Application of Planned Behavior Theory to Account for College Students' Occupational Intentions in Contingent Employment

The purpose of this study was to apply Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior to examine college students' intentions to engage in contingent employment. Data were collected from 845 students in 8 colleges and universities in Taiwan. The results of structural equation modeling analyses indicated that both attitude and subjective norms were significant in predicting intention. However, the relationship between perceived behavioral control and intention was not significant. In addition, the findings also revealed that subjective norms predicted intention indirectly through attitude. Finally, implications and future directions are discussed.     

Religiosity and alcohol behavior: An exploration of reference group theory

This study examines the relationship between religiosity and alcohol use and perceived misuse. Unlike most past research, we focus on adults rather than adolescents and distinguish among specific Protestant denominations. We also use a more appropriate statistical technique and place the findings in a theoretical context. The analysis shows that religiosity is clearly related to alcohol use, mainly because people's religion serves as a reference group influencing their behavior. The analysis also shows that religiosity is not related to perceived misuse of alcohol, mainly because societal norms are congruent with religious norms and, hence, appear to overwhelm any effect of religion.     

Examining interactions within the theory of planned behavior in the prediction of intentions to engage in cannabis-related driving behaviors

Abstract

Objective: As marijuana use becomes more available to college students through increasing legal reform, this paper seeks to examine intentions for driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) and riding with a high driver (RWHD) through the lens of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and assess potential interactions between personal attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control (PBC), and sex. Participants: Undergraduate college students (N?=?311) completed online surveys in September, 2013. Method: Participants self-reported their attitudes toward DUIC, subjective norms, PBC, past DUIC and RWHD, and intentions to DUIC and RWHD. Results: Participants’ attitudes toward DUIC, subjective norms, and PBC were strongly associated with intentions to DUIC and RWHD bivariately. In regression models, attitudes and PBC were both positively and significantly related to intentions to DUIC and RWHD. Conclusions: DUIC and RWHD are concerns for college populations. Targeting personal attitudes and perceived behavioral control via interventions may reduce these behaviors.     

Entertainment-education of altruistic behaviors: an empirical study of the effects of the narrative persuasion of a nature conservation film

Research on entertainment and education has shown positive results in testing the persuasive effects of entertainment programs on a variety of prosocial issues. However, as an altruism-centric, prosocial topic, nature conservation has been largely ignored and little investigated. This study empirically tested the persuasive effects of Fly Away Home (dir. Ballard, 1996), a feature film with a nature conservation theme, on attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the environment. The results of the experiment indicated that altruistic behavior could be promoted through narrative entertainment. Regarding the persuasive mechanisms of transportation and identification, that is, the involvement with narratives and characters, this study found that transportation was significantly associated with identification, which was then significantly associated with attitudes to conservation and subsequent behavioral intentions. Although this research is somewhat inconsistent with the extended elaboration likelihood model on which it is based, a possible, direct influence of narrative transportation was fully mediated by the results, which showed identification with the main character. Nevertheless, future entertainment-education research should investigate an expanded range of applications and include pro-environmental behaviors as a topic for public education.     

The influence of corporate social responsibility and customer–company identification on publics’ dialogic communication intentions

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of consumers’ perceptions of the company's corporate social responsibility on their intentions to engage in dialogic communications with a company (i.e., feedback), and to investigate the mediation role of their identification with the company in such effects. The findings indicated a significant relationship between corporate social responsibility and publics’ intentions to engage in dialogic communications. Also, customer–company identification was found to mediate such effects.     

Cooperation between newcomers and incumbents: The role of normative disagreements

Cooperation in groups often requires individual members to make costly contributions that benefit the group as a whole. Prior research suggests that shared norms can help to support ingroup cooperation by prescribing common standards of how much to contribute. These common standards may be disrupted when groups undergo membership change, i.e., when members from outgroups enter the ingroup. When newcomers and incumbents have different notions about how much to contribute, a normative disagreement ensues that could undermine cooperation and the extent to which individuals identify with the group. In a laboratory experiment, we manipulate whether newcomers and incumbents disagree about how much to contribute in a public goods game with peer punishment. We examine whether normative disagreement between newcomers and incumbents affects newcomer-incumbent relations in terms of group identification, the emergence of a social norm, and costly punishment. The main goal is to test whether normative disagreement and the resulting newcomer-incumbent relations harm cooperation in terms of contributions to the common good. We find that normative disagreement between newcomers and incumbents negatively affects the emergence of a shared social norm and lowers feelings of group identification. Contrary to expectations, normative disagreement does not affect cooperation negatively. Instead, participants adjust their behavior to each other’s standards, using punishment for norm enforcement. This punishment is especially directed at low-contributing newcomers, leading them to conform to the incumbents’ higher contribution standards.     

A theory-based approach to understanding sexual behavior at Mardi Gras

Using the Triandis Model of Interpersonal Behavior (TIB), we considered the unique context of Mardi Gras, the annual festival in New Orleans, Louisiana, and how it might influence sexual behavior. This study utilized a two-stage, qualitative and quantitative methodological framework. Focus groups of past Mardi Gras participants were held to gather data to inform the development of the study instruments, and data were subsequently collected from 300 Mardi Gras participants in February 2004 using a pencil-and-paper questionnaire. For women, the TIB model did not significantly predict intentions to engage in sexual behavior at Mardi Gras. Cognitive beliefs and subjective social norms predicted intentions to engage in oral and vaginal sex among male participants. For men and women, peer sexual activity, intentions, and previous sexual experience predicted engaging in sexual behaviors at Mardi Gras. Situational conditions related to Mardi Gras culture predicted anal sex behavior. The TIB, as a guiding framework for the study, makes apparent the importance of cultural context when developing interventions related to sexuality that are to be implemented in a specific setting like Mardi Gras.     

Assessing social work and nursing students’ intentions to work with dying patients

This study assessed social work and nursing students’ intentions to provide end-of-life care, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. A total of 181 social work and nursing students completed a questionnaire examining intentions to provide end-of-life care, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control, death anxiety, subjective knowledge, and sociodemographic characteristics. Students manifested a moderate level of intentions to provide end-of-life care, with nursing students indicating higher levels of intentions than social work students. Multiple regression analyses revealed that attitudes, subjective norms, and previous experience were the main predictors of intentions to provide end-of-life care. Recommendations for academic programs are discussed.     

Action speaks louder than words: The effect of personal attitudes and family norms on adolescents’ pro-environmental behaviour

Adolescents’ environmentally relevant behaviour is primarily carried out in a family context. Yet, it is usually studied and discussed in an individual decision-making perspective only. In a survey involving 601 Danish families, we examine to which extent adolescents’ everyday pro-environmental behaviour is the outcome of their own pro-environmental attitudes or the product of social influence within the family, that is, a reflection of the dominating values and norms in the family group as manifested most clearly in their parents’ attitudes and behaviour. In addition, we examine the moderating effects of two family characteristics, parenting style and the “generation gap” (parent-child age difference), on the relative weight of adolescents’ personal attitudes vs. social influences within the family as predictors of adolescents’ pro-environmental behaviour. Results show that the adolescents’ pro-environmental behaviour is heavily influenced by the dominating norms within the family and in particular by how strongly they are manifested in their parents’ behaviour.     

Using Fear to Encourage Safer Sex

Rogers' (1983) Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) was used as a basis for generating an STD information intervention to encourage positive attitudes toward safer sex practices. PMT identified four components that influence intentions to engage in adaptive behaviors to avoid disease and bodily injury, including (a) perceived severity, (b) perceived vulnerability, (c) responseeff~cacy, and (d) self-efficacy. The effect of severity and response-efficacy messages on safer sex attitudes and intentions of college students was examined in the present study. Those who were exposed to photographs of diseased human genitals (high severity) and messages that presented condoms as effective for reducing STD risk (high responseefficacy) were expected to score highest on percaved STD severity and perceived condom-efficacy. This group was also expected to report the most positive attitudes toward condoms and STD prevention, and the strongest intentions to use condoms in future sexual episodes. The high severity condition produced the strongest perception of STD severity, but the messages about condoms produced no differences in perceived responseefficacy. No differences in attitudinal measures were found, but those exposed to consistent severity and efficacy messages reported greatest intentions to engage in safer sex.     

Differences between actual and perceived student norms: an examination of alcohol use, drug use, and sexual behavior

Researchers in the social norms area have previously focused primarily on alcohol consumption, paying comparatively less attention to drug use and sexual behavior. The major purposes of this study were to (1) compare perceptions of peer norms in the areas of alcohol use, drug use, and sexual behavior with actual behavior and (2) determine if a relationship existed between a student's perceptions of normative behavior and a student's actual behavior. Participants were 833 college students at a large, public university in the Northeast. Study participants overestimated alcohol use, drug use, and sexual behavior among their peers. There was also a positive relationship between actual behavior and perceived peer norms, although the effect sizes for all behaviors were small to moderate. The authors provide further support for the tenets of social norms theory and suggest that social norms interventions are appropriate both campus-wide and to targeted high-risk groups.     

Casual sex on spring break: Intentions and behaviors of canadian students

Using Triandis's theory of interpersonal behavior, we analyzed factors related to casual sex among Canadian university students on a spring break vacation. Two samples were obtained: 151 students completed a questionnaire before a spring break trip to Daytona Beach, Florida and 681 completed a questionnaire during or immediately following the vacation. More men than women intended to have casual sex but similar percentages of men (15%) and women (13%) had actually engaged in casual sex. In ordinary least squares regression, expectation of participation in spring break activities, social norms expressed through peer group influences, and personal attitudes explained 74% of the variance in the intentions to engage in casual sex. In logistic regression, intentions and participation in spring break activities correctly classified 80% of the men into those who did and did not engage in casual sex. Agreements formed with friends about casual sex and the proportion of friends who participated in coitus on spring break correctly classified 88% of women.     

Painkilling drugs in collegiate athletics: knowledge, attitudes, and use of student athletes

This study was designed to examine the attitudes of student athletes toward the use of painkilling drugs. A total of 563 student athletes at two Division One NCAA universities were surveyed in this study. Twenty-nine percent of the student athletes (n = 165) reported that they felt there is nothing wrong with using painkilling drugs on the day of competition (when injured) to cope with pain. These student athletes reported that they would use painkilling drugs to mask injury in order to continue to participate in their sport. Student athletes' perceptions of societal norms and expectations related to competition, and the degree of control student athletes perceive that they have when deciding to use painkillers, may be important determinants governing the extent to which they may be at risk for abusing these substances. Research on planned behavior and reasoned action against suggests that salient beliefs affect intentions and subsequent behaviors, either through attitudes or subjective norms, or the degree of (perceived) control that an individual feels he/she has over the behavior [1, 2]. This theoretical model was used as a guiding framework for analyzing the attitudes of college athletes toward painkilling drugs. Recommendations are included in this article for coaches, educators, team physicians, team trainers, and administrators who are concerned about controlling the use and abuse of painkilling drugs by student athletes.     

Differences Between Actual and Perceived Student Norms: An Examination of Alcohol Use,Drug Use,and Sexual Behavior

Researchers in the social norms area have previously focused primarily on alcohol consumption, paying comparatively less attention to drug use and sexual behavior. The major purposes of this study were to (1) compare perceptions of peer norms in the areas of alcohol use, drug use, and sexual behavior with actual behavior and (2) determine if a relationship existed between a student's perceptions of normative behavior and a student's actual behavior. Participants were 833 college students at a large, public university in the Northeast. Study participants overestimated alcohol use, drug use, and sexual behavior among their peers. There was also a positive relationship between actual behavior and perceived peer norms, although the effect sizes for all behaviors were small to moderate. The authors provide further support for the tenets of social norms theory and suggest that social norms interventions are appropriate both campus-wide and to targeted high-risk groups.     

Social context and adolescent health behavior: does school-level smoking prevalence affect students' subsequent smoking behavior?

This paper examines the links between individual adolescent smoking behavior and actual and perceived smoking behavior in the individual's school cohort. We hypothesized that students enrolled in schools with higher smoking prevalence among students in their grade are more likely to smoke subsequently. We also expected perceived school-level prevalence of smoking to have a greater impact than actual prevalence because the former is a more direct measure of perceived norms. Adjusting for demographics, actual school-level prevalence at baseline (grade 7) was strongly associated with smoking frequency one year later. However, the association disappeared after adjusting for individual smoking frequency at baseline. School-level prevalence did not moderate the association between individual's baseline and subsequent smoking frequency. Perceived prevalence of smoking among grade 8 students and two measures tapping the behavior of smaller peer groups--cigarette offers and exposure to friends and other peers who smoke--were associated with increased risk of smoking.     

Perceived norms and alcohol consumption: differences between college students from rural and urban high schools

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined perceived norms and drinking among college students who attended high schools in rural and urban communities. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Undergraduates (99 men and 85 women) who attended high schools in communities with populations ranging from less than 100 to more than 400,000 completed surveys assessing perceived norms and alcohol consumption. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that students from smaller towns and in smaller high school graduating classes reported heavier drinking and that perceived norms were positively associated with drinking. Perceived norms were unrelated to population variables, and the relationship between perceived norms and drinking did not vary as a function of population variables. Results suggest that differences in drinking as a function of coming from more rural areas contribute to drinking behavior in college independently of perceived norms. CONCLUSIONS: College students may adjust to campus drinking norms relatively quickly, and longitudinal research would be useful in understanding this transition.     

Underestimating Protection and Overestimating Risk: Examining Descriptive Normative Perceptions and Their Association with Drinking and Sexual Behaviors

Individuals who engage in risky sexual behavior face the possibility of experiencing negative consequences. One tenet of social learning theory is that individuals engage in behaviors partly based on observations or perceptions of others’ engagement in those behaviors. The present study aimed to document these norms–behavior relationships for both risky and protective sexual behaviors, including alcohol-related sexual behavior. Gender was also examined as a possible moderator of the norms–behavior relationship. Undergraduate students (n = 759; 58.0% female) completed a Web-based survey, including various measures of drinking and sexual behavior. Results indicated that students underestimate sexual health-protective behaviors (e.g., condom use and birth control use) and overestimate the risky behaviors (e.g., frequency of drinking prior to sex, typical number of drinks prior to sex, and frequency of casual sex) of their same-sex peers. All norms were positively associated with behavior, with the exception of condom use. Furthermore, no gender differences were found when examining the relationship between normative perceptions and behavior. The present study adds to the existing literature on normative misperceptions as it indicates that college students overestimate risky sexual behavior while underestimating sexual health-protective behaviors. Implications for interventions using the social norm approach and future directions are discussed.