Research Insight 2.1

Throughout the textbook reference is made to seminal academic papers (as part of the Research Insights features) that can assist you in the further development of your understanding of a particular concept or theory that has been introduced. Organized by chapter, this resource provides links to these seminal papers.

Please note that your institution will require a subscription to the relevant journal for you to access the full text of the articles. If you are unsure how to do this, please contact your university librarian. Often professional bodies, such as the Chartered Institute of Marketing, also offer access to journals via their library services. Alternatively, you can purchase the articles directly from the source website.

Source: Azjen, I. (1991), ‘The theory of planned behaviour’, Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211.

Abstract: Research dealing with various aspects of the theory of planned behavior is reviewed, and some unresolved issues are discussed. In broad terms, the theory is found to be well supported by empirical evidence. Intentions to perform behaviors of different kinds can be predicted with high accuracy from attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control; and these intentions, together with perceptions of behavioral control, account for considerable variance in actual behavior. Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control are shown to be related to appropriate sets of salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs about the behavior, but the exact nature of these relations is still uncertain. Expectancy-value formulations are found to be only partly successful in dealing with these relations. Optimal rescaling of expectancy and value measures is offered as a means of dealing with measurement limitations. Finally, inclusion of past behavior in the prediction equation is shown to provide a means of testing the theory's sufficiency, another issue that remains unresolved. The limited available evidence concerning this question shows that the theory is predicting behavior quite well in comparison to the ceiling imposed by behavioral reliability.

Insight: In this highly cited seminal article, the author outlines how behaviour and behavioural intention to act in a certain way are affected by the attitude the subject has towards a particular behaviour, the subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control. The author develops our understanding of the fact that how humans intend to act may not be how they end up acting in a given situation. Intention, perception of behavioural control, attitude toward the behaviour, and subjective norm all reveal different aspects of the target behaviour and serve as possible directions for attack in attempts to alter particular behaviours, making this a powerful motivational theory in marketing.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/074959789190020T