In Western personnel psychology, competence- and control beliefs (CCB) are of widespread use to predict typical work-related outcomes such as well-being, achievement motivation and job performance. The predictive value and comprehension of CCB in East Africa is examined, comparing a Kenyan target with a German source sample (N=143). Responses to personality tests included qualitative interviews on items capturing control orientations (self concept of ability, internality, powerful others, and chance). Linear regression analyses,
explorative factor analyses, and a procrustean target rotation showed comparable, but not fully congruent predictability for the connection of CCB with outcome variables. Factor structures of control responses did not resemble each other sufficiently. Content analyses including scale intercorrelations, quantitative and qualitative item information served for an explanation of this predictability gap, specifying differences between the German and Kenyan samples that are associated with the social-relational domain of personality. Results
fit in the picture depicted by the African Ubuntu philosophy and the South African Personality Inventory project (SAPI), both emphasizing social-relational aspects. In particular, the powerful others control orientation diverges the most between the cultures. Being perceived as a negative and external factor in the German sample with its individualistic culture, powerful others is of mixed emotional quality and just as well internal, when asked for in the Kenyan sample with its Ubuntu-worldview. An uncritical transfer of CCB measures from one culture to another is assumed to be inappropriate. More emic-etic based research is demanded concerning intra- and intercultural variability of CCB to depict a
transcultural applicable model.
This study examined whether positive resource change and two types of baseline stressors would influence general life satisfaction and satisfaction with health at the end of treatment in mothers attending an inpatient rehabilitation or preventive program for mothers, fathers and children. Parenting self-efficacy was included as an indicator of resources while baseline distress was operationalized in terms of parenting-related stressors and depressive symptoms, respectively. Drawing on Hobfoll- conservation of resources theory, it was hypothesized that resource change and baseline stressors would interact in their effect on satisfaction measures at the end of the preventive/rehabilitation program: resource gains were expected to influence satisfaction more strongly in patients who reported higher stress levels at baseline (as compared to patients with lower baseline distress; primary research question). Hypotheses were tested using a sample of N=1724 female prevention and rehabilitation patients by means of structural equation modeling including latent interactions. Results showed that parenting-related stressors were negatively associated with general satisfaction as well as satisfaction with health while resource gains had a small positive effect on satisfaction. There was, however, no significant interaction of parenting-related stressors and positive resource change. When depressive symptoms were included as a measure of baseline distress, they were negatively associated with both facets of satisfaction. In these models, there were only small positive associations of resource gains and satisfaction measures. Again, no interaction effects were found. Additional analyses that comprised both stressor types as predictors showed that the effects of depressive symptoms on satisfaction were more pronounced than the influence of parenting-related stressors; the effects of resource gains were small to negligible. In addition, it was examined whether problem-oriented coping strategies mediated the influence of positive resource change on general life satisfaction and satisfaction with health, respectively (secondary research question). Correlations between coping, resource change and satisfaction were low or not significant. Given this lack of direct associations between the relevant variables, no further path analytic testing was performed; the hypothesized mediating role of problem-oriented coping could thus not be confirmed. All in all, study results show that contrary to the hypotheses derived from conservation of resources theory, the effects of positive resource change and distress indicators on patients" life satisfaction and satisfaction with health were not interdependent.