Competence and control beliefs in three cultures: a German personality test applied at home, in Kenya and Poland

Competence and control beliefs are core self-evaluations with increasing value as predictors (e.g., in clinical, organizational, environmental, and educational psychology), and they are assumed to have a universal core that is shared across cultures. The Inventory for Self-Efficacy and Externality (I-SEE, Greve et al., https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532706XID0104_02 ), which has already been translated and transferred from Germany to several cultures, has not yet been analyzed with regard to its cross-cultural applicability. While a recently updated German short form shows promise for transcultural application, further research into the culturally specific meaning of the construct is needed.

A total of 1,084 participants from Germany, Kenya, and Poland completed a 32-item personality test designed to assess self-efficacy (self-concept of own competence and internality) and externality (social and fatalistic). The factor structures were compared via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modeling (ESEM).

Two factors emerged consistently and altogether represented the content of internal and external control beliefs. The theoretically proposed measurement model, which identified four distinct factors, was not replicated. Inconsistencies between the subsamples were evident in the areas of control related to others, chance and religiosity. Structural equivalence could only be partially supported, whereas metric and scalar equivalence were not confirmed.

The intra- and intercultural usability of the measure are questioned, while potential advancements are given with the social and fatalistic aspects of the underlying construct. Given the greater significance of these control beliefs in non-Western cultures, a more detailed examination of their allocation (internal, external, or both) is warranted. An embedment in a more comprehensive, transculturally applicable personality theory is discussed.