Perceived Behavioral Control, Self‐Efficacy, Locus of Control, and the Theory of Planned Behavior 1

Conceptual and methodological ambiguities surrounding the concept of perceived behavioral control are clarified. It is shown that perceived control over performance of a behavior, though comprised of separable components that reflect beliefs about self‐efficacy and about controllability, can nevertheless be considered a unitary latent variable in a hierarchical factor model. It is further argued that there is no necessary correspondence between self‐efficacy and internal control factors, or between controllability and external control factors. Self‐efficacy and controllability can reflect internal as well as external factors and the extent to which they reflect one or the other is an empirical question.…