A group’s shared belief in its own power predicts its persistence and achievements.

Evidence

Many challenges involve common problems that require people to work together to solve them. A shared belief in their combined power to realize the future they seek is a key factor in the exercise of collective agency (Bandura, 2000). The greater a group’s perceived collective efficacy, the stronger its members’ motivational investment in their undertakings, the more resilient their staying power in the face of impediments and setbacks, and the greater their accomplishments. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2825

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the earlier Milgrom social-capital study: collective belief functions like social capital as an unanalyzable driver of group output. — connects to: Collective efficacy belief can convert group identity into personal pro-environmental action. — Immo Fritsche, Agency Through the We: Group-Based…, 47; Different harvesting communities each believe their own method is correct. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 547; Postwar Americans’ collective confidence came from remembered shared accomplishments. — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 31 (+2 more)
• DEFINE: Introduces ‘collective agency/collective efficacy’ as Bandura’s term for group-level perceived capability.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2825