The study examines antecedents and outcomes of deliberate practice activities in South African small businesses. Deliberate practice consists of individualized self‐regulated and effortful activities aimed at improving one's current performance level. Interview and questionnaire data from 90 South African business owners showed a direct impact of deliberate practice on entrepreneurial knowledge as well as an indirect effect on business growth via entrepreneurial knowledge. Cognitive ability and education were identified as antecedents of deliberate practice. Findings underline the importance of continuous proactive learning efforts in small business. The results of this study are relevant for policy makers, consultants, and credit providers.

The results indicate that maintenance CBT has significant effects on the prevention of relapse or recurrence only in patients with a high risk of depression recurrence. For patients with a moderate risk of recurrence, nonspecific effects and structured patient education may be equally effective.

The use of highly experienced expert judges was suggested for the assessment of therapists' adherence and competence. However, such an approach implies high costs. It can be questioned whether only experts are able to evaluate therapists' adherence and competence reliably. To test this, 4 judges evaluated therapist adherence and competence in 30 randomly selected videotapes of cognitive therapy sessions for depression. In that, 2 judges exhibited high clinical experience (experts), whereas 2 judges did not (novices). We could demonstrate that novices evaluated an aggregated adherence and competence measure with high reliability. However, several adherence and competence aspects were not assessed with satisfactory reliability by novices. Although adherence ratings of experts and novices showed high concordance, the concordance of competence ratings was only moderate. Results revealed that therapists' adherence could be evaluated satisfactorily by trained novices with some restrictions, but not their competence.

Background. Choice behaviour has far‐reaching consequences on students' educational careers. Previous models on course selection for example, the model of achievement‐related choices (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000) and of self‐efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997), stress the importance of ability perceptions (self‐concept of ability) as major determinants of choice. Aim. This article suggests a model of course selection, which assumes that comparisons within an internal frame of reference (as proposed by Marsh, 1986, for the association between achievement and self‐concepts) can also be applied to the association between self‐concepts and course selection. It is therefore hypothesized that course selection is not only positively influenced by the self‐concept with respect to the corresponding subject, but also negatively with respect to alternative subjects. Moreover, it should be tested whether the effects of previous achievement on course selection are completely mediated by the self‐concepts. Sample. These assumptions were empirically tested using a sample of 296 students from secondary school classes, who were specializing in, for example, chemistry or biology in the following school term. Method. Self‐concepts and course selection were assessed via questionnaire. The postulated models were tested using a structural equation modelling approach for ordinal variables. Results. The core assumption, that course selection is determined by dimensional comparisons, was supported by significant negative paths from self‐concepts on the selection of non‐corresponding subjects. Furthermore, the effects of previous achievement on selection were completely mediated by self‐concepts. Conclusion. Previous models of choice behaviour should be extended, by considering not only the selected alternatives, but also the unselected ones. The finding that the influence of achievement on choice is completely mediated by self‐concepts, demonstrates that subjective interpretations of previous achievement determine subsequent behaviour.