Speaker A
Why do we do what we do or act the way we act? Let's start with an example. Say you want to buy a new smartphone. What exactly influences this decision? You may start reading about available phones out there and form an opinion about which
An overview of the Theory of Planned Behavior explaining how attitudes, social norms, and perceived control influence decision-making.
Key Takeaways
- Behavioral intentions are shaped by attitude, social norms, and perceived control.
- Positive beliefs about a behavior and social approval increase the chance of performing it.
- Difficulty or negative social feedback reduces the likelihood of behavior.
- The Theory of Planned Behavior is a strong predictor in marketing strategies.
- Digital marketing uses this theory to influence tech product purchases effectively.
What the video covers
- The video explains why people act the way they do using the Theory of Planned Behavior.
- It uses the example of buying a smartphone to illustrate decision influences.
- The theory consists of three main constructs: attitude towards the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control.
- Attitude refers to an individual's belief about the positive or negative impact of the behavior.
- Subjective norm involves social influences such as friends, cultural norms, and group beliefs.
- Perceived behavioral control is about how easy or difficult a person believes performing the behavior will be.
- The theory predicts that positive attitude, favorable social norms, and high perceived control increase the likelihood of behavioral intention and action.
- If one or more constructs are unfavorable, the likelihood of performing the behavior decreases.
- The theory is widely used in marketing to understand consumer behavior, especially in the tech industry.
- Modern marketing leverages abundant information, reviews, social proof, and trial opportunities to influence decisions.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
one is best for you. You may talk to friends and see what they think about the phones currently on the market. You may go to a store and test a few or get some advice from a sales guy. You may
Speaker A
even do all of this, and with everything that's available to you, at some stage you make a decision in buying one. A good theory that explains and predicts how such behaviors form is called the theory of planned behavior. It's built out of a
Speaker A
number of constructs. The first one is the attitude towards the act or behavior. That's an individual's belief that a certain behavior or act makes a positive or negative contribution to that person's life. Then, in the smartphone example, it means that you either believe
Speaker A
that buying a certain phone makes sense for you or not, or which phone makes the most sense for you. A second construct is called subjective norm. This construct focuses on everything around the individual. In other words, his or her
Speaker A
social network, cultural norms, group beliefs, and so on. Back to the smartphone example, you will already have an opinion or former belief as to what others think about you having that phone or not having it, and that belief again
Speaker A
influences your decision. A third construct is called perceived behavioral control, and what this construct actually expresses is a person's belief on how easy or hard it is to display certain behavior or act in a certain way. Again, in the smartphone
Speaker A
case, you might pick up a few of them in a store and form an opinion on how easy or hard it is for you to handle each one. What the theory now actually predicts is that a positive attitude towards the act
Speaker A
or behavior, favorable social norms, and a high level of perceived behavioral control are the best predictors for forming a behavioral intention and, in turn, lead to a displayed behavior or act. In other words, it predicts that if you
Speaker A
think a certain smartphone is a good idea, and you believe everyone else thinks it's a good idea, and you believe you can actually handle it, you'll get that phone. If one of those constructs is unfavorable, so if you
Speaker A
think it doesn't make much sense for you to get a particular phone, or you think others don't think it's a good idea, or you're going to be right out of your comfort zone handling it, you're much less likely to get that particular phone,
Speaker A
and the likelihood decreases if two or even three out of these constructs are unfavorable. Planned behavior is, up to today, one of the best predictors and theories used in marketing. If we look into the tech world, we're seeing
Speaker A
examples everywhere. Information is abundant for us to form our opinions, and infomercials everywhere. We see ratings, reviews, and discussions about every product and service out there, and we're being told that people who buy what we are about to buy are also buying this
Speaker A
other thing. And finally, we're prompted everywhere to test almost every web platform or service out there before we subscribe, to see if we can actually handle it and also if it makes sense for us. All of this in combination
Speaker A
contributes to us making a decision, and modern marketing needs to master all these avenues to successfully place a service or product to digital natives spending their time on the Internet. You
Topics:Theory of Planned Behaviorattitudesubjective normperceived behavioral controlconsumer behaviordecision makingmarketing theorysmartphone purchasebehavioral intentiondigital marketing
