Taking the Social Cognitive Theory by Albert Bandura as its starting point, this paper tests the hypothesis that academic self-efficacy influences future academic success through the differential impact of internal and external attribution of past success. Structural Equation Modelling performed with data from a longitudinal sample of 527 university students provides strong evidence supporting the research model. These findings show that past academic success has a positive influence on academic self-efficacy (p <.001) and on future academic success (p <.001). Two processes can then occur: (1) when self-efficacy is related with an internal attribution (p <.001) it has a positive impact on future academic success over time (p <.001); (2) when self-efficacy is related with an external attribution (p <.001) it has a negative impact on future academic success (p <.05). Theoretical and practical implications, as well as its limitations and future research, are discussed.
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