i.e.: inquiry in education, cilt.17, sa.2, ss.1-18, 2025 (Hakemli Dergi)
This study explores pre-service teachers’ perceptions of university culture, their beliefs regarding academic self-efficacy, and their engagement in self-handicapping behaviors, as well as the interrelationships among these variables. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 251pre-service teachers selected through an appropriate sampling method. In addition to descriptive statistical analyses, correlation and regression analyses were conducted. The findings indicate that pre-service teachers predominantly perceive university culture as hierarchical, exhibit high academic self-efficacy beliefs, and demonstrate minimal self-handicapping behaviors. Furthermore, both university culture and academic self-efficacy beliefs were found to be negatively correlated with self-handicapping behaviors. Notably, only the university’s innovative team culture significantly predicted pre-service teachers’ academic self-efficacy and self-handicapping behaviors. Additionally, academic self-efficacy emerged as a significant negative predictor of self-handicapping behaviors.