Exploring the sources of self-efficacy in consumer behavior

This article presents the findings of an exploratory investigation into the sources of self-efficacy in consumer behaviour, an area virtually ignored in previous research. Ten depth interviews were conducted with a relatively heterogenous sample of informants to explore the nature of, and the extent to which consumers draw on the sources of self-efficacy information proposed by Bandura (1977): performance attainments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological and affective states.