Author(s) |
Kaine, Geoff
Wright, Vic
|
Publication Date |
2024-01-11
|
Abstract |
<p>Popular theories that explain or predict behavioural intentions are based on people’s
attitudes and subjective norms. Their application is based on the (often implicit) assumption that
people regard a subject (e.g., preventing the spread of COVID-19) as sufficiently important for them
to formulate stable attitudes and subjective norms about it. As this assumption rarely holds for
all people, the influence of attitudes and subjective norms in determining behavioural intentions
changes depending on the importance of the subject. In other words, importance has a moderating
effect on the relationship between intentions, attitudes, and subjective norms. We hypothesise that, as
importance declines, the influence on intentions of attitudes decreases and the influence of subjective
norms increases. This has important implications for efforts to encourage the adoption of preventative
behaviours in relation to COVID-19 because promotional strategies designed to modify attitudes
differ markedly from those designed to modify subjective norms. We test this hypothesis by analysing
three different large-scale surveys about people’s intentions, involvement, attitudes, and subjective
norms regarding the spread of COVID-19 in New Zealand. The results support our hypothesis and
highlight the importance of distinguishing between when the formation of behavioural intentions
depends mainly on attitudes and when it depends mainly on subjective norms.</p>
|
Citation |
COVID, 4(1), p. 74-84
|
ISSN |
2673-8112
|
Link | |
Publisher |
MDPI AG
|
Rights |
Attribution 4.0 International
|
Title |
COVID-19 in New Zealand: The Moderating Effect of Involvement on the Roles of Attitudes and Subjective Norms
|
Type of document |
Journal Article
|
Entity Type |
Publication
|
Name | Size | format | Description | Link |
---|---|---|---|---|
openpublished/COVID19Wright2024JournalArticle.pdf | 1131.495 KB | application/pdf | Published Version | View document |