The analysis of the relationship between individual innovativeness and general self-efficacy of the students in the school of physical education and sports

Self-efficacy is one's belief about having the necessary abilities for the activities she/he is going to perform. Determining self-efficacy beliefs is important in terms of individuals to recognize their physical and cognitive abilities and to get to know her/himself. Since one's belief in his/her abilities has positive contributions in his/her future success and in improving her/himself materially and morally, self-efficacy constitutes one of the concepts that should be overemphasized. Besides the concept of self-efficacy, another crucial concept is Individual Innovativeness. Along with self-efficacy, individual innovativeness is also an important concept. Individuals should always be open to new ideas and products. This will reflect credit upon individual's academic life and speed up her/his personal development. In today's information society we live in, individuals should learn how to use information rather than just learn the information itself. Individuals who are aware of their education and abilities prefer the fields which suit them the most and these individuals are seen to be more successful in both academic and professional life. This research aims to determine whether the personal innovativeness levels and self-efficacy of Department of Physical Education and Sports students differs according to different variables and to analyze the relationship between personal innovativeness and general self-efficacy of the students. The sample of this research consists of 462 freshman and senior students studying at the first and fourth class of Sports Management, Physical Education Teacher Education and Coaching Education Departments of Ege University and Celal Bayar University in academic year of 2015 – 2016. In this research, quantitative and descriptive research methods are used. Participants filled out the Personal Information Form as well as Personal Innovativeness and General Self-Efficacy tests. Obtained data were analyzed by considering the variable types using SPSS 20.0 Package Software. According to research results, there were statistically significant differences in Personal Innovativeness according to the variables such as gender, university, degree program (daytime or evening) and class. Research also showed that Personal Innovativeness level of the participants were "Early Majority". Furthermore, General Self-Efficacy of participants had statistically significant differences according to the variables such as gender, university, degree program and class. Lastly, it was determined that there was a positive medium level relationship between Individual Innovativeness and General Self-Efficacy levels of the students that participated in our study. Key Words: Innovativeness, Individual Innovativeness, Self-efficacy