The Theory of Planned Behavior PDF

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Theory of Planned Behavior/ Reasoned Action The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) started as the Theory of Reasoned Action in 1980 to predict an individual's intention to engage in a behavior at a specific time and place. The theory was intended to explain all behaviors over which people have the ability to exert self-control. The key component to this model is behavioral intent; behavioral intentions are influenced by the attitude about the likelihood that the behavior will have the expected outcome and the subjective evaluation of the risks and benefits of that outcome. The TPB has been used successfully to predict and explain a wide range of health behaviors and intentions including smoking, drinking, health services utilization, breastfeeding, and substance use, among others. The TPB states that behavioral achievement depends on both motivation (intention) and ability (behavioral control). It distinguishes between three types of beliefs behavioral, normative, and control. The TPB is comprised of six constructs that collectively represent a person's actual control over the behavior. 1. Attitudes - This refers to the degree to which a person has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation of the behavior of interest. It entails a consideration of the outcomes of performing the behavior. 2. Behavioral intention - This refers to the motivational factors that influence a given behavior where the stronger the intention to perform the behavior, the more likely the behavior will be performed. 3. Subjective norms - This refers to the belief about whether most people approve or disapprove of the behavior. It relates to a person's beliefs about whether peers and people of importance to the person think he or she should engage in the behavior. 4. Social norms - This refers to the customary codes of behavior in a group or people or larger cultural context. Social norms are considered normative, or standard, in a group of people. 5. Perceived power - This refers to the perceived presence of factors that may facilitate or impede performance of a behavior. Perceived power contributes to a person's perceived behavioral control over each of those factors. 6. Perceived behavioral control - This refers to a person's perception of the ease or difficulty of performing the behavior of interest. Perceived behavioral control varies across situations and actions, which results in a person having varying perceptions of behavioral control depending on the situation. This construct of the theory was added later, and created the shift from the Theory of Reasoned Action to the Theory of Planned Behavior.

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Concepts of key variable Normative beliefs and subjective norm 

Normative belief: an individual's perception of social normative pressures, or relevant

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others' beliefs that they should or should not perform such behaviour. Subjective norm: an individual's perception about the particular behaviour, which is influenced by the judgment of significant others (e.g., parents, spouse, friends, teachers)]

Control beliefs and perceived behavioural control 

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Control beliefs: an individual's beliefs about the presence of factors that may facilitate or hinder performance of the behaviour. The concept of perceived behavioural control is conceptually related to self-efficacy. Perceived behavioural control: an individual's perceived ease or difficulty of performing the particular behaviour. It is assumed that perceived behavioural control is determined by the total set of accessible control beliefs.

Behavioural intention and behaviour 

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Behavioural intention: an indication of an individual's readiness to perform a given behaviour. It is assumed to be an immediate antecedent of behaviour. It is based on attitude toward the behaviour, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control, with each predictor weighted for its importance in relation to the behaviour and population of interest. Behaviour: an individual's observable response in a given situation with respect to a given target. Ajzen said a behaviour is a function of compatible intentions and perceptions of behavioural control in that perceived behavioural control is expected to moderate the effect

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of intention on behaviour, such that a favorable intention produces the behaviour only when perceived behavioural control is strong

Strengths The theory of planned behaviour can cover people's non-volitional behaviour which cannot be explained by the theory of reasoned action. An individual's behavioural intention cannot be the exclusive determinant of behaviour where an individual's control over the behaviour is incomplete. By adding "perceived behavioural control," the theory of planned behaviour can explain the relationship between behavioural intention and actual behaviour. Several studies found that the TPB would help better predict health-related behavioural intention than the theory of reasoned action. The TPB has improved the predictability of intention in various health-related fields such as leisure, exercise, diet, etc. In addition, the theory of planned behaviour as well as the theory of reasoned action can explain the individual's social behaviour by considering "social norm" as an important variable.

Limitations Some scholars claim that the theory of planned behaviour is based on cognitive processing, and they have criticized the theory on those grounds. More recently, some scholars criticize the theory because it ignores one's needs prior to engaging in a certain action, needs that would affect behaviour regardless of expressed attitudes. For example, one might have a very positive attitude towards beefsteak and yet not order a beefsteak because he is not hungry. Or, one might have a very negative attitude towards drinking and little intention to drink and yet engage in drinking as he's seeking group membership. Also, one's emotions at the interviewing or decision-making time are ignored despite being relevant to the model as emotions can influence beliefs and other constructs of the model. Still, poor predictability for health-related behaviour in previous health research seems to be attributed to poor application of the model, associated methods and measures. Most of the research is correlational, and more evidence based on experimental studies is welcome although experiments, by nature, lack external validity because they prioritize internal validity. Indeed, some experimental studies challenge the assumption that intentions and behaviour are merely consequences of attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioural control. To illustrate, in one study, participants were prompted to form the intention to support a specific environmental organization--such as to sign a petition. After this intention was formed, attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioural control shifted. Participants became more likely to report positive attitudes towards this organization and were more inclined to assume their social group would share comparable attitudes. These findings imply the associations between the three key elements--attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioural control--and intentions may be bi-directional.

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Applications of the theory  Health-related behaviours In particular, several studies found that the TPB would better help to predict health-related behavioural intention than the theory of reasoned action (TRA) given that the TPB has improved the predictability of intention in various health-related fields such as leisure, exercise and diet, where the attitudes and intentions to behave in a certain way are mediated by goals rather than needs. For example , the goal to lose 10 kg in weight by the end of March, therefore a positive attitude and intention towards dieting. However, if a need is taken in calculation (health related or partner finding) the TPB fails. Assuming that one's need is to find a partner, if the partner is found who favors a person who is overweight, or does not mind one's weight, then despite an individual's positive attitude towards losing weight, they won't engage in a such behaviour for fear of losing the new partner, the main reason for engaging in dieting in first place. The theory of planned behaviour can also be applied in area of applied nutrition intervention. In a study by Sweitzer, et al, TPB (in conjunction with SCT) was utilized to encourage parents to include more fruit, vegetables and whole grains (FVWG) in packed lunches of preschool children. Behavioural constructs of TPB were used to develop intervention strategies. Knowledge/behavioural control, self-efficacy/perceived behavioural control, subjective norms and intentions were measured to see effects on behaviour. The results found a significant increase in vegetables and whole grains packed in lunches when interventions were planned using the TPB constructs. Psychosocial variables were useful predictors of lunch packing behaviours of parents and this study provided a divergent application of model-exploration of an area of parental behaviour as a role in the development of young children's dietary behaviours. In a study by McConnon, et al, the application of the TPB was used to prevent weight regain in an overweight cohort who recently experienced a significant weight loss. Using the constructs of TPB, it was found that perceived need to control weight is the most positive predictor of behaviour for weight maintenance. The TPB model can be used to predict weight gain prevention expectation in an overweight cohort. The TPB can also be utilized to measure behavioural intention of practitioners in promoting specific health behaviours. In this study by Chase, dietitians' intentions to promote whole grain foods was studied. It was found that the strongest indicator of intention of dietitians to promote whole grain foods was the construct of normative beliefs with 97% of dietitians indicating that health professionals should promote whole grains and 89% wanted to comply with this belief. However, knowledge and self-efficacy of instituting this belief was faulted with only 60% of dietitians being able to correctly identify a whole grain product from a food label, 21% correctly identifying current recommendations and 42% of dietitians did not know there was a recommendation for whole grain consumption. Although the response rate to complete mailed surveys for this study was low (39%), the results provided preliminary data on the strong effect of normative beliefs on dietitian intentions to promote whole grain and the need for nutrition need for additional education for practicing dietitians focusing on increase knowledge and self-efficacy for promoting whole grains. More recent research has looked at TPB and predicting college students' intention to use ecigarettes. Studies found that attitudes toward smoking and social norms significantly predicted college students' behaviour, as TPB suggests. Positive attitudes toward smoking and normalizing the behaviour were, in part, helped by advertisements on the Internet. With this information and 4|Page

foundation of TPB, smoking prevention campaigns have started to be implemented specifically targeting college students collectively, not just as individuals. The theory of planned behaviour model is thus a very powerful and predictive model for explaining human behaviour. That is why the health and nutrition fields have been using this model often in their research studies. In one study, utilizing the theory of planned behaviour, the researchers determine obesity factors in overweight Chinese Americans. Intention to prevent becoming overweight was the key construct in the research process. It is important that nutrition educators provide the proper public policies in order to provide good tasting, low-cost, healthful food. The TPB also shows good applicability in regards to antisocial behaviours, such as using deception in the online environment. However, as the TPB relies on self-reports, there is evidence to suggest the vulnerability of such data to self-presentational biases. To a great extent, this has been ignored in the literature pertaining to the TRA/TPB, in spite of the threat to the validity and reliability of the models. More closely related to the concerns of the present study, Hessing, ElVers, and Weigel (1988) examined the TRA in relation to tax evasion and contrasted self-reports with official documentation. Findings indicated that while attitudes and subjective norms correlate with self-reported behaviour, it does not correlate with documentary evidence, in spite of considerable effort to maintain the anonymity of respondents. The implication was that self-reports of behaviour were unreliable, compared with more objective behaviour measures.  Environmental Psychology Another application of the theory of planned behaviour is in the field of environmental psychology. Generally speaking, actions that are environmentally friendly carry a positive normative belief. That is to say, sustainable behaviours are widely promoted as positive behaviours. However, although there may be a behavioural intention to practice such behaviours, perceived behavioural control can be hindered by constraints such as a belief that one's behaviour will not have any impact. For example, if one intends to behave in an environmentally responsible way but there is a lack of accessible recycling infrastructure, perceived behavioural control is low, and constraints are high, so the behaviour may not occur. Applying the theory of planned behaviour in these situations helps explain contradictions between sustainable attitudes and unsustainable behaviour. Further research has concluded that attitudes toward climate change, perceived behavioural control and subjective norms are associated with the intention to adopt a pro-environmental behaviour. This type of information can be applied to policy-making and other environmental efforts.  Voting Behaviour The theory of planned behaviour is also used in the field of political science to predict voter turnout and behaviour. It is also the most effective framework for understanding legislator behaviour. In order to effectively advocate for certain issues, supporters can use information shaped by TPB to create meaningful communication with legislators.

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