Theory of Planned Behavior
(Ajzen)

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Changing the behavior of people. Explanation of Theory of Planned Behavior by Icek Ajzen. ('88)

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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 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 to be not 100% voluntary and under control. This resulted in the addition of perceived behavioral control. With this addition the theory was called the Theory of Planned Behavior.

The three considerations of the Theory of Planned Behavior

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

Behavioral Beliefs. These are beliefs about the likely consequences of the behavior.
Normative Beliefs. These are beliefs about the normative expectations of others.
Control Beliefs. These are beliefs about the presence of factors that may facilitate, or may impede, the performance of the behavior.

Ajzen Theory of Planned Behavior TPB The three considerations of Ajzen are crucial in circumstances / projects / programs when the behavior of people needs to be changed.

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, the attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perception of behavioral control, lead to the formation of a behavioral intention. As a general rule, if the attitude and subjective norm are more favorable, the perceived control will be greater, and the person's intention to perform the behavior in question should be stronger.

Residual Effects of Past on Later Behavior

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, such as many people are thinking. A review of existing evidence suggests that the residual impact of past behavior is attenuated, when measures of intention and behavior are compatible. And the impact 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 only contributes to the prediction of later behavior 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. To only increase the knowledge does not help to change the behavior very much. Campaigns that aim at attitudes, perceived norms, and control in making the change or buying certain goods, have better results.

Similarly in management, programs that focus only on explanation of the importance of something (knowledge transfer) will likely not succeed. Rather one should convince people to change their intention to change, by giving a lot of attention to attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavior control.

Book: Icek Ajzen, Martin Fishbein - Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior -

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Recent User Comments

    			 
             Jeewanji Jahazi - Mauritius
  	       
  		     Planned Behaviour is based on REACT Method
  	  		 "Planned Behaviour is a pattern based on the REACT method which is more significant on planned method, whereas Resources, Environment, Attitude, Concentration and Timing and really two processes based on the parallel norms and ethics."
  			   
    	  		 0

    			 
             Amira - Egypt
  	       
  		     HR Presentation
  	  		 "I need to make a presentation on how I will start my work in HR managment. I'm thiking to start with 

1- knowing the organization vision and make its organizational chart that meets that vision. 

2- then I will work on jd and job analysis;

3- then the salary scheme. 

4- comparing between the status quo and the vision, with suggestions on how to change to achieve the vision.

Could you advice if it is ok or not, what can I add, how to present it and the estimated time"
  			   
    	  		 1

    			 
  			   Jo - Philippines
  	       
  		     Theory of Planned Behavior and Unsportsmanlike Conduct
  	  		 "I am making a study regarding predicting unsportsmanlike conduct. I'm still not sure if I will include moral obligation and moral reasoning to the model since some sports actions may be deemed necessary by athletes, as different circumstances may call for it, whether the actions ethical or not. I haven't found any study like this except cheating etc so im not really certain. Could you help me out? Thanks"
  			   
    	  		 -1

    			 
  			   Karla - USA
  	       
  		     Are Beliefs and Attitudes a proxy for Behavior?
  	  		 "I am studying nurses' attitudes and beliefs regarding open visitation in the adult ICU atmosphere. Several studies have measured nurses' beliefs and attitudes pre and post implementation of liberalized visitation policy.  However, other studies show nurses' behavior is independent of policy. So, is there support that these researchers can imply that the nurses' behavior in fact changed if their attitudes changed? Or, in the broader context, is measuring attitudes and beliefs a substitute for measuring behavior?"
  			   
    	  		 3

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	└► Editor (Netherlands)	REACT method	"Interesting... Can you please explain in some more depth?"
	└► Vijay Deshpande (India)	Behaviour	"Planned behaviour? Interesting? Explain please"

                     
                      └► Ali Jatoi (Pakistan)
                      
                    Hi Mr. Jo
                    "Whats ur e-mail id?
I'm not able to contact you in this way. You should have registered and logged in first... Thank you!"

	└► Ferguson (UK)	Beliefs and Attitudes are a proxy for Behavior	"Yes. the above theory of planned behavior is really all about the link between attitudes and behavior. It was proposed as an extension of the (previous) theory of reasoned action, also by Ajzen. According to the Theory of Reasoned Action, if people evaluate the suggested behavior as positive (Attitude), and if they think their significant others wanted them to perform the behavior (Subjective Norm), this results in a higher intention (motivation) and they are more likely to do so. A high correlation (!) of attitudes and subjective norms to behavioral intention, and subsequently to behavior has been confirmed in many studies. But a counter argument against the high relationship between behavioral intention and actual behavior was proposed as results of some studies show that behavioral intention not always (!) leads to actual behavior because of circumstantial limitations. Behavioral intention cannot be the exclusive determinant of behavior when an individual’s control over the behavior is incomplete. For this situation, Ajzen introduced the Theory of Planned Behavior by adding a new component, “Perceived Behavioral Control”, an individual's perceived ease or difficulty of performing the particular behavior."
	└► Editor (Netherlands)	Attitudes, Subjective, Perceived!	"Karla, a policy change alone in this type of circumstances (allowing visitors to come and go as they please with no restrictions of time per visit) is unlikely to change the behavior. What matters (according to Ajzen) is: - if the attitude of the person towards the behavior changed, or - if the subjective (the individual’s perception) norms changed, or - if the perceived behavioral control (perceived ease or difficulty of performing the particular behavior) changed."
	└► Clinton (USA)	Beliefs Precede the Behavior	"By using "proxy" I assume you mean "a replacement for..." If this is the case, then no. Beliefs and attitudes are not a proxy but actually precede a behavior. People bring a combination of values, beliefs, objectives, principals, and perspectives to the actions and decisions that they perform. The actions and decisions are based on these underlying principles, etc. The behavior is the perception of the actions and decisions made over some period of time or some number of action/decision points. This separation is one reason why you can feel powerfully strong about about a subject, but unfortunately do nothing about it. In this example, your beliefs and attitudes exist, but perhaps a stronger belief or attitude (or fear) prevents a desired behavior."
	└► Tallman (USA)	Thought Begets Behavior	"This sounds like more Psycho-babble. We behave like we think. If we want to behave differently, we have to think differently. That's the reality of behavior."
	└► Phuong Nguyen (Vietnam)	Are Beliefs and Attitudes a proxy for Behavior??	"Very brief view: The direct antecedents of behaviors are attitude toward the behavior, subjective norms about the behavior and the perceived behavioral control on the behavior. The corresponding believes are the antecedents of the above 3 constructs. The behavior under research needs to meet certain criteria (Target, Action, Context, and Time). Unless you define clearly the behavior you want to study using the TPB is useless. Furthermore, what is the objective of your planned study? Then you can use the TPB to study the antecedents of your defined behavior. The next step is to investigate the intervention using the TPB. We need to intensively review the theory and set up very clear objectives of the study. No "imply" can be concluded in general. Useful ref: Jillian J Francis Et Al, Constructing Questionnaires Based On The Theory Of Planned Behaviour, A Manual For Health Services Researchers, Centre For Health Services Research, University Of Newcastle, United Kingdom, 2004"
	└► John Jenkins (UK)	Are Beliefs a Proxy for Behaviour	"No, measuring beliefs and attitudes, by whatever means, may give you a measure of those 'abstract' constructs. Actual behaviour is a very different thing. What a person actually does in the real world will be influenced by many other variables than simply belief and attitude. The theory does not represent a 'closed' system; there are many possible unrepresented variables that might affect the actual behaviour. "