The Way to Go: Considering Goals and Planned Behavior

Abstract

The Theory of Planned Behavior offers a parsimonious and useful basis by which attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control predict behavioral intentions and behavior. Often employed in fields across the social sciences, this model is highly influential for its relatively strong predictions and simple parsimony. On the other hand, there remain many limitations to the theory and directions for future improvement. Based on emerging theoretical work arguing for a new integrative TPB framework, three studies tested the impact of goal context on the TPB’s predictions. The first study examined two hypothetical scenarios in which goals relevant to a particular behavior were manipulated, finding that goals did impact the relationship between attitudes and behavioral intentions in one vignette but not the other. A second study found evidence that goal activation (in the form of an upcoming deadline) affected some of the TPB’s predictions, and that accounting for goal activation improved the overall utility of the model. Finally, a third study assessed the TPB variables for participant-generated behaviors. There was some evidence that commitment to goals and conflict between them helps predict behavior over time and may affect the relationship between intentions and behavior.