THE MULTILEVEL AND MULTIFACETED CHARACTER OF COMPUTER SELF-EFFICACY -TOWARD CLARIFICATION OF THE CONSTRUCT AND AN INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR RESEARCH

Despite the recent empirical interest and advances in research with re gard to the construct of computer self-efficacy (CSE), the results obt ained to date have, in some cases, been either equivocal or contradict ory. We suggest that such results may be attributable to a general lac k of attention to the dynamic, multileveled, and multifaceted nature o f the computer self-efficacy construct. We offer examples from the ext ant CSE Literature suggesting weaknesses in existing measures of the c onstruct as well as issues associated with manipulations and the need for control of antecedent and consequent factors directly associated w ith CSE. The objectives of this paper are: (1) to provide a thorough r eview of the extant literature related to CSE; (2) to present an integ rated model of empirical findings, constructed from a wide variety of disciplines, that comprehensively defines the multifaceted nature of t ask-specific CSE in terms of its antecedent, consequent, and moderatin g factors; (3) to present a conceptual model of CSE at the general ver sus task-specific level; and (4) to use the two models of CSE to proff er guidelines for both measurement and manipulation of the construct. Through our review of the CSE literature, we offer several thoughts re garding the nature of the empirical results obtained to date. The comb ined objectives serve as a basis for establishing a foundation upon wh ich future research investigating the CSE construct can be based.