Identity appropriateness and the structure of the theory of planned behaviour

Abstract

In contrast to the cost-benefit, utility-based approach to decision-making implicit in models such as the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the logic of appropriateness (March, 1994. A Primer on Decision Making: How decisions happen. New York, NY: The Free Press) describes decision-making in terms of heuristic decision rules that involve matching identities to situations. This research is the first to apply the logic of appropriateness in conjunction with the theoretical structure of the TPB and assessed whether a measure of identity appropriateness might independently predict adults' intentions to engage in binge drinking. In Study 1, participants (N = 197) completed questionnaires assessing attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, past behaviour, and identity appropriateness in relation to binge drinking. Path analysis revealed an independent predictive effect of identity appropriateness on intentions in addition to an indirect effect via attitudes. In Study 2 (N = 179), a prospective measure of behaviour was included in a similar study: Identity appropriateness again predicted intentions independently of the extended TPB predictors. It was again also found to be a strong predictor of attitudes. We suggest that the notion of identity appropriateness may assist in explaining the capacity of measures of self-identity to predict people's behavioural intentions.

The effect of self‐identity alongside perceived importance within the theory of planned behaviour

“…Further, the effect of self‐identity remained when controlling for past behaviour. These findings provide an important extension to the body of research supporting the utility of self‐identity within the TPB (e.g., Rise et al., ), and also contribute to other areas of research supporting the importance of identity in guiding behaviour (e.g., Case et al., ; Fritsche, Barth, Jugert, Masson, & Reese, in press; March, ). Together, this research indicates that interventions aiming to influence behaviour may benefit from attempting to promote self‐identities consistent with performing the behaviour.…”

“…That is, people consider their self-identity within a social context and use it as a heuristic tool to guide their behaviour (cf. Case, Sparks, & Pavey, 2016).…”

The Criminal Self‐View: How Do Identity Discrepancies Affect Emotions and Projected Conformity Among Offenders?

“…Finally, the high conformity group strongly agreed with both questions (scoring a 10) and included 21.98 percent of the sample . While intentions to conform may not be the same as actual conforming behavior, research shows that identities do affect behavioral intentions, which then predict subsequent behavior (Ajzen ; Case, Sparks, and Pavey ).…”

“…We created a series of dummy variables including property crime with a victim, shoplifting, and violent offenses, with drink driving as the reference category. Given that our measure of the criminal identity standard may depend on the RAs that are received and that identities can affect attitudes (Case, Sparks, and Pavey ), we also control for how respondents viewed their offense before court or conference (Asencio ). Respondents indicated how wrong they felt their offense was before the court/conference ranging from totally right (1) to totally wrong (5) with the neither category coded as 3.…”

Predictors of dieting and non-dieting approaches among adults living in Australia

“…Stryker proposes that individuals behave in a manner consistent with their identity, progressively more so as this identity becomes more salient. Self-identity has previously predicted dieting intentions [ 35 ], low-fat diet consumption [ 24 ], low animal fat diet [ 36 ] and actual healthy eating behaviour [ 37 ]. A recent meta-analytic review of the inclusion of self-identity in TPB studies [ 30 ] supports its additive effects; regression analyses indicated that self-identity explained on average an incremental 6% of the variance in intention after controlling for the TPB constructs.…”