Theory or Reasoned Action and Theory of Planned Behavior

• Proponents

  Icek Ajzen and Martin Fishbein
• Year Proposed

  TRA was proposed in 1975, TPB was proposed in 1991.
• Prevailing idea from the 1960s to the 1970s

  Attitude determines behavior, hence the theory of TRA
• It is a theory that explains behaviors under volitional control

  Theory of Reasoned Action
• What is volitional control?


  The extent to which someone can decide to do something at will.
• What led to the additional theory of theory of planned behavior

  To explain behaviors NOT under volitional control
• Theory concepts - What do TRA and TRB suggest?

  The TRA and TRB suggest that "intention is the conceptual basis of behavior"
• Intention

  The likeliness or extent to which a person is ready to partake in a particular behavior
• Having a study plan in mind and wanting to act it out is the intention, while performing the act of studying is the behaviour
• [Theory Abstracts] The factors affecting intention in the TRA and TPB.

  Attitude, subjective norms, volitional control (TRA), and behavioral control (TPB)
• Attitude


  A series of beliefs about something that affect the way we think and behave
• [Attitude] A person will be more likely to engage in a behavior if the outcome of the said behavior is perceived as positive by the society they are in.
• Subjective Norm


  The perceived social pressure to engage or not engage in a certain behavior. It comes from what we think the important people in our lives expect from us, thus urging us to comply with those expectations.
• Volitional Control (TRA)


  The extent to which we decide to do something at will. A behavior under volitional control is one in which a person has the autonomy to choose whether or not to engage in a behavior.
• A person may not have complete control of their behavior no matter how great their intention is.


  Example: A woman wanting to practice safe sex, but the use of candom is not within her control.
• Behavioral Control (TPB)


  The extent of ease or difficulty we believe the performance of a behavior to be
• The theory was added to explain behavior in situations where a person has less volitional control despite having great intention.

  Behavioral Control
• Results of the study on Theory of Reasoned Action applied to online shopping

  (1) Trust and confidence in using a credit card, (2) past behavior (3) online shopping intention is significantly influenced by all four key constructs of TRA.
• Results of the study on the theory of planned behavior to determine the condom use behavior among college students

  (1) Favorable attitude towards condom use, (2) subjective norms have little impact, (3) attitude, subjective norms, and behavioral control predicted the intention of condom use, accounting for 64% of the variance, (3) Behavior of condom use among participants was predicted by intention, accounted for 15% of the variance.