficacy and teacher sense of efficacy. In addition, decisional capital considerably mediates the relationship between professional learning community and teacher sense of efficacy. Originality/value This study adds to the burgeoning research base suggesting that professional learning communities have an important role in growing teachers’ decision-making capacity in addition to contributing to their social and human capital. Furthermore, this study underscores that decisional capital is associated with improved individual and collective efficacy, which research has established are linked with instructional effectiveness.