Abstract
Tested 3 replications of a structural equation model that represents M. Fishbein and I. Ajzen's (see record 1978-20968-001) theoretical framework for the prediction of behavior in a panel study of 228 college students, using data from questionnaires that assessed attitudes, subjective norms, intentions, and behavior. Although these models were rejected by chi-square goodness-of-fit tests, alternative theoretical models fit the data adequately. The models show that intentions may be directly influenced by factors other than attitudes and subjective norms (i.e., previous behavior), in contradiction to Fishbein and Ajzen's schema. Results also show that the effects of attitudes and previous behavior on subsequent behavior are, to a significant extent, not mediated by intentions (i.e., a nontrivial portion of behavioral variability is predictable from attitudes and previous behavior with the effects of intentions partialled out). The proposed models represent a generalization of Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of attitude–behavior relations in the sense that their theory is embedded within these models. It is argued that the proposed models supersede the Fishbein-Ajzen theory in their ability to reflect the dynamics of attitude–behavior relations in various behavioral domains.
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