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Who Says There is an Intention–Behaviour Gap? Assessing the Empirical Evidence of an Intention–Behaviour Gap in Ethical Consumption

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Abstract

The theories of reasoned action and planned behaviour (TRA/TPB) have fundamentally changed the view that attitudes directly translate into behaviour by introducing intentions as a crucial intervening stage. Much research across numerous ethical contexts has drawn on these theories to offer a better understanding of how consumers form intentions to act in an ethical way. Persistently, researchers have suggested and discussed the existence of an intention–behaviour gap in ethical consumption. Yet, the factors that influence the extent of this gap and its magnitude have not been systematically examined. We, therefore, contribute to the debate on the intention–behaviour gap by reviewing the empirical TRA/TPB studies that have assessed both intention and behaviour in ethical contexts. The findings from our review show that few studies assessed the intention–behaviour relationship and as a result, there is limited empirical evidence to date to quantify more accurately the intention–behaviour gap in ethical consumption. Our second contribution aims to provide an empirical case study which assesses the magnitude of the intention–behaviour gap in the context of avoidance of sweatshop clothing and to assess the roles of planning and actual behavioural control in potentially reducing the intention–behaviour gap. The findings of our case study suggest that there is indeed a large gap between intention and behaviour, and we conclude by calling for more empirical longitudinal studies to assess the complex nature of the relationship between intention and behaviour.

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Notes

  1. The TPB does not assert “a direct causal effect for PBC” (Ajzen and Madden 1986, p. 472) on behaviour, because “it is actual control—not PBC—that is the causal determinant of behaviour” (Sheeran et al. 2003, p. 394).

  2. For a fuller discussion of the findings arising from the stage 2 data please refer to Shaw et al. (2006).

  3. To assess if the sample of 262 obtained at stage 2 differed from those who completed the survey at stage 1, comparisons between the two groups of 632 (894–262) and 262 respondents were undertaken. Comparisons were made based on t tests of mean differences as well as differences in regression weights (in the regression model) through two-group path analysis in Amos. The t tests show no significant difference across the two groups for any of the variables (intention, planning, attitude, descriptive norm, injunctive norm and PBC). The two-group path analysis yielded a non-significant χ 2 difference Δχ 2(4)  = 3.21, p = 0.52 for the TPB model with intention as the dependent variable and the four regression paths (planning not included) constrained to be equal across groups. Thus, no significant differences across the two groups are found regarding the TPB model.

  4. Research (e.g., Rhodes et al. 2006; Rise et al. 2008; Rodgers et al. 2008) has evidenced the existence and differential impact of multiple components of attitude (affective and cognitive), SN (descriptive and injunctive) and PBC (perceived difficulty, controllability and self-efficacy) on intention. We did not capture measures of affective attitude or self-efficacy but did capture assessments of both normative components in addition to perceived difficulty and controllability. We thus conducted exploratory factor analysis to assess the extent to which our respondents discriminated across these components. Such evidence was found only regarding the normative component which could be separated into descriptive (perceptions of what most people do) and injunctive (perceptions of what others think that you should/should not do) norm.

Abbreviations

ABC:

Actual behavioural control

ATT:

Attitude

AVE:

Average variance extracted

B:

Behaviour

CFI:

Comparative Fit Index

DV:

Dependant variable

EBSCO:

Elton B. Stephens Company

GM:

Genetically modified

INT:

Intention

L:

Large

M:

Mean

MED:

Medium

MR:

Multiple regression

NA:

Not applicable

NS:

Not significant

OLS:

Ordinary least square

PB:

Past behaviour

PBC:

Perceived behavioural control

PNORM:

Personal norm

PT:

Point

PSY:

Psychology

RMSEA:

Root Mean Square Error of Approximation

SD:

Standard deviation

SEM:

Structural equation modelling

SQRT:

Square root

SN:

Subjective norm

TLI:

Tucker Lewis Index

TRA:

Theory of reasoned action

TPB:

Theory of planned behaviour

UK:

United Kingdom

US:

United States

VIF:

Variance inflation factor

Y/N:

Yes/No

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bangor Business School, Bangor University, College Road, Bangor, LL57 2DG, Wales, UK

    Louise M. Hassan & Edward Shiu

  2. Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK

    Deirdre Shaw

Authors
  1. Louise M. Hassan
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  2. Edward Shiu
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  3. Deirdre Shaw
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Correspondence to Louise M. Hassan.

Appendix

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Table 5 Correlations between variables used in OLS regression analysis for the stage 2 sample
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Hassan, L.M., Shiu, E. & Shaw, D. Who Says There is an Intention–Behaviour Gap? Assessing the Empirical Evidence of an Intention–Behaviour Gap in Ethical Consumption. J Bus Ethics 136, 219–236 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2440-0

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