MSPB Releases “Confidence in Ability to Perform Successfully” Research Brief

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) Office of Policy and Evaluation released their “Confidence in Ability to Perform Successfully” research brief in September 2021, meant to assess the degree to which employees believe their actions and decisions can make a difference to work outcomes. MSPB’s 2016 Merit Principles Survey (MPS 2016) addressed this relationship by including six questions about respondents’ confidence in ability to perform successfully (CAPS).

This brief discusses employee CAPS and its relationship to career paths, work tasks, task outcomes, work-related competencies, and employee engagement. The brief then presents several implications of CAPS for managing work and employee counseling and development.

Overall, according to MSPB, the “scores indicated that over half of the Federal workforce surveyed have high confidence in their ability to perform their work tasks effectively and make a difference to those they serve.”

MSPB divided CAPS respondents into three CAPS groups: low CAPS (9 percent), medium CAPS (38 percent), and high CAPS (52 percent). The large percentage of federal workers in the high CAPS category indicates that Federal employees overall may be more confident in the success of their own efforts than often credited. Responses did not change on the basis of race, gender, or age.

However, the responses to the survey did change based on employment circumstances. MSPB found a relationship between CAPS and the type of jobs Federal employees have. According to the MSPB report, CAPS scores increase with both increasing level of supervisory responsibility and salary, which are both related to increased levels of job complexity and responsibility.

For example, employees who work in an agency headquarters are also more likely to be in the high CAPS group (36 percent) than in the low CAPS group (29 percent). However, employees stationed “in the field” are more prevalent in the low CAPS group (71 percent) than in the high CAPS group (64 percent).

High CAPS employees also have more confidence in their ability to meet challenges and develop new skills. MSPB explains, “High CAPS employees are more likely (91 percent) than low CAPS employees (77 percent) to seek insights about how to do their work even when they are not working. High CAPS employees are also more likely to feel that creativity and innovation are rewarded.”

Another trend noted in the MSPB brief was that low CAPS employees’ have a greater preference to reduce work responsibilities and the time they spend at work. More high CAPS employees are satisfied with their supervisors (80 percent) than low CAPS employees (40 percent). More high CAPS employees report being satisfied with upper-level managers (65 percent) than do low CAPS employees (15 percent).

The MSPB report also explains how supervisors can approach those with low CAPS and provide assistance. There can be a number of reasons for low CAPS including supervisor management style, organization structure, and other aspects of the work environment. When supervisors believe they see low CAPS in an employee, they should first consider whether this is a characteristic of the workplace or the work itself rather than the individual employee. Additionally, the brief highlights that there must be effective communication between employers and employees.

When discussing the challenges associated with high CAPS employees, MSPB found “High CAPS performers are prone to stress when they believe they can control aspects of their work environment they really cannot” and “frustration and discouragement can develop when high CAPS individuals find themselves in the kind of high structure/low control environments that are comfortable or familiar to their low CAPS colleagues.”