A cross-cultural comparison of self-efficacy as a resilience measure: evidence from PISA 2018

This study explored the equivalence of resilience across countries and economies that participated in PISA 2018. A total of 79 countries and economies were divided into ten sub-groups based on their socio-demographic characteristics. Analysis of the comparability of the PISA self-efficacy scale as a measure of resilience across the participating countries/economies in the study was conducted using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA). The results demonstrated that across all countries and economies, the configural invariance level, which is the lowest level of invariance, has been reached but the metric and scalar invariance levels have not been reached. Within-group results showed that all sub-groups presented a model fit for the metric level of invariance. However, only the Anglo countries were able to reach the strict invariance level. This finding indicates that the Anglo countries were more homogeneous in terms of their interpretation of self-efficacy in PISA, whereas other sub-groups were more heterogeneous. Confirming the notion of cultural affiliation of resilience, it was concluded that self-efficacy by itself might not be an adequate indicator of resilience. The current study has some recommendations for future research and how PISA can be more inclusive about the constructs it employs.