“Promote organizational well-being: individual and collective antecedents in socio-cognitive perspective”

Research in the perspective of the social cognition has shown that organizational well-being and positive climate are positively related to job efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1997; Judge, Bono, 2001; Capone, Petrillo, 2012, 2015). Thus, individuals who are confident in their abilities and competences to perform a job will be more satisfied with it. Meanwhile, employees that perceive their group to be able to overcome difficulties in attaining its goals will be more satisfied with their work and organization. In organizational context two different facets of collective efficacy (group and organizational) were found, which are distinct conceptually and empirically (Borgogni et al., 2013). Group efficacy is defined as the belief that one’s work group is able to cope effectively with different challenges to the achievement of common goals. Organizational efficacy is defined as the belief that the organization is able to cope effectively with challenges to the pursuit of its mission. The aim of the study was to explore the associations between different forms of efficacy beliefs (individual, group and organizational) and their relationship with organizational well-being, which was operationalized as job satisfaction. A self-report questionnaire was administrated to 120 employees of a pasta factory (mean = 33.41 years old; SD = 9.43, range 20-65). The questionnaire was composed of four measures validated in Italian language and that, in this study, revealed good psychometric properties. They were: the Self-Efficacy Scale for Producers Organizations and the Collective Efficacy Scale for Producers Organizations (Borgogni et al., 2001); the Italian Bohn Organizational Efficacy Scale (Capone, Petrillo, 2015) and the Job Satisfaction Scale (Warr et al., 1979, Italian version by Magnavita et al., 2009). Structural equation models highlighted that the job self-efficacy has a strong relationship with group efficacy and job satisfaction, but it is not associated with organizational efficacy. Employees’ perceptions of their group efficacy are related to organizational efficacy, whereas have no relationship with job satisfaction. They fully mediate the relationship between organizational efficacy and job self-efficacy. Organizational efficacy has a strong relationship with job satisfaction, and fully mediates the relationship between group efficacy and job satisfaction. The theoretical significance of this study is in showing that the process in developing perceptions of collective efficacy are different for a team versus an organization. Furthermore, this study suggests that efficacy beliefs (individual, group and organizational) are a key predictor of job satisfaction. The model provides a framework that managers can use to increase the efficacy and well-being of each work group as well as of their organization as a whole.