Management Theories # 7 - Theory of Planned Behavior

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) of Icek Ajzen (1988, 1991) helps to understand how we can change the behavior of people. The TPB is a theory which predicts deliberate behavior, because behavior can be deliberative and planned.

TPB is the successor of the similar Theory of Reasoned Action of Ajzen and Fishbein (1975, 1980). The succession was the result of the discovery that behavior appeared not to be 100% voluntary and under control, which resulted in the addition of perceived behavioral control. With this addition the theory was called the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Briefly, according to TPB, human action is guided by three kinds of considerations:

1. Behavioral Beliefs (beliefs about the likely consequences of the behavior)
2. Normative Beliefs (beliefs about the normative expectations of others)
3. Control Beliefs (beliefs about the presence of factors that may facilitate or impede performance of the behavior).

Ajzen's three considerations are crucial in circumstances / projects / programs when changing behavior of people.

In their respective aggregates, behavioral beliefs produce a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the behavior, normative beliefs result in perceived social pressure or subjective norm, and control beliefs give rise to perceived behavioral control. In combination, attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perception of behavioral control lead to the formation of a behavioral intention.

As a general rule, the more favorable the attitude and subjective norm and the greater the perceived control, the stronger should be the person’s intention to perform the behavior in question.

Recently (2002) Ajzen investigated Residual Effects of Past on Later Behavior. He came to the conclusion that this factor indeed exists but cannot be described to habituation as many people think. A review of existing evidence suggests that the residual impact of past behavior is attenuated when measures of intention and behavior are compatible and vanishes when intentions are strong and well formed, expectations are realistic, and specific plans for intention implementation have been developed.

A research project in the travel industry resulted in the conclusion that past travel choice contributes to the prediction of later behavior only if circumstances remain relatively stable.

Example: The Theory of Planned Behavior of Ajzen can help to explain why advertising campaigns merely providing information do not work. Increasing knowledge alone does not help to change behavior very much. Campaigns that aim at attitudes, perceived norms and control in making the change or buying certain goods have better results.

Management Theories # 6 - Theory of reasoned action

The theory of reasoned action (TRA), developed by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen (1975, 1980), derived from previous research that started out as the theory of attitude, which led to the study of attitude and behavior. The theory was "born largely out of frustration with traditional attitude–behavior research, much of which found weak correlations between attitude measures and performance of volitional behaviors".

The key application of the theory of reasoned action is prediction of behavioral intention, spanning predictions of attitude and predictions of behavior. The subsequent separation of behavioral intention from behavior allows for explanation of limiting factors on attitudinal influence (Ajzen, 1980).

Derived from the social psychology setting, the theory of reasoned action (TRA) was proposed by Ajzen and Fishbein (1975 & 1980). The components of TRA are three general constructs: behavioral intention (BI), attitude (A), and subjective norm (SN). TRA suggests that a person's behavioral intention depends on the person's attitude about the behavior and subjective norms (BI = A + SN). If a person intends to do a behavior then it is likely that the person will do it.

Behavioral intention measures a person's relative strength of intention to perform a behavior. Attitude consists of beliefs about the consequences of performing the behavior multiplied by his or her valuation of these consequences.Subjective norm is seen as a combination of perceived expectations from relevant individuals or groups along with intentions to comply with these expectations. In other words, "the person's perception that most people who are important to him or her think he should or should not perform the behavior in question" (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1975).

To put the definition into simple terms: a person's volitional (voluntary) behavior is predicted by his/her attitude toward that behavior and how he/she thinks other people would view them if they performed the behavior. A person's attitude, combined with subjective norms, forms his/her behavioral intention.

Fishbein and Ajzen say, though, that attitudes and norms are not weighted equally in predicting behavior. "Indeed, depending on the individual and the situation, these factors might be very different effects on behavioral intention; thus a weight is associated with each of these factors in the predictive formula of the theory. For example, you might be the kind of person who cares little for what others think. If this is the case, the subjective norms would carry little weight in predicting your behavior".

The theory of reasoned action has "received considerable and, for the most part, justifiable attention within the field of consumer behavior ... not only does the model appear to predict consumer intentions and behavior quite well, it also provides a relatively simple basis for identifying where and how to target consumers' behavioral change attempts".