New General Self-Efficacy Scale

NGSE

psychologysocial sciencesLicensed — permission required

An 8-item unidimensional measure of a person's general belief in their ability to perform successfully across varied situations.

Items

Response format

5-point Likert scale

Version

Original 8-item NGSE

Ready-to-cite methods sentence

General self-efficacy was assessed with the 8-item NGSE (Chen et al., 2001), which showed high internal consistency across the original validation samples (α approximately .85-.90).

Citing this in a methods section? See the APA 7 guide — Author–date citations for psychology and the social sciences. Or compare all six citation styles.

Reliability & validation

Validation population

Student and employee samples in the United States and Israel (Chen et al., 2001)

Cronbach's α

0.85-0.9 across original validation samples

Known limitations

General self-efficacy is broader than confidence for a specific task and should not replace a domain-specific measure when performance in one defined context is the outcome. Confirm reproduction terms before administration.

Original citation

Chen, G., Gully, S. M., Eden, D. (2001). Validation of a New General Self-Efficacy Scale. Organizational Research Methods, 4(1), 62-83.

https://doi.org/10.1177/109442810141004

This instrument is licensed. Folio does not distribute its item wording — obtain permission from the copyright holder before using it in your study.

Questions researchers ask

What does the NGSE measure?

An 8-item unidimensional measure of a person's general belief in their ability to perform successfully across varied situations.

How many items does the NGSE have?

The New General Self-Efficacy Scale (NGSE) has 8 items.

Is the NGSE free to use?

The NGSE is licensed. You must obtain permission from the copyright holder before using it in a study — Folio does not distribute its item wording without that permission.

Is the NGSE reliable?

Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.85-0.9 across original validation samples. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.

Who developed the NGSE, and how do I cite it?

Chen, G., Gully, S. M., Eden, D. (2001). Validation of a New General Self-Efficacy Scale. Organizational Research Methods, 4(1), 62-83. https://doi.org/10.1177/109442810141004

Permission required

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Library entry verified August 2026. Metadata is provided for reference; item wording is available inside Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing.