Synergetic modeling of the formation of cadets’ communicative self-efficacy in a military university considering the dynamics of interpersonal interactions and the organizational culture of the educational environment

Abstract

In the context of increasingly complex tasks faced by the Armed Forces, communicative self-efficacy of junior commanders becomes a critical resource of professional readiness, while traditional linear pedagogical models fail to explain its nonlinear dynamics and ensure sustainable growth. The purpose of the study was to develop and empirically verify a synergetic model of the formation of communicative self-efficacy among cadets of a military university, taking into account the interaction of individual psychological characteristics, parameters of interpersonal interaction, and the organizational culture of the educational environment. The study was conducted in 2020–2023 at a higher military engineering command school with the participation of 352 cadets of 2nd–4th years, divided into experimental (n=178) and control (n=174) groups, equivalent in key socio-demographic and psychological indicators. The methodological basis included the synergetic approach, A. Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, and military pedagogy, while the empirical tools comprised an adapted general self-efficacy scale, the KOS-2 questionnaire, J. Moreno’s sociometry, an author’s organizational culture questionnaire, expert evaluations, and system-dynamic simulation modeling. Statistical data processing (correlation, regression, variance, and cluster analysis in SPSS 26.0) aimed to identify environmental control parameters and test the predictive accuracy of the model. The results demonstrated that targeted transformation of the educational environment in the experimental group (project-based activities, assertiveness training, mentoring, and strengthened feedback) ensured a phase transition of the system: the growth of cognitive, motivational-value, and emotional-volitional components of communicative self-efficacy reached 29.56–34.92% compared to 5–7% in the control group, with a simultaneous decrease in intragroup variability. Correlation analysis revealed the leading role of organizational culture parameters: initiative support, quality of feedback, and involvement in collective activity together explain more than half of the variance of the final self-efficacy level, whereas high formalization and directive management exert a pronounced negative effect. Cluster analysis of interpersonal interactions recorded the transition of the cadet collective to a new attractor: the share of the constructive-cooperative profile increased from 24.16 to 65.73%, while the shares of conflict-competitive and isolated-passive profiles significantly decreased. Comparison of the pedagogical experiment results with system-dynamic model calculations demonstrated high predictive validity (mean relative error less than 5%), which allows considering the model as a reliable tool for designing and optimizing the educational environment of military universities and confirms the applicability of the synergetic approach to managing the development of communicative self-efficacy in future officers.