Determinants of intention

Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour is regarded as well grounded in theory and robustly predicts a wide variety of planned behaviours, including entrepreneurial behaviour. The TPB postulates that beliefs regarding the likely outcomes of the behaviour and how an individual evaluates these outcomes (behavioural beliefs), beliefs about the normative expectations of others and motivation to comply with these expectations (normative beliefs) and beliefs pertaining to the presence of factors that may facilitate or impede performance of the behaviour and the perceived power of these factors (control beliefs) play a substantial role in guiding human action (Ajzen, 2002:665; Ajzen, 2006:1). “In their respective aggregates, behavioural beliefs produce a favourable or unfavourable attitude towards the behaviour; normative beliefs result in perceived social pressure or subjective norms; and control beliefs give rise to perceived behavioural control”.

According to the TPB, intentions to perform behaviours of different kinds can be predicted with high accuracy from attitudes towards the behaviour, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (Ajzen, 2002:665; Ajzen, 2006:1; Ajzen, 2005:118; Ajzen and Cote, 2008:301). These attitudes and perceptions collectively account for considerable variance in actual behaviour. Therefore, the more favourable the attitude and subjective norms with respect to the behaviour, and the greater the perceived behavioural control, the stronger would be individual’s intention to perform the behaviour under consideration (Ajzen and Cote, 2008:301). The three conceptually independent determinants of intentions are discussed as follows:

(1) Attitude towards the behaviour

Attitude towards the behaviour refers to the degree to which a person has a favourable or unfavourable evaluation or appraisal of the behaviour in question (Ajzen, 2005:118; Ajzen and Cote, 2008:301). Ajzen (2005:123) argues that people develop attitudes from the beliefs they hold about the consequences of performing the behaviour. The belief strength is multiplied by outcome evaluation and the resulting sum is used to estimate the attitude towards the behaviour. The attitude people hold towards the behaviour is the result of their evaluations of the outcomes associated

with the behaviour and the strength of the associations with these evaluations (Ajzen and Cote, 2008:302). Based on this statement it is assumed that the attitude that people hold towards entrepreneurship depends on the expectations and beliefs about personal impacts of outcomes resulting from the behaviour. For example, people will hold negative attitudes about starting a business if they think it will result in stress or separation with the loved ones. They will hold favourable attitudes if starting a business will give them increased autonomy, personal wealth and community benefits (Krueger et al., 2000:417). An ample number of potential outcomes of entrepreneurship are offered in entrepreneurship literature. The impact of the beliefs about these outcomes is testable through entrepreneurial intent models such as the TPB and the SEE models (Shapero and Sokol, 1982 in Krueger et al., 2000:417).

(2) Perceived behavioural control

Perceived behavioural control refers to the sense of self-efficacy or ability to perform the behaviour (Ajzen, 2005:118; Ajzen and Cote, 2008:301). Perceived behavioural control involves judgements concerning individuals’ capability to perform a given behaviour, the extent to which they have the requisite resources and the belief that they can overcome the obstacles they may encounter (Ajzen, 2002:677). This reflects past experience as well as the presence of factors that can facilitate or impede performance of the behaviour (Ajzen and Cote, 2008:303; Ajzen, Brown and Carvajal, 2004:1110). Perceived behavioural control is determined by control beliefs about the availability of resources and opportunities (Ajzen, 2005:125). It is further suggested that the more resources and opportunities individuals possess and the fewer obstacles or impediments they anticipate, the greater should be their perceived control over behaviour (Ajzen, 2005:125). When people have a sufficient degree of actual control over the behaviour, they are expected to carry out their intentions when the opportunity arises (Ajzen and Cote, 2008:301; Ajzen, 2006:1). The formation of control beliefs is dependent on factors such as past experience with the behaviour, second- hand information about the behaviour, observing the experiences of acquaintances and friends and other factors that increase or decrease the perceived difficulty of performing the behaviour in question.

Moreover, the degree of control a person has over a given behaviour is influenced by internal as well as external factors. Internally, aspects such as information, skills and abilities and emotions and compulsions can influence successful performance of an intended action (Ajzen, 2005:108). Ajzen argues that a person may intend to perform the behaviour but fail to carry it out because of lack of information, skills and abilities. On the other hand, Ajzen reports that people who are overcome by emotions or perform the behaviour under stress cannot be held accountable for results. Externally, situational factors such as opportunity and dependence on others may facilitate or interfere with performance of the behaviour (Ajzen, 2005:109). When people believe that they lack the resources or an opportunity to perform the behaviour, they are unlikely to form strong behavioural intentions to engage in it despite their favourable attitude towards the behaviour and the belief that important others would approve of their performing the behaviour (Ajzen, 2005:119).

Perceived behavioural control can influence behaviour indirectly via intentions and it can on the other hand predict behaviour directly by serving as a proxy for actual control (Ajzen and Cote, 2008:302; Ajzen, 2006:1; Ajzen, 2005:119; Ajzen et al., 2004:1110). The broken arrow in Figure 2.2 shows that the link between perceived behavioural control and behaviour is expected to emerge only when there is some agreement between perceptions of behavioural control and the person’s actual control over the behaviour (Ajzen, 2005:119). Ajzen and Cote (2008:302) suggest that the effect of intention on the behaviour will be strong when actual control is high rather than low.

(3) Subjective norms

Subjective norms refer to the perceived social pressure to perform or not to perform the behaviour (Ajzen, 2005:118; Ajzen and Cote, 2008:301). Subjective norms derive from the beliefs that important referent individuals or groups approve or disapprove of performing a given behaviour; or these social referents themselves engage or do not engage in it (Ajzen, 2005:124). Important referents include a person’s parents, spouse, close friends, co-workers and even experts in the behaviour of interest. When people believe that most referents with whom they are motivated to comply think they

should perform the behaviour they will perceive social pressure to perform it and vice versa.

Ajzen (2005:119) reports that since the inception of the TPB 20 years ago, hundreds of studies have applied the theory to predict the variety of different intentions and there has been considerable support for the theory. He asserts that a great number of studies have indeed provided a strong support for the theory that intentions to perform the behaviour can be predicted from attitudes towards the behaviour, subjective norms and perceptions of behavioural control. In a selective comparison of ten investigations that tested the theory, Ajzen (2005:120) found that all three antecedents of intention made significant contributions to the prediction of intentions. However, the relative importance of these antecedents varied from one intention to another. Ajzen (2005:120) found that “subjective norms generally accounted for less variance than the other two predictors.”