The Effects of Ability, Perceptions of Ability, and Task Characteristics on Proximal and Distal Performance Outcomes Over Time

This article investigates relationships among ability, self-efficacy, and self-esteem for proximal and aggregated distal learning performance outcomes in multiple time periods in two samples. The article's purpose is to extend relationships suggested by primarily experimental research to situations slightly closer to today's work environment. One contribution is an integration of several theoretically based bodies of research into a nomological network of learning performance over time. Integrated into the network are trait/state-like individual differences, consistent/inconsistent task characteristics, proximal and distal goals, and multitasking, influencing learning performance over time. Another contribution is the examination of these relationships in two samples involved in different task characteristic patterns over time. In addition to ability and self-efficacy, self-esteem predicts distal learning performance outcomes, only negatively. Relationships among ability, self-efficacy, and performance vary across learning events. The research design's introduction of task characteristics provides some explanation as to why this variance exists.